We’re stepping out of Refika’s kitchen and hitting the streets of Istanbul! In this video, I spent a day as a street pilaf vendor and shared the unique moments I experienced while selling. It was a day full of warm conversations, unexpected reactions, and the vibrant energy of street food.
We prepared 3 special pilaf varieties: plain, curry-flavored, and tomato-based. Then, I dressed up as a pilaf uncle and hit the streets to sell them. It was an exciting adventure that brought me closer to the heart of street culture!
In this series, I’ll be exploring different street foods, taking on a new role in each episode. What street food should I sell in the next video? Don’t forget to share your suggestions in the comments!
👉 Don’t forget to subscribe and turn on notifications to stay updated on our new videos!
Chicken
3 kg chicken breast
1 kg boneless chicken thigh
2 onions, chunks
6 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon salt
6 liters of water
While roasting,
10 tablespoons sunflower oil, 100 ml
4 tablespoons butter, 100 g
4 tablespoons chicken spice
*Place the chicken in the pressure cooker. Add water, onions, cloves of garlic, salt and black peppercorns. If it doesn’t fit in the pot, you can do it in two batches or if you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can cook it in a regular pot for 40 minutes.
*Close the lid of the pressure cooker and start cooking on high heat. When the pressure cooker whistles, turn it to low heat and cook for 15 minutes.
*When the time is up, strain and separate the chicken and its water. You can use the water for pilaf.
*Shred the boiled chicken and sear it in a pan with butter and sunflower oil, seasoning it with that chicken spice for extra flavor. To shred it easily, you can use a hand mixer.
Chicken spice
21 g cumin
21 g sea salt
14,5 g granulated garlic
10,5 g black peppe
10,5 g powdered tomato
8,5 g sugar
7 g red pepper flakes
6 g powdered red pepper
1 g oregano
To make the spice mixture, mix all the ingredients in a bowl and put it in a jar.
Boiled chickpeas
2 kg chickpeas,
1 tablespoon salt
*Soak the chickpeas in water the night before, strain them when they swell, put them in a pressure cooker and add water until it covers them by 4 fingers, add salt.
*Close the lid of the pressure cooker and boil on high heat until pressure builds, then on low heat for about 30 minutes.
*After the chickpeas are boiled, strain and store them in storage containers.
Pilaf with vermicelli
2.5 kg baldo rice
1 pack vermicelli, 500 g
10 tablespoons butter, 200 g
10 tablespoons sunflower oil, 80 g
2 tablespoons salt
3 liters hot water
3 liters hot chicken broth
*Add butter and sunflower oil to a large rice pot. When the butter starts to melt, add vermicelli and start roasting.
*When vermicelli turns golden, add rice that you have previously soaked in warm water and strained, to the pot and continue roasting. Add salt to the pot while roasting the rice. You can reduce or increase the amount of salt according to your taste.
*When the rice becomes completely transparent, add hot water and hot chicken broth, stir once and close the pot lid.
*To understand that the rice is cooked, make a hole in the middle with the handle of a wooden spoon. If the rice does not stop and falls to the middle immediately and water accumulates in the hole, it is not cooked. If the water doesn’t fill the middle and the rice grains stay where you pushed them, it’s done. Cover it with a clean kitchen cloth, close the lid and let it brew for at least 30-40 minutes.
*Tomato and curry pilaf recipes are in the comments!
JOIN: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCONn…
SUBSCRIBE: https://bit.ly/38QQ03R
►SUBSCRIBE ► ►► https://bit.ly/38QQ03R
►CHECK OUT OUR TURKISH CHANNEL ► ►► https://bit.ly/2EJ0NU3
►CHECK OUT OUR TURKISH VIDEOS W/ ENGLISH SUBTITLES ► ►► https://bit.ly/2G62xHD
►Our Amazon Store for USA Shopping: https://amzn.to/3MMadOa
►To subscribe our Turkish channel: http://bit.ly/RefikaninYemekOkulu
To follow what is happening in our kitchen and cooking school;
►Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/refikaninmutfagi
►Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/refikabirgul/
►Twitter: https://twitter.com/refikabirgul
►Website: https://www.refikaninmutfagi.com
►The handcraft products that we use in our kitchen: https://goo.gl/0aKsMW
22 Comments
Tomato Rice
1.5 kg baldo rice
5 tablespoons butter, 125 g
5 tablespoons sunflower oil, 50 g
4 heaping tablespoons tomato paste
3 cans tomato puree, 600 g
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoons vinegar
650 ml hot water
750 ml hot chicken stock
Add 2 tablespoons butter and sunflower oil to the pot. Add tomato paste and start cooking. When the paste starts to thicken, add tomato puree and continue . Add granulated sugar, salt, vinegar and mix. You can decrease or increase the amount of salt according to your taste.
Take the tomato paste and tomato puree mixture from the pot and scrape it well. Add the remaining butter and sunflower oil to the pot. When the butter starts to melt, add the rice that you have previously soaked in warm water and strained to the pot and start frying. After the rice is slightly roasted, add the tomato paste mixture that you set aside.
Add hot water and hot chicken broth and stir once. Then close the pot lid.
To understand that the rice is cooked, make a hole in the middle with the handle of a wooden spoon. If the rice does not stop and falls to the middle immediately and water accumulates in the hole, it is not cooked. If the water does not fill the middle and the rice grains stay where you pushed them, it is done. Cover it with a clean kitchen cloth, close the lid and let it brew for at least 30-40 minutes.
Curry Rice
1.5 kg baldo rice
5 tablespoons butter, 125 g
5 tablespoons sunflower oil, 50 g
2 tablespoons curry
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 liter hot water, 4 cups
1 liter hot chicken stock, 4 cups
Add butter and sunflower oil to the pot. When the butter starts to melt, add the rice that you have soaked and drained beforehand and fry. While the rice is roasting, add curry, salt and granulated sugar and mix. You can reduce or increase the amount of salt according to your taste.
When the rice is thoroughly roasted, add water and hot chicken stock to the pot and mix. Close the lid of the pot.
To understand that the rice is cooked, make a hole in the middle with the handle of a wooden spoon. If the rice does not stop and falls to the middle immediately and water accumulates in the hole, it is not cooked. If the water does not fill the middle and the rice grains stay where you pushed them, it is done. Cover it with a clean kitchen cloth, close the lid and let it brew for at least 30-40 minutes.
Refika you’re wonderful. I want to come to Istanbul because oh Yunus Emre and because of you!
Looks delicious.
😂
I wanna move to turkey❤
The fact that you're an introvert gives me such hope! I appreciated your insights on happiness and hope.
The skinniest turkush mustache ever😂😂😂Sell as a woman to show women it can be done. Wear a wig, wear hijab, wear glasses, a hat whatever but do it as a woman canim! Street food should evolve. Can u make one with middle eastern 7 spices!
Love from Macedonia Refika!
Refika you are an amazing person and chef. It is always interesi to watch your channel, and this effort to try to elevate street food in your beautiful city is great and also touching. Lot's of love from Tbilisi, Gurjistan❤🇬🇪 Peace and prosperity to all the good, hardworking people everywhere ❤
Even pretty with a mustache! 😄
Really great initiative Refika, loving greetings from Maastricht Netherlands xx
❤🐾❤
Covert operations ..hmm. Rafika you got moustaches as well ,,, funny you are one cute crazy girl..
Enjoyable to watch 😅 we love you Refika and your team ❤️
It's a shame there's no Greeks in the city. Where did they go 🤔 Mystery
Refika, you have such a big heart! It’s a rare and beautiful treasure. Thanks for all you do and all your teams does!
😂
Brilliant idea!
I am so proud of you and your team Dear Refika ❤❤❤❤❤❤
You are a great lesson to all of us . Please receive many kisses and hugs from Canada ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Loved this Refika! Miss the streets of Istanbul ❤ I agree, we for sure opt for smaller local cuisine vendors over fancy restaurants when visiting 💯
yaaa bir de Ingilizce kanalinizda Turk halki mutlu degil falan diye gonderme yapiyorsunuz, o kadar insanliga onem veriyorsaniz hadi Filistin ile ilgili bir aciklama yapin da gorelim.
I hope you gave the little kitty a bit when you were done! Even though you brought your prep costs down (oil, not butter, ect) still selling price was hard for some to purchase. People are struggling all over the world, help out what you can in the ways you are able, brighten someone's day love from Oregon