Pilav n I

There we were... just halil n i....he was refilling the tea for the guests..n i was..doing something........ n i asked him...

simah : Why is my pilav not like this pilav? (Pointing at the teflon of pilav in front of me). Why
cant i make a pilav like this just like yenge?
halil: Because ur name is simah n not mahture!

Turkish Pilav....the basic of all..rice, salt, oil (or butter) once it is cooked should be like this...

pilavlar tane tane olsun (each rice grain ..not sticking to each other...u can count the rice..one by one..)..that is what u call a good turkish pilav.. n i..coming from a rice eating country..where we eat rice for breakfast (ie nasi lemak), lunch n dinner.... do not know how to cook a wonderful pilav!!! hahhahahahahaha

I remember a string of disasters that i had in pilav making...pilav n i..we r sworn enemies...just like desserts n i...

I remember a few years back..at that time anne was alive.. We were inviting halil's friends from the university (bölum arkadaşlar) for iftar.. it was a crowded iftar...I prepared the food of course.. n sweet anne even made a few cold dishes like her famous dolma for me (she knew i was a terrible dolma maker ..hey! i was a new bride! give me a break here :0))..Everything was all ready...2 hours before iftar.. i cooked the pilav..opened the pressure cooker..terrible rice.. i threw the rice n cooked a new one (Allah forgive me for the waste).. again the same thing!! I had an hour to go before iftar...n i was in panic...No rice!! and rice is part of the main menu!!!.. Ring ring... Anne...imdat!!!! (Anne help!!).. n half an hour after that... a pressure cooker with a wonderfully cooked rice reached my front door..My saviour!! ...Anne hakkını helal olsun!! I could kiss my mom in law right there n then..i think that was among my first iftars n u can imgine my panic right??

Another worse experience....

Another iftar.. a few years after anne's pilav story..we invited around 10 to 12 university students to our house for iftar....normally they r the ones whose parents live outside istanbul... anyway... the main menu was dolma..etli biber dolması, kabak dolmasi... u know..the lot...n silly me..i tried to cook tavuklu pilav as well....n the best part of all...i didnt check the rice until 5 minutes before iftar!!!!!!..When i opened the pressure cooker... the pilav ..it was not even cooked!!!!!nasi mentah!!....imagine my shame!!.. so the hungry guys had to make do with only the rich iftar breakfast n soup n dolma for iftar...n to make things worse..for dessert i cooked aşure.. i was still learning to cook aşure at that time..experimenting still with my cooking.....n i added salt inside it.. it ended up as a sweet.salty aşure!! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah even until today, those students still remember my iftar even i think i have mabe better iftars after that...uncooked pilav..salty aşure hahahahahahahahahah..what a shameful iftar!!! hahahahahahaha.. i still feel shameful n funny thinking of those days hahahahah..well.. i had an excuse though.. i am a yabancı (foreigner)...:0))))

Ever since then, if i am giving an iftar.. if Mahture Yenge is free.. i WiLL definitely ask her to cook for me the pilav... tane tane...butir butir... she is a good pilav cooker..just like last night *chuckles* ..we had the Zaim family for iftar n sweet yenge again became my pilav saviour.. why even try cooking pilav when yenge is around, huh?? Yenge hakkın helal olsun :0)

Of course i cook pilav almost everyday.... but it is a risky business for me.. sometimes it turns out good..sometimes it turns out lapa (sticking to each other).. it is not hard cooking pilav.. i dunno ....maybe subconsciously i dont like cooking pilav...that is why i never bothered..i am a decent cook...i can cook almost everything but when it comes to dessert n pilav.. i just dont like cooking them.....i guess i should start liking them now... yenge wont be here forever...i cant ask her to cook my pilav everytime i have crowded guests, right?

Yup... my shameful experiences for u to google about hehehehehehe.. Have fun laughing at me! :0) Pilav n i...we r sworn enemies :0)

p.s mama sarah.. still *hang* bole tak u give me ur email addy..i comment kat sana aja la..

Thank You for hopping by..Hope to see U again next time....