Balık ekmek, fish bread, is Istanbul's most famous street food. On the Eminönü waterfront near the Galata Bridge, cooks grill mackerel fillets over flames on boats and stalls along the quay and slap them into half loaves of bread with onion and lettuce, and the queue forms in all weathers. Mackerel, uskumru, is the classic, oily and rich enough to stand up to the char and the raw onion, and the whole thing is finished with salt, lemon and a sprinkle of red pepper.

It is the simplest of sandwiches and among the most satisfying, especially with the smell of the Bosphorus in the air. A hot grill pan does the job of the waterfront grills, and the sandwich is ready in 15 minutes. Istanbul Park is a fair drive from the old city, but no race weekend in Istanbul is complete without one.

The onion salad

Ingredients

• 1 medium red onion
• 1 teaspoon sumac
• 2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt

Method

1. Put the onion in the bowl with the sumac, parsley and salt and rub together with your fingers for 30 seconds.

The sandwiches

Ingredients

• 4 boneless mackerel fillets
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 large crusty baguette or Turkish white loaf
• 4 large leaves of crisp lettuce
• 1 large tomato
• 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon pul biber

Method

1. Heat the grill pan over high heat for 5 minutes.
2. Brush the fillets on both sides with oil and season with salt and pepper.
3. Lay the fillets skin side down and cook without moving for 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Turn carefully with the spatula and cook 1 to 2 minutes more.
5. Split the bread lengths almost all the way through and press them cut side down on the grill for 30 seconds.
6. Fill each piece of bread with lettuce, tomato and onion salad, lay a hot fillet on top, squeeze over lemon juice and sprinkle with pul biber.

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