Nov 15 2015
My wife and some of her old school classmates meet once a month for a luncheon at a local restaurant. I think she likes to brag to the girls about me being the cook. One of the girls brought along some spices today for me to try. A friend of hers had brought her the spices from Turkey.
There were three packets, Kofte Bahari (mixed spices), Pul Biber (red pepper) and Kisnis (Coriander).
I searched them on the internet and found they were for making meatballs or Kabobs, two of the favorite meats and street foods in Turkey.
I was stationd in Eskisiher Turkey with the USAF in 1963. We could not eat much of the local food then but I remember eating lamb kabobs from a street vendor and the local bread, EkMek was delicious.
The mixed spices are a little like our all spice and the red pepper is like allepo peppers, the darker red the hotter. From what I can find the recipes for meatballs and Kabobs vary from region to region. They are usually served on flat bread and with a yogurt sauce. I am going to do some meatballs with the spices soon; I found a recipe that looks authentic.
Smokin Don
