Name: Anchovy Pilaf (Hamsi Pilavi)
Yield: To Serve 4–6
Cuisine: Turkey
Ingredients: salt; 3 tbsp/45 ml water; 250 g/8 oz onions, finely sliced; 1 kg/2 lb anchovies or sardines; 100 ml/3½ fl oz olive oil; 50 g/2 oz pine nuts; 1 tbsp olive oil; 500 ml/17 fl oz boiling water; 1 tbsp caster sugar; 250 g/8 oz rice; ½ tsp ground black pepper; ½ tsp dried thyme; ½ tsp ground cinnamon; 1 tbsp chopped mint; 100 g/3½ oz butter

Preparation info

To Serve
4–6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Nevin Halici's Turkish Cookbook

By Nevin Halici

Published 1989

About

Anchovies are a great favourite along the Black Sea coast and different methods of cooking them are hotly debated; in fact the people of the region are often teased that they would even make jam out of anchovies! This recipe, which comes from Trabzon, combines anchovies with rice in an unusual pie-like pilaf. You can reduce the amount of spices to suit your taste and use small fresh sardines instead of the anchovies.