Turkish Chicken Feast

Turkish Chicken Feast is a light and fresh dinner. Sumac covered soft chicken wings with a vibrant green salad with pomegranate and feta cheese and a yogurt dip topped with pomegranate syrup. And done in less than 30 minutes!

In my student years I lived in Turkey for four months. I made lots of close friends there and most of all I ate good. And a lot! Together with my friend Sanja I was writing a blog about our adventures there. You can find my blog here. It is in Slovenian, so sorry to all of you who can’t understand (Quick tip: Google can help you).

Tukish food is all about veggies and meat. My roomate was vegetarian and she had difficulties eating out. There is meat almost everywhere, not in huge amounts, but it is there. I am missing Turkish food so much, that I dedicated my Sunday lunch to Turkey. I’ve actually failed, because I haven’t made any excessively sweet dessert. I’m gonna leave that for another occasion.

This recipe is not a traditional Turkish meal, it was only inspired by some of the best Turkish ingredients.

This is my Turkish chicken feast. Sumac covered chicken with a feta, pomegranate and baby leaf salad. Two most common types of meat you can find there are lamb and chicken. I’m using the delicious chicken wings. Turkish people like to eat yoghurt on the side of meat, so I’m going to do the same. But I’ll serve it a bit differently.

Sumac is a spice that comes from the berries of a bush that grows mostly in Mediteranean countries and is a typical spice in the Middle Easter cuisine. It is a bit sour, but very aromatic and fruity and can be used in many ways. In this recipe I’m gonna use it to marinate my chicken.

Other unusual ingredient is pomegranate syrup. It has two versions. A more purified syrup called Nar Ekşisi and a cheaper syrup called Nar Ekşili. I’m using Nar Ekşisi and love it! I highly recomend buying one or making one at home. Use it in a salad dressing, in meatballs, in yoghurt. So many choices. Let’s start cookin’!

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TURKISH CHICKEN FEAST

Course Main Course

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

CHICKEN

• 20 top parts of chicken wings ~1 kg
• 2 tsp sumac
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 TBSP salt
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup olive oil

DIP

• 200 g Greek-style yogurt
• 1 TBSP pomegranate syrup

SALAD

• 4 handfuls mixed baby leaf salad like lettuce, chard, rocket or any other
• 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
• 120 g feta cheese
• 2 TBSP sunflower seeds
• zest of 1 lemon

DRESSING

• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 TBSP dried or chopped fresh mint

Instructions

1. Combine sumac, cayenne pepper, black pepper, salt, garlic, and olive oil in a big bowl and add chicken wings. Rub the spices in and make sure you get it all around. If you have time, let it marinate in the fridge for half an hour, if not that’s fine. Heat a large pan and add the chicken wings. You don’t need to add any oil, there’s oil on the chicken already.
2. Turn the chicken every minute for about 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile combine lemon juice, olive oil, black pepper, salt, and mint in a salad bowl.
4. Don’t forget to turn the chicken every minute.
5. When chicken is done, move it to a serving plate and finish your salad. Add the salad leaves to the dressing and mix well. Serve it on a plate and top with pomegranate seeds, feta cheese, sunflower seeds, and grated lemon zest over.
6. In another small bowl serve yogurt and top it with pomegranate syrup. Mix just a little bit, to get the marbling effect. Use it as a dip for the chicken.