At Kıztaşı, Fatih. All I wanted to do is to have a bowl of tripe soup for breakfast. The sharp, vinegary, garlic-fueled kick of a proper işkembe çorbası! It was a Wednesday, so that meant I would be walking around the Çarşamba Pazarı reeking of garlic. So, yeah!
After galloping down my soup with some bread, I was ready to hit the road to the market. Çarşamba Pazarı is the biggest clothing market in town, I was not interested in shirts, socks, table cloths, shoes, etc. but the alleys of vegetables and fruit layered upon one another. I leave you to it…
It was the fresh garlic season, so nobody was bothered with my garlic scent, I blended in masterfully.
This variety if more firmer and which makes it better for pickling. I love munching on them cause they are crunchier, and they have this old times cucumber taste, your lips stick to one another, that kind!
Hodan is an acquired taste if you ask me. The root parts —the roots on the right side of the photo— have a taste like slimy cucumbers, creamy, spinach, chard, sweet and mineral at the same time. They share the same fate with all the edible wild plants in our geography; they are sautéed with lots of onion, or/and eaten with eggs. I love to sauté it too, and add some pastırma to it. the leaves and flowers can be added to salads, roots are better when cooked.
All scooped when they are at their best, put on a string and hung to dry under the sun, the hot, dry Antep sun. When cooking, they need to be hydrated then stuffed with your choice of ingredients. Dolma… It needs its own article.
If Eren were alive, she would have bought all of these bags, these have her name written all over them.
So… I bought another market bag, —a striped one—, filled it with fresh garlic, prickly cukes and Antakya lemon. 10 minutes later I was having tea, leaning my back against the Valens Aqueduct. When in Istanbul!
With flavor, Tuba x
published at my substack page: https://substack.com/@tubasatana