Beer-Battered Fish and Chips

Hello everybody! (insert British Accent here). 

Today I am going to share one of my favourite fish dish. Guess what? It is..... "Fish and Chips". The first time I had fish and chips was many years ago, in a restaurant called Kitchenette in Istanbul. The fish was yummy and crispy. And you know that I have a thing for crispy stuff. 


However the best fish and chips I had was when I was in London last summer in a famous restaurant called Garfunkel's. Funny story, I saw the ad of the restaurant on the wall of a subway station. Then I got lost, which is pretty normal if you are not a local, and then I looked up. I was standing in front of this amazing restaurant: Garfunkel's.

So when I got home, I said, "Why not try to cook it by myself". It's been a while since I came home from London, about 5-6 months, just a little bit of time I know. What can I say? I am a little bit lazy. I thought that this was a very challenging recipe. But, it wasn't hard, however it needs time. About 1-1.5 hour. But it is definitely worth it. So, here is the recipe for  crispy beer-battered Fish and Chips. Hope you'll like it. 

Un Helvası - A Turkish Classic

I know it has been a while since my last post, but I just wanted to let you know that I am alive and I have been cooking. I didn't write much because I had tons and tons of schoolwork to do. I am sorry. 
Today I am going to share a very typical Turkish dessert with you. It is the most famous "un helvası".

There are 3 types of halva in Turkey; semolina, tahini and flour. Un Helvası is a flour-based halva, a kind of dessert. It is really hard to get the exact consistency of this recipe that's why some people avoid cooking this. However it is actually very easy. 

Helva is usually cooked for funerals here in Turkey but I don't only cook this for funerals. This should be a happy family recipe instead of something that you eat when you are in grief. It is so yummy that I believe it should be cooked more often. For example last week was our neighbor's birthday. I knew that he loves this so I prepared him a plateful of un helvası and he was thrilled. I mean you don't have to cook this only for funerals. Do not force yourselves to follow every single tradition. Just create your own way of things. 

You should be prepared to get tired while cooking this one because it needs a lot of patience and some arm strength. It is a nice way to work those arms out with this recipe because you will need to stir consistently to get the perfect color and taste from the recipe. It is also perfect for midnight sweet tooth cravings. 

When I was cooking with my grandmother, the person who thought me how to cook the flour halva and many other things, she gave me the measurements however some of them were like "just enough until it covers the flour".  I mean what language is this? A tablespoon is enough for me but for someone else a little bit more is better. So here is the official recipe with exact measurements for everyone out there in the world. 

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Spoiler alert!: This post does not contain April Fools Jokes. Sorry. 

Sometimes in the middle of the night you crave for something chewy, something sweet and rich. Or maybe you just want to have something to eat while you are enjoying your ice-cold milk before you go to sleep. Or maybe you want to prepare something for Santa. I can count all the options but this would take a while. 

The first time I tasted these cookies was when I was in middle school. Our English teacher would bake cookies for us. She was American and she always surprised us with amazing tasting cookies. So one day I went to her and asked her to give me the recipe. That day, I was brightened with the name of "Nestlé Toll House". 

I like these cookies as a gift and they are also good if you are baking for friends. You get approximately 60 cookies. Which is a lot. So, if you are not baking for a crowd then you should use the half of the ingredients. I am not saying that you should though. Every single person who tasted these begged for another one, so I recommend that you go for the full batch. These cookies are definitely worth sharing. 

A Super Easy Dinner

In our family every one loves to eat steak. But we are picky with it when we are cooking for friends. My mother always serves it with salad and baked potatoes. My aunt serves it with rice. However I like to serve it with some mashed potato and rice with peas. 
It is super easy because you can work on several things at a time. 

I started with marinating the steak and then boiled the potatoes. While they were boiling I cooked the rice. And then I mashed the potatoes. 

I recommend you wait for your guests to arrive before you start cooking the steaks because when they become cold and when you heat them again, they become as hard as a rock. I don't think anyone would appreciate that. 

Also for the mashed potatoes I used milk instead of heavy cream so that the dish is lighter and healthier. 

Homemade Flaky Biscuits

The first time I tasted a biscuit was in a KFC restaurant when I was a kid. I normally do not eat bread with food like the other Turkish people. But I really liked the taste of this flaky biscuit because it was not like a normal bread. It is soft in the inside and crispy on the outside. 

I always waited to go to a KFC restaurant to eat that delicious biscuit but now I don't have wait to go there. To be honest I am not a huge fan of their chicken. I prefer to cook my own fried chicken at home which is definitely more healthier for sure. I can bake these biscuits at home anytime since I am pretty satisfied with the outcome of the homemade version of biscuits.  

The recipe requires a pastry cutter however I don't have that so I used a whisk and some knives instead. The recipe is also the recipe for a basic biscuit. But I think that you can add various cheeses or any other ingredient to add to it's taste. I know I will add some cheese the next time I bake them.