OK, those of you that have lived in Turkey, the Levant, the Mideast, I have a question...

R

richard-in-cincy

Well-known member
When the light's dimmed around 7:00, and the exotic dueling calls came out of the minarets in the old city of Istanbul. (I truly laughed, it was like, "oh yeah, listen to this!" during the evening prayer call. But then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Salap vendors emerged from the shadows. Richard would go into Pavlov dog until he got his Salap. 7 days in Istanbul and I was addicted. Creamy, hot, milky unctuous laced with cinnamon. The siren call of the salep vendors still haunts my sleep.

So I go to a Middle-eastern grocery. I buy the packet to make Salep, with real salep orchid root. It's from Canada and I know they have first generation citizens who know about these things.

The Salep packet made a pudding!!! It must be a Gulf thing. The Salep in Instanbul is a creamy, hot, thick, drink laced with cinnamon.

That is what I want? I've already added a quart of milk to this orange flower salep pudding. Oy!

I added vanilla, cinnamon, more milk, water!, what have you to try and recreate the Istanbul drink. Nothing doing.

Does anyone know how to make that drink they serve in the old town of Istanbul? I would be so happy to taste that again!

 
I believe there are as many recipes for this as for humus!! In Israel it is

called Sachlav and if you google that you will find many recipes.
The first on I looked at had it as a drink. It was at www.israelifood.com and came up when I goggled sachlav recipes.

I will look in my cookbooks and see if I can find some.

 
Rec: Sahlab - Claudia Roden

Here's her recipe - couldn'f find any others in cookbooks. I don't have a large collection of Mid eastern cookbooks - I just go out of the house and have almost anything!!

"An excellent winder drink made with milk and a powdered resi called
Shalab (saleb in Greek)
2 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp. sahlab
2 tsp. finely choped pistachios
Ground cinnamon

Heat the milk. Add the powdered Sahlab, beating vigorously, and cook over very low heat, stirring all the time until it thickens (about 5-10 minutes). Serve in cups sprinkled with finely chopped pistachios and cinnamom.

Hope this helps..

 
Richard, did you see this?

It says that due to the decline in wild orchid populations because of the popularity of the drink that export is limited so often the packets are mixed with other starches.

His recipe only uses 1 Tbsp for a quart of milk.

rhttp://turkishfood.about.com/od/BeveragesSpirits/a/Turkish-Hot-Milk-With-Cinnamon.htm

 
Thanks all. Yes,I'd heard that the orchid was

being protected and was fairly scarce. The mix I bought at the Mideast grocery was just so different than the drink we enjoyed in Turkey.

 
Here's a version called sahlab (4 C milk to 2 TBL powdered sahlep)

Sahlab
Ingredients: (serves 4)
4 cups milk
2 tablespoons sahlep flour (or substitute with cornstarch)
3 tablespoons sugar
1-2 teaspoons rose water (or orange blossom water)

Toppings:
ground cinnamon
dried shredded coconut
chopped pistachios
additional toppings can include: raisins, nutmeg in place of the cinnamon, and toasted chopped walnuts or almond slivers

Mix the cornstarch with 1/2 cup of the milk and set aside. In a pot, bring the remaining milk and sugar to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Add the cornstarch mixture and stir constantly so that it doesn’t become lumpy. The mixture essentially should become almost pudding like, thick but drinkable; this is the way sahlab is best enjoyed. Add the rose water and give a final stir. Pour the sahlab into individual cups. Dust with ground cinnamon, sprinkle with the shredded coconut and roasted pistachio pieces. Serve hot and enjoy.

http://yumivore.com/2012/12/31/sahlab-orchids-in-my-cup/

 
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