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Şalgam
Şalgam suyu: Adana's tangy fermented purple-carrot drink, served icy with kebab
Order an Adana kebab in its home city and a tall glass of şalgam arrives with it, deep purple, salty, sour and often fiery. It is made by fermenting black carrots with a little bulgur and salt for a week or more, and the sharpness clears the palate between bites of lamb and grilled onion. Street carts in Adana sell it by the glass in summer. This home version skips the separate bulgur-sour-dough stage the big producers use. Use non-iodised salt: iodised salt can stall the ferment. Chef's tip: taste from day 5; when it is sour enough to make you blink, strain and chill it, because it keeps fermenting at room temperature.
- Total time
- 20 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
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Method
0/4 doneStep 1: Stir 1 ⅜ oz non-iodised sea salt into 8 ¼ cups filtered water until dissolved.
Step 2: Pack 1 ⅓ lb black (purple) carrots, 1 small turnip, the bag of 2 tbsp fine bulgur and 1 dried hot red chilli if using into a clean 3-litre jar. Pour the brine over so everything is covered, weighing the carrots down with a small plate or a zip bag of brine.
Step 3: Cover loosely and leave somewhere cool and dark for 7–10 days, skimming any white film every couple of days. It is ready when it is cloudy, purple-red and pleasantly sour.
0 minStep 4: Strain into bottles and refrigerate; it keeps for 3 weeks. Serve very cold, with a stick of the pickled carrot in each glass.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 15 kcal
- Protein
- 0 g
- Carbs
- 3 g
- Fat
- 0 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does şalgam take?
- About 20 minutes in total.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
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Spanish