In Orhan Pamuk’s 2014 novel An oddity in my mindwe read the story of Istanbul and Mevlut, a street vendor who comes to Istanbul at an early age from a village in the city of Konya in central Anatolia. Drawing inspiration from both Bildungsroman and picaresque novels, The strangeness in my mind documents Mevlut’s transformation into a happy adult man along with the transformation of the city. Mevlut sells yogurt and above all votebut at a certain point in his life he sold chickpea rice with chicken on the streets of Istanbul. How Mevlut and his beloved wife Rahiya prepare and sell this popular street food is described in such detail in the chapter titled “Chickpea Rice: Food Tastes Better When There’s a Little Dirt” that every time I read that chapter I prepare chicken chickpea rice. I can’t help it.
Rice pilaf has always been an important part of Turkish cuisine and chickpea rice in particular has a long history: you can read the recipe and the story here. Chickpea rice with chicken has been a favorite street food for decades, once only sold in street carts, but thanks to its popularity it is now available in many restaurants. You can find this simple, nutritious dish any time of day, but it has become a favorite as a late-night, after-bar-hour food; after drinking, before heading home for a good night’s sleep. The musts of this street food are pickled hot chili peppers and ground black pepper. Although some vendors have yogurt as a side dish, pickled chili is the way to go. Some vendors prepare the chicken, just like Rayiha in the novel, with spices such as oregano, paprika and garlic, but the most common way is simply chicken: most people refrain from seasoning the chicken thinking that the spices are used to cover the ‘odor. or looks like old/leftover chicken from the previous day.
I’ve had my fair share of chicken chickpea rice at different venues and from different vendors, so I’ve been able to perfect my own homemade version of this beloved street food, plus this is a favorite among the kids at my house .
for 4-6 people
2 cups short-grain rice (in Türkiye the most commonly used and preferred type is arborio called baldo)
1/2 cup chickpeas soaked overnight or 1 can chickpeas
2 chicken breasts, preferably with the skin on
1 small onion, peeled and cut in half
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon peppercorns
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons of olive oil
salt
-Soak the chickpeas overnight. The next day, cook them for 15-20 minutes until they are cooked but not mushy. 1/2 cup yields about 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas. OR use a can of chickpeas
-Place the rice in a bowl and cover with enough water to cover 1 inch or more above the rice. We will soak the rice and dissolve the starch while the chicken cooks.
-Place the chicken breasts in a pan with the onion halves, bay leaf and peppercorns. Cover with enough water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and cook for about 35-40 minutes, until fully cooked, first over high heat and then over low heat. During cooking the chicken will form a kind of foam on top. Discard them.
-Once cooked, remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and let it cool. We need that broth. Place a sieve or slotted spoon over a large bowl and strain the broth into the sieve. Discard the onion, bay leaf and peppercorns. Save the broth.
-25-30 minutes after boiling the chicken, drain the rice and rinse it under cold water.
-Heat a pan with a wide bottom, because we never want to crowd the rice. Add butter and olive oil, it might seem like a lot of butter and oil for 2 cups of rice, but it’s not street food if it’s not fatty.
-Add the rice to the pot, using gentle movements, we don’t want to break the rice, stir the rice for 4-5 minutes until it is almost translucent.
-Add the chickpeas. Mix, again gently, for another 2 minutes.
-Add 3 cups of chicken stock that we had set aside: if you gave less than 3 cups, add water. Add 1 teaspoon of salt (since we had already salted the broth, don’t overdo it with salt here)
-First bring to the boil and then cook over low heat for 15-20 minutes until all the water has been absorbed. Don’t stir the rice while cooking, we don’t want to break it. Once the water has been absorbed, check the bottom of the pot with a spoon to see if all the water has disappeared, cover the top of the pot with a clean tea towel or paper towel and close the lid tightly. We want to get all the moisture out of the rice so it isn’t sticky or mushy, a big NO for turkey rice. It should be “tane dens”, each grain separated. Let it rest for 10 minutes, we call this process “preparation”.
-While the rice is “fermenting”, prepare the pulled chicken, small, thin pieces are better than larger ones.
-If the chicken gets cold, move the rice to one side of the pot and place the chicken on the other, close the lid. They will warm each other up.
Serving: Chickpeas with rice are usually served with the upside-down bowl trick. Place a ball of rice in a rather small bowl, fill it to the brim and press it down. Invert the bowl onto a plate as if you were making sand castles. Now you have a rice dome. Generously place the shredded chicken pieces on top. Sprinkle with ground black pepper and add spicy or non-spicy pickles to the dish and you have the perfect street food.
Enjoy your meal!
