About Albanian Cuisine and Eni Turkeshi

  Some time ago I made an interview with my Albanian friend Eni Turkeshi which was published in Chief magazine (I'm a photo editor of it). Eni is a visual artist and also she runs a food blog Yummania
 Eni gave us several recipes from her blog: Stuffed Peppers, Spinach Rolls and Hasure. I tried to cook hashure and then made several photos of it. And I must admit it was very delicious so many thanks to Eni for the pleasure of eating this dessert. OK, original Eni's ricipe for 4 persons:
  
300 gr special for hashure wheat
100 gr sugar (brown sugar would be ok too)
black dried grape
dried fig
gratered orange peels
hazelnuts,nuts,almonds
cinnamon,cloves
pomegranate.
   Preparation proccess: The wheat is left to boil.After it has boiled the water is changed and the wheat are put to be boiled again.Afterwards sugar,choped dried grapes and figs ,gratered orange peels, hazelnuts, nuts and almonds are added and left to be boiled under low fire.It is left until the wheat is cooked enough, yet crispy when chewed.Pour ashure on bowls and add over the cinnamon, cloves and pomegranates.
Better serve it while cold.It is much better.

     And here's the interview in English (it's in Russian in the magazine):

- Hi, Eni. Tell several words about yourself and your blog. Why did you decide to run it? Is it your hobby or a job?

- I`m a visual artist focused mainly in photography but I like experimenting with many art mediums as well. Occasionally I`m also a food blogger. I love to take pictures of the food I cook, or the atmosphere of the kitchen and other places where I eat, drink, have a talk with friends, read etc. Kitchens are places where we can have some quality social time with people we love , so for me it`s really important.

It was December 2006 , the time I thought to start this blog. I thought about the name and decided to call Yummania getting the `yum`+`mania` words together , that is the mania to create yummy food.

I didn`t have much plans in the beginning , I just enjoyed photographing what I cooked and sharing it .But in a short time I got quite a large number of visitors and fans so decided to take it more seriously and post more frequently. Last year I opened a twitter page and facebook page in order for the fans to follow me easier.

It`s still a hobby for me but I wouldn`t mind working on food or food places photography.

- Where do you find the recipes?

- My mom has been a great recipe contributor and many times performer in my cooking the blog`s recipes. She`s a great cook. I think I took the passion of cooking from her. But I also have learned recipes from different places I have been travelling to or living for a long time , especially Turkey/Istanbul where I have been living for almost 11 years. Occasionally I try recipes I read ,see or hear somewhere and I try to do them but always adding something new from myself.

- What is your favorite food? And do you have any traditional recipes in your family?

- I am a Mediterranean person , so I enjoy all kinds of Mediterranean food:) Such food satisfies all what i`m looking for taste & eye satiation. I am more a fish , veggies, dairy, fruits and olive oil person. Give me these and i`m more then fine :)

I also enjoy Turkish, Indian cuisine, I love spices.

In my family most of the members are not huge meat fans so we enjoy making of veggie dishes, fish dishes . We also make a lot of different style pies (spinach,tomato&onion,zucchini,leek,cheese ) , they are quite popular in all my country. As per meat , the most favorite kind of cooking and eating it is , beef steaks and meatballs.(I like these two as well). Soups are also very important in my family`s daily diet. Since we enjoy yoghurt a lot , we make often a kind of `yoghurt sauce` which is profited by letting all of the yoghurt`s water off .It`s really delicious & healthy.

- Let's talk about traditional Albanian cuisine.

- Albanian cuisine is a typical Mediterranean and Balkan cuisine. Of course we have things which are very particular to us , but I think in general all the Balkan countries or Mediterranean ones have similar cuisines.

Being a Mediterranean country , in Albania you can find most of the time many kinds of vegetables and fruits, which makes their usage to be really high. Generally in Albania, we don`t eat only dry food on a meal, a juicy dish is for sure part of it.

People like to prepare their own jams, marmelade, sauces, pickles , dry fruits and veggies etc.

We also have our examples of nouvelle cuisine as well. There are many new , talented cooks doing that , one of them Rene Redzepi the cook of NOMA , the best actual restaurant in the world for example.

Русская версия