a journal of recent cooking adventures

Journal #1: an obsession with Greek tarhana/trahana

Thanks for reading şemsa's food per se, a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Subscribe for free to receive my monthly newsletter on the last day of the each month.

If you like what you read here, are curious for more and want to support my writing please go paid and receive weekly posts every Tuesday.

---

I keep cooking.

It is not that I am developing any recipes for any project at the moment but rather enjoying myself in the kitchen. Maybe because I was away all summer long, and now that I am back, I am having a full-fledged affair with my pots and pans and various equipment of which I have too many anyway. Not very sound of mind, I know. Obsessed and obsessive, that’s who I am. I have accepted this a long time ago, and I really don’t mind. Let others worry if they have a problem with it.

Cooking too many things sometimes doesn’t leave time and room for writing. For this week’s post I will note down a few of the dishes I’ve been cooking and eating recently hoping for forgiveness from readers on my self accounted laziness.

Over these last two weeks, it seems I got addicted to the Greek tarhana/trahana. The Anatolian version which we call tarhana is more fermented, hence more sour whereas the Greek trahana is much more sweet. They have two varieties, one sour and the other sweet. I’ve gotten myself what they define as sour trahana, yet it is not sour for my palate at all. But then this makes it more adaptable to many recipes.

Here is a medley of dishes I have cooked. They are not recipes, but then -unless you are baking- who needs recipes anyway? I hope these will be inspiration for your cooking.