Kabak tatlısı

Wedges of pumpkin left overnight under a blanket of sugar, then cooked slowly in the syrup they release until they turn translucent and amber, and served cold with crushed walnuts, tahini or a spoon of kaymak: kabak tatlısı is the Turkish winter dessert that needs only two ingredients and a day of patience. It appears when the big grey-green bal kabağı, the honey pumpkin, comes into the markets in late autumn, and it runs through to spring. The dish is home cooking first, a lokanta staple second, and the same idea exists across the Balkans and the Levant. Its cousins in the Turkish repertoire are ayva tatlısı, quince cooked the same way to a deep red, and the candied fruits of Antep; what sets pumpkin apart is that it gives up its own water, so a good one is cooked in almost nothing else.