Şaştım aşı is a flexible recipe for a summer dish that is particularly common in Sivas and Kayseri in central Anatolia. In the past it was not the done thing for a lady to go shopping in the market or to the grocer’s. Consequently, it required a great deal of skill for the lady of the house to remain unflustered if an unexpected guest arrived, and be able to devise a meal with whatever foods were in the house. Of course, in those days larders were stocked with ample quantities of all kinds