Roka Salatası

the Turkish meze that arrives whenever fish does: long whole leaves laid flat, sharpened with lemon and sumac, and eaten with the fingers beside rakı

Origin: Turkey

From the journey of Rocket.

In Turkey rocket has a job, a name, and a drink, and none of the three is negotiable. Roka belongs with fish. On the Aegean and Marmara coasts a plate of it arrives beside grilled or fried fish without being ordered, in the same way bread does, and it belongs equally to the rakı sofrası, the long unhurried table of cold meze and aniseed spirit that is the characteristic Turkish way of eating fish at all. The construction is minimal and deliberate. The leaves are left long and whole rather than chopped, laid out flat across the plate rather than tumbled into a bowl, and dressed with lemon and oil, usually with sumac and often with nothing else at all. Raw onion or thinly sliced radish goes on top. Everything about the presentation assumes the leaves will be picked up by hand, which is how they are in fact eaten, folded around a piece of fish or taken on their own between mouthfuls of rakı. The reasoning behind the pairing is the same one that puts gargīr beside Egyptian grilled fish, arrived at independently and formalised further. Oily fish coming off charcoal needs heat and acid against it; rocket supplies the first and lemon the second, and sumac adds a fruitier astringency behind the lemon. Turkish cooks are emphatic that the dressing should be assembled on the plate rather than shaken up in advance, so that the oil and lemon stay distinguishable.

Ingredients

Salad

200 g rocket (arugula), long-stemmed bunches, washed and dried
1 small red onion, sliced paper-thin
4 whole radishes, sliced thin (optional)

Dressing

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 tsp ground sumac
0.5 tsp sea salt

To serve

1 whole lemon, cut into wedges, to serve

Method

Wash the rocket and dry it completely. Trim only the very ends of the stems and leave the leaves full length.
Slice the onion as thinly as possible, rinse the slices under cold water, and squeeze them dry in a cloth. Toss them with a pinch of the salt and half the sumac.
Lay the rocket out flat across a wide platter, roughly aligned in one direction, and scatter the onion and the radish slices over it.
Pour the olive oil over the leaves first, then the lemon juice, then scatter the remaining sumac and the salt over everything. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.

Notes

Coarse, peppery, full-grown rocket sold in bunches is much better here than fine bagged leaves, and Turkish greengrocers sell exactly the right thing very cheaply. Serve it with grilled fish, with fried mussels, or as one plate amongst many on a rakı table; it also goes beside kebab and lahmacun, where it is often simply rolled up inside. Some Aegean versions add a spoonful of pomegranate molasses in place of some of the lemon, and some add nothing but lemon and salt, omitting even the oil. Dress it at the last moment: rocket is a thin leaf and this dressing will wilt it within a few minutes.

The Gastrographer

Name: Roka Salatası
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Turkey
Ingredients: 200 g rocket (arugula), long-stemmed bunches, washed and dried; 1 small red onion, sliced paper-thin; 4 whole radishes, sliced thin (optional); 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil; 2 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed; 1 tsp ground sumac; 0.5 tsp sea salt; 1 whole lemon, cut into wedges, to serve

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control