Born: Istanbul, Turkey, 1928
Mother tongue: Turkish
Grandchildren: Seyfi, Zeynep
They call her: Anneanne
Everybody here makes helva but my grandchildren say no one does it like me. They always get upset that I might not be telling them something top-secret in the recipe because they say theirs never tastes as good as my own. In Turkey we make it for religious holidays like Kandil or for funerals but I make it for the grandchildren every week.
Most people use milk instead of water for helva, but with milk it tastes a little more like pudding, it’s more creamy. This version is from the Black Sea region, which is where my mother was from, and this is her recipe. She was a master in the kitchen. She was always the host and I learned to make special sweet dishes from her.
