Kustodiev's "Merchant's Wife" 

I lived the initial years of my life in Turkey. It is said that a lot of cognitive and formative stuff take place during the first ten years in a child's mind, and later they present themselves as either quaint memories or peculiar traditions of a culture to which one belongs by birthright.

Thus eating breakfast fare for suppers, or just bread and cheese with fruit for a meal is no stranger to me. Especially during the sultry summers I spent in Diyarbakir, a city famed for its watermelons, a plate of the juicy, ice cold fruit would be the only thing I would want to eat.

I remember my father cutting the dark, oblong, green fruit into half to expose a crimson interior of the watermelon. Then he sliced half moons of equal thickness. Sometimes my sisters and I ate the fruit by holding it from its rind over a plate, and biting into the cool, sweet flesh. Other times there would be bite sized morsels heaped into a huge fruit bowl from which we served ourselves. Babacim liked to include the part between the inner rind of the watermelon and the sweet flesh, which was usually a white color. I didn't care for it much myself, but he said that it was very edible and contained many hidden nutrients good for us.

That was about the time also when he told us a story about Nasreddin Hodja, whose wacky humor he liked a lot. I remember my father's words to this day, because I was quite impressed by the lesson the story held.

Apparently one day Nasreddin Hodja was resting under a walnut tree by a watermelon field. As he looked around, he questioned the Almighty and said to himself, “ Dear God. You have created many great things in this world, but I think with this you went wrong. Here you have these huge melons clinging on scrawny stems, crawling on earth. On the other hand, you granted a huge tree with thick branches to those tiny nuts to hang onto. Wouldn't it have been better if these big fruits  hung from a strong tree instead?”

A few minutes later, a mild breeze picked up and a walnut landed on Hodja's head. After the initial shock, he realized his mistake in questioning God and asked for forgiveness. “Forgive me, dear Lord,” he said. “You knew what you were doing. What if you had listened to me and had  watermelons hanging from the trees and walnuts grow on the ground?”

In Diyarbakir we used to get goat's cheese or sometimes halumi (also spelled halloum) which we consumed with bread and watermelon. Both cheese are salty and create a satisfying balance with a good bread to fill the appetite. The sweet juiciness of the watermelon satiated our thirst as well as our sweet tooth as  much as we wanted.

Inspired by my childhood memories, I created a couple of dishes, using halloumi cheese in one and feta, walnuts, mint and some other ingredients in the other for a light meal or an entrée.

Watermelon and feta kebabs with fragrant mint combine not only different textures but also salty and sweet flavors on the tongue.

A different take  

   

Here, Halloum cheese (salty) is grilled on a pan and served warm with cold, sweet watermelon balls and bluberries to highlight contrasting flavors and textures.  I used half of a buttermilk biscuit in the middle. 

et volià !  

In a different combination, watermelon with feta, a handful of walnuts, ground cherries, blueberries  and green beans make a delightfully light and satisfying summer lunch.

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RECIPE

Ingredients:

1 Watermelon slice, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 oz feta, chunked

handful of walnut meats

1/4 cup  bluberries

fresh green baby beans, blanched in salted water

2-3 fresh mint leaves

3-4 ground cherries, for decoration

Assemble all ingredients as seen in the picture.  There is no dressing or seasoning required for this recipe.

 Bon  Appétit.  Afiyet Olsun.

Füsun Atalay ~ Copyright © DictionMatters-2010