After having a taste of the two strongly-flavored kebab variants, guests can enjoy a more delicate sensation by trying the hummus. This mashed garbanzo bean dish has an overall bland, yet appetizing flavor.
It is made by grinding the beans together with olive oil, lime juice, garlic, and salt to a consistency similar to mashed potato. Hummus is more delicious when you eat it with the bean-based kebab sauce it is usually paired with.
Another interesting dish is the lentil kofte main dish. Brown, with green and red spots, it is made by grinding multiple types of plant-based ingredients: bulgur grains, paprika, onion, tomato, cumin, etc. This savory dough then shaped by hand into something like a largish perkedel kentang or potato fritters, then fried.
And that ends the meat-based Turkish dishes served that night. Other than baklava, they served another sweet treat: kabak tatlisi, the pumpkin-based sweet popular in the original country.
The pumpkin was marinated in sugar and cloves until the flesh absorbed the marinate, then boiled until fully cooked on top of a small flame. Kabak tatlisi is perfected when garnished with fried nut topping, making it both soft and crunchy at the same time.
Read: Turkey’s President Erdogan Wins Runoff Election, Extending Rule Until 2028
Küçükcan declared that the meeting between the invitees, composed of national representatives, friends and allies, culinary experts, scholars, and lovers of Türkiye in Indonesia was important to maintain good relations between Türkiye and foreign parties. (un)