AKIPRESS.COM - The master class on cooking Ottoman Palace Cuisine dishes was delivered in Bishkek by Chef Şefika Günyel from Turkey.

The cooking session took 3 hours and Mrs. Günyel managed to cook 6 different meals:

1. Almond Soup. While cooking, she told about the eating behavior in Ottoman Empire, they ate only twice a day, and the last meal was no later than 6pm. But they ate a lot.

“Almonds were added to many dishes cooked with chicken. Almond helps to digest food. A food with chicken was mandatory, it was served right after the lamb and beef,” she said.

2. Melon Dolma. This dish requires small round-shaped melons, cleaned from the pulp and seeds. She said the dish can be cooked differently and reminds the stuffed peppers and cabbage rolls.

She also cooked a sauce to the dish prepared from the pulp and juice of melon and its seeds.

3. Bulgur borane with spinach. Spinach must be Fried and served with suzma or ayran with garlic.

4. Honey Mahmoudie. The chicken must be boiled and then be fried with dry apricots, raisins and honey.

5. Green plov. Talking about rice, she noted that it came to the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century from China. Back then, it was very expensive and only the people from the palace could afford it. It became cheaper and affordable for others only in the 18th century, she said.

6. Halva and Haqqani.

Şefika Günyel told AKIpress that the exact number of Ottoman dishes is still unknown since they are a lot. And the recipes differ from each other a lot too, she said.