Turkish Toast

We made a trip to Turkey few years back and food was certainly one of the main highlights of the trip. I was so excited about the food that after I got back, I threw a house warming party with all food Turkish.


After seeing my excitement for Turkish food, my Turkish PhD co-advisor took us to one of her favorite restaurant in Philly "Cafe Fulya". It is a homely restaurant run by Mother/Daughter combo and has quite authentic and tasty stuff.  I believe the name of the mother is Fulya. We fell in love with this restaurant and would often take visitors from out of town to this place as it did provide some variety. We even had Sid's defense party celebration at this restaurant. Few of mine favorite items at this place are spinach manti (almost like spinach ravioli with yogurt sauce), vegetarian Turkish Toast, and Zucchini pancake.

One item they serve on the menu is "Turkish Toast". Now I can't remember if the vegetarian version was invented when you asked for it but it was heavenly. The key ingredients are loads of butter, Turkish feta cheese, and sumac. The "generous" butter gives it a heavenly taste.

Now this is how I make it (Serves 2):
Ingredients:
2 large slices white bread or four small sandwich slices white bread
2-4 oz Turkish feta cheese (or based on your taste)  [If I don't have turkish feta at hand, I make paneer from 2 cups of milk and 1/2 cup of yogurt. To give the salty taste, I sprinkle paneer with generous amount of salt)
1 medium tomato
2 teaspoon sumac (Turkish spice - Key ingredient)
Butter - generous amount

- Take one large white bread and slice it diagonally or take two small white bread slices
- Apply generous amount of butter on both sides of the bread
- Place thin slices of 1/2 of the tomato on one side of the bread
- Sprinkle with one tea spoon of sumac
- Place thin slices of turkish feta cheese while covering the whole bread
- Cover with the remaining bread
- Now heat your Panini press and place this sandwich on the press
- Heat for 1-2 minutes until well toasted and serve with tea or Aryan (Turkish butter milk)
- Repeat the procedure to make the second sandwich