Can Eriği Crumble

Always curious for new foods I don’t have to think twice when I see something new to me at my turkish vegetable shop. And this time it wasn’t that difficult to find out what it was either, because this fruit came in a box with its name on it: Can Eriği or Plum (Erik). They are little, turkish, green plums and this is what I found on the internet :

“This special plum is like nothing you had before. It has a unique tart taste and, unlike other plums, it is very hard. Its fans can’t wait for it to arrive each season. The season usually starts in mid-April and ends in mid-May. The April batches are smaller and the size grows gradually throughout the season.”

Hard & tart, that’s about right. My partner didn’t even want to believe you could eat them, he thought they weren’t ripe yet. That’s the tricky thing with new food, you don’t know how they are supposed to taste. But I had the feeling they were just how they are supposed to be. Only, I didn’t like them that much. Not in the least because of the stone in the middle. (Later I found out the turkish eat them as a snack with a little bit of salt. Not that bad, but not that good either. Probably something you need to grow up with to appreciate)  So I decide to make a crumble with it. And I have to say, I think it was a big succes. Succesful enough to share on my blog.

Although it’s a pain to destone them. What worked best in the end was slicing them in quarters and then twisting them, like an avocado that you’ve cut in half. The other thing I tried was putting one in a microwave. It exploded within 10 seconds. Which gave me a nice insight of the stone (see first photo), but the method was rejected.
Destoning 12 plums (they are about 2.5 cm in diameter) left me with 100 grams of fruit. Just about enough for 2 little experimental crumbles.

 

RECIPE

Mix the following ingredients together and place in two ramequins or any other ovenproof dish you like:

100 gram of destoned Can Eriği
2 T sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t gingerpowder
1 T almond flakes

Then put together in a bowl:

3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup crushed almond flakes
3/4 cup sugar
1 t baking powder
1/2 t cinnamon
pinch of salt

Beat in a seperate little bowl:
1 egg

Mix the egg into the flourmixture with a fork. Work quickly, it should get the texture of crumbs.
(This is actually too much for the two little ramequins I was making, but because of the one egg it didn’t make sense to me to reduce the quantities)

Now add the crumble-mixture on top of the plums. And then try to cover the whole surface with thin slices of butter. Sprinkle with some additional palmsugar.

Bake in a 190°C/375°F preheated oven for about 25 minutes.