Balık Ekmek - One of Istanbul's popular street foods.

It’s finally summer and a perfectly warm weather for me means going out and eating out. After the cold winter months and wet spring in Istanbul, I think its just time to really get some sea breeze.  So I decided to go sightseeing and spend a lazy Sunday with my family in Eminönü, one of the busiest districts of Istanbul's Europe side.  My son wanted to get on a ferry boat ride from Kadikoy to Eminönü so we got on a local ferryboat from Kadikoy to Eminönü.

The Common Fish and Other Seafoods Sold in Turkish Supermarkets

 

I’ve been posting about fırında balık (oven baked fish) yesterday after our holiday dinner. Luckily we got those fishes for a really cheap price at the market yesterday because of the Zafer Bayramı (Victory Day) holiday. Actually, the çipura or çupra (Gilthead Sea Bream) in this season are supposedly sold at 14.90 TL (Turkish Lira) per kilogram with each fish weighing at about 200-400 grams. But since its holiday yesterday, their prices drop from 14.90 per kilogram to just 9.99 TL (that's just about $5)! Well that’s pretty damn cheap, so l guess it only makes sense to get a few more fishes to take home and use the freezer to store them for consumption in the next couple of days (perhaps for a different menu).

Oven Baked Fish with Vegetables - Sebzeli Fırında Balık

As we celebrate Victory Day (Zafer Bayramı) today, military parades, Turkish Air Force demonstration flights, and public street parades all make up the local news on television. And when you go out to the streets, you’ll see red Turkish flags hanging on windows and balconies of residential apartment buildings, houses, shops, offices, public and commercial buildings as well as posters and images of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (the founder of modern Turkey).

Fried Horse Mackerel - Istavrit balığı kızartması

The horse mackerel, also known in Turkey as istavrit is one of my favorite fishes to deep fry or just pan fry in winter. They are mostly at its best during the winter months when they are usually fat which makes them even more delicious. Besides that, they are mostly abundant in winter, especially within the early days of December to late January. And because they are at its peak, their abundance makes them very affordable when sold in the markets by the kilo. And unlike hamsi or anchovies which are typically small even when they are fat, the horse mackerel may come much bigger and fatter than the anchovies. More to that, you can buy more plentiful and cook more flavorful horse mackerel if you buy them in anytime between January to early February.