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For its richness of flavor, Turkish cuisine has been among the favorite foreign foods in Indonesia for quite some time. Spanning two continents, it is no accident that the country’s cuisine combines Asian and European tastes.

Most vegetables featured are not overly cooked, hence leaving a strong aroma. In good Turkish eateries, fresh and natural ingredients are a must.

Celebrated Turkish chef Sezai Zorlu recently began holding cooking classes at his new restaurant Turkuaz in Gunawarman, South Jakarta. The former co-owner and chef of the Anatolia restaurant in Kemang said he wanted to present “something simple and, most importantly, dishes anyone can cook at home.”

“I guarantee that this is easy cooking. We don’t only teach you how to cook, but also show you how to do it at home,” Zorlu said. “Cooking should be a lot of fun, not troublesome.”

Held on the second Wednesday of each month, the cooking class is limited to 12 participants in order to keep it “exclusive and intimate,” said Yanti Subianto, Turkuaz’s co-owner and manager.

The simple yet homey restaurant opened in July last year and gained loyal customers.

Maria Villacorta, the wife of the Philippine ambassador to Asean, is among Turkuaz’s kitchen enthusiasts.

“I loved the restaurant the moment my husband first took me here. He said he had found a jewel in Gunawarman,” she said with a laugh. “And so I was very excited when Sezai told me there would be a cooking class and invited me to join.”

There are four items prepared during every session: a hot appetizer, a cold appetizer, a main course and a dessert.

The menu prepared during this lesson included favorites baba ghanoush (grilled eggplant mixed with olive oil, tomatoes, chilies, and fresh parsley and mint), chicken durme (sauteed chicken wrapped in crepes), tavuklu muska boregi (chicken spring rolls) and burma, a crispy, smaller version of the popular sweet baklava.

During the class, Zorlu shared useful tips on where to buy ingredients, the best brands that can define the success of the meal and also how to store the ingredients so they retain their flavor and freshness for later use.

One of the most important tips Zorlu emphasized was having fresh ingredients.

“You have to be careful when you buy a food product. Indonesia is very tricky when it comes to expiration dates. Make sure you check it, as some people often stick another label with a newer date on the old one,” he said. “If it is slightly past expiration, it may not affect your health but it will affect the taste of the food.”

Another participant, Aphrodite Firia, said the recipes included in the class were “fairly easy and taste even better than what I had when I traveled to Turkey.”

“I went to a famous restaurant while I was there, but I have to say the food here is way better,” she added.

It was her second Turkuaz cooking class. The 34-year-old business developer now knows how to make kebabs, one of the items included in her first lesson last December.

“I always thought it was among the most difficult food items to prepare, but it turned out it is not,” she said. “The class is really fun, and the fact that the cooking is actually practical for home just makes the class even more exciting to follow.”

Apart from the best ingredients and the techniques, one other secret to enjoying the cooking process is to “use your feeling,” Zorlu said.

“If you keep following the recipe on how much you should put of this or that into your cooking, you may get a different taste,” he added.

Above all, he said, be passionate. “That’s what cooking is all about.”

Cooking Class with Sezai Zorlu
Turkuaz Authentic Turkish Kitchen
Jl. Gunawarman No. 32, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta
Tel. 021 7279 5846/ 7279 5853
E-mail: turkuazrst@gmail.com

Burma

Ingredients
1 sheet fillo pastry*
50 grams grated pistachio
30 grams melted butter

For the syrup
50 grams sugar
50 milliliters water
Cloves as desired
Lemon juice as desired

Preparation
1. Butter the fillo pastry and the tray
2. Spread the grated pistachios over the pastry, rolling it using a skewer (you can also use a chopstick)
3. Squeeze it on both sides toward the middle of the skewer to create wrinkles; take the pastry off the skewer
4. Put it on tray, bake at 175°C for 25 minutes

To prepare the syrup
1. Put the sugar, water and cloves in a pan; bring to the boil
2. Stir with a wooden spoon
3. The syrup must be thick, yet still smooth and not dripping off the spoon. When it reaches that consistency, add the lemon juice. Set aside to cool.
4. Add the cold syrup to the warm burma

*Fillo pastry: Paper-thin sheets of flour dough. Zorlu recommends Antoniou brand fillo, which is available at major supermarkets.