Since living in Istanbul for three years, I’ve enjoyed cooking Turkish food usually once or twice a week at latest home in London.
Sometimes, I need to find some special ingredients or Turkish products that I enjoy using such as Turkish olive oil, beyaz peynir, pomegranate molasses, spices etc. Fortunately, we actually do have two small Turkish markets in our neighborhood of Battersea where we live. One of the owners even proudly displays a Turkish flag in his small shop.
But awhile back, I decided to venture out to a special Turkish market called Cheam Arena, located in North Cheam, about an hour south of where we live by bike. This store also is close to the London neighborhoods of Morden, Kingston and Epsom. My Turkish friend, Ozlem of Ozlem’s Turkish Table, had recommended going to Cheam Arena. But if you don’t live in this area and don’t own a car, then it’s not so easy to reach.
But during the
past year of the pandemic, I’ve biked my way around a lot of places in London,
so I loaded up my bike with my paniers and went shopping. The first thing I noticed
when I arrived at Cheam is that a lot of the produce was a bit cheaper than my
part of London. For example, lemons cost 5 for 1 pound in Cheam vs 2 for 1
pound in Zone 2 London. The only way I can buy cheaper lemons or any produce is
the Saturday street market on Battersea High Street.
But Cheam Arena
also sold special produce like sivri biber and dolma biber (great
for stuffing), which I don’t often see in more central London.
The lovely produce
alone is enough to make the trek down here.
But inside the store, there are tons of other Turkish products that I like such as sucuk, cheeses, less expensive pine nuts and pistachios and olive oil (1 litre for 6 pounds). I also couldn’t resist the freshly baked baklava section and the tubs of olives. Yum!
By the time, I
left the store, my backpack was stuffed and so were my paniers. My bike definitely
weighed more going back home. I mean, check out my amazing haul!
With all these
delicious ingredients, I couldn’t resist putting together a favorite Turkish
recipe:
Afiyet olsun!
