Turkish cooking - Pul biber?

gennie, Jul 12, 2:50am
Does anyone have any ideas where I can get pul biber in NZ? It is Turkish red pepper flakes. And another one is biber salcasi which is a Turkish red pepper paste. I am in Wellington and have tried Moore Wilsons, Mediterranean food warehouse and another place which is a block from Med Food Warehouse in Newtown but no luck (though did find domates salcasi which was the other thing I was trying to find at the same time). Google hasn't been my friend for this one. Thanks.

davidt4, Jul 12, 3:11am
I've looked everywhere for Turkish red pepper flakes with no success. I got some Aleppo pepper (much the same) from Herbie's in Sydney, and I think they sell online.

I buy Turkish red pepper paste from Middle Eastern and Indian spice shops in Auckland, from memory the last jar I got was from Khyber Spice Traders in Sandringham. The brand I buy is Sera Hot Pepper Paste (Aci Ev Tipi Biber Salcasi) and it is delicious. I've also bought Marco Polo brand but haven't seen it around lately.

Good luck! It's really hard to source Turkish ingredients in NZ . If you happen to be in Melbourne make a trip out to BAS Foods in Brunswick - they have a huge range.

accroul, Jul 12, 4:00am
Barakah Foods on Archers Road in Glenfield?

gennie, Jul 12, 4:05am
Thanks Davidt4 - maybe there is an importing opportunity there for someone? Am heading to Brisbane next year which isn't as cosmopolitan as Melbourne but maybe there is something there (and DH just loves it when I have us going all over the place trying to find small obscure shops in the hope that they will be stocking something I can't get in NZ - we've done it before over there - thank goodness for GPS!)

Accroul - thanks for that, unfortunately they don't have a website that I can find and not heading to Auckland anytime soon.

nauru, Jul 12, 4:46am
Have you tried Davis Trading in Petone?

gennie, Jul 12, 6:09am
Thanks for that nauru - I had a vague thought there was something out in the Hutt but couldn't think of the name or location for the life of me and Google wasn't giving me any hints. I will try there over the next week.

uli, Jul 12, 9:15am
Having lived in Turkey I find I can easily substitute Koren pepper flakes for the Turkish ones. They taste pretty much the same in my opinion.

I buy them from our Asian food supermarket and they are very flavourful and not too hot. Give them a try.

davidt4, Jul 12, 9:22am
What a good idea. I 've seen Korean chilli flakes in many Asian food markets but didn't know they were mild. Thanks uli.

gennie, Jul 12, 9:33am
Thanks Uli. Good back up plan. Quite a number of Asian Grocery Stores around here.

rumpelstiltskin, Jul 12, 10:39am
If you go to Petone, check out Ontrays as well - they have have a good range of food products from other countries.

uli, Mar 17, 5:44pm
Well I wouldn't call them "mild" - they are still chillies!
But they are not like Indian hot hot.

I originally bought them to make kimchi, but now I use them a lot in other cooking too.