(English) Çökelek Salatası (Mediterranean Whey Cheese Salad)

Sorry, this entry is only available in Американский Английский For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.

When traveling I am always looking forward to my breakfasts. I could never quite buy into the idea of Asian morning meal with a spicy stew kicking off the day. Nor I am a huge fan of the European «coffee and pastry» concept. That’s why Turkey is a safe heaven for me: Turkish breakfast is a full-fledged meal with its own «breakfast only» items. In fact the Turkish breakfast idea is so powerful that you can substitute any meal of a day with breakfast (but not the other way around).

Wherever you travel in Turkey breakfast is always a discovery as each region of the country boasts a memorable morning meal. If a competition for the best regional breakfast was to be held the jury (and I’d humbly agree to be a part) will end breakfasting for years without a definitive decision. Cornmeal fried in butter with cheese (muhlama) for the comforting start of the day on the Black Sea, local olives and cheeses on the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts, eggs with spicy sausage of sucuk in the Anatolia, a decadent serving of katmer in Gaziantep or strained yoghurt mixed with herbs (cacık) and very thick cream (kaymak) served with the famous Karakovan honey in the East. Not to mention freshly baked bread and strong Turkish tea, the mere essentials you’d see at any breakfast table if everything else fails.

Antakyan breakfast appeared yet another epic affair. Two epic affairs, to be more accurate. One that you have outside and the other to enjoy at home. I have to disappoint and say I have not been to any of the Antakyan breakfast salons that — in a very Middle Eastern fashion — serve hummus and fava bean paste as power breakfast. I was gobbling down plates of hummus meant for three all on my own during all the other meals so I felt I could skip that at least for breakfast. Needless to say, I regret that decision a lot now as I am back to Istanbul. The homemade version of the Antakyan breakfast looked a lot like the Turkish Mediterranean breakfast of my in-laws. A selection of local cheeses, salty strained yoghurt, olive oil, jams, green çizik olives, salad of fresh thyme (it is the season!), savory pastry and salads. As far as I am concerned what was hugely central to the idea of Antakyan brekfast (and remarkably close to my heart and well.. stomach) was the plethora of local Antakya cheeses.

Many local cheeses remind mozzarella: made from fresh cow milk they are stretched and given shapes of flat cakes (lavaş), disks (ezme), strings (sünme), dices (misket) and blocks (dil). They all are slightly chewy, salty and stringy and if you are anything like me I’d not stop pinching off a string after string until the whole piece is gone.

Quite similar to another Mediterranean nation — Italians — the people of Antakya and other Turkish Mediterranean regions also use whey, the liquid that remains after milk curdles and cheese separates. After straining the cheese if you simmer whey longer you will get extremely light and slightly sour cheese called çökelek. Italian ricotta is traditionally made in the same way. Çökelek does not keep so well and probably this is why many ways to stretch it have been invented in Antakya.

One is sürk: it’s a mix of çökelek with dry zahter, red pepper flakes and salt that is shaped into a cone and dried on the sun. Sürk is enjoyed with a lot of good local olive oil and bread for breakfast. This cheese is not for those weak in spirit: seriously pungent, with the kick of hot pepper and cured herbs it should be enjoyed in micro-quantities.

Another way to make çökelek lasts longer is often called cara or testi çökelek: the whey cheese is mixed with dry thyme and nigella seeds (black cumin) and aged in a clay amphora for as long as 20 months, which improves its keeping qualities significantly and turns a humble soft-spoken teen into a mature grown-up that is able to assert itself.

Çökelek and its various forms can be eating alone, used as stuffing for savory pastry of börek and turned into salads. Çökelek salad, remotely reminiscent of its Greek cousin, is truly Mediterranean at heart. In my mother-in law’s house it is routinely made every summer morning and then carried outside with all the breakfast essentials under the giant walnut tree where the day starts with the jokes, strong tea and a rather remarkable breakfast. We had çökelek salad every morning in Antakya where they make it in exactly the same way. Ever if the weather forecast does not agree I consider the season of summer breakfasts open.