Turkish cuisine is one of the four richest cuisines one earth. Turkish cuisine is the continuation of the Ottoman cuisine of Ottoman Empire which spread over a broad geographical area in history. Turkish cuisine is rather rich in the variety of vegetables, natural herbs, fruits, meats, fish, hunting, equipments, fowls.
Our country, being a peninsula, is prosperous in fish and seafood. Fish and various seafoods are used in meals in all of our large cities and regions near to sea both at restaurants and at homes.
Vegetable and herb dishes both made with olive oil and meat are made in most of the regions of our country. Meat dishes, kebab dishes especially, are savory. Shish kebab and doner kebab are wordly famous dishes.
Our national dish white kidney beans and rice is often served in every region of our country. It is such a significant dish that anyone making these two dishes well is regarded a good cook.
Baklava, the queen of Turkish desserts, is an ageless taste in our cuisine. Baklava is exported for many years now due to its cross-border fame.
A cup of Turkish coffee is a palatable postlude of Turkish meals.
We assure you that all of our dishes, be it dessert or main courses, are delectable.
You can easily make the dishes covered in this book using the spercified ingredients.
Side dishes and salads act as appetizers in our cuisine.
Even though Turkish salads are served with the meals, they also act as side dishes. Approximately forty sorts of side dishes are offered on the table.
The table is almost flowing with milk and honey. All kinds of Aegean herbs and vegetables are used in salads and side dishes.
Herbs boiled in salty water are usually served with alive oil and vinegar; onions and garlic when making salad or side dishes.
This rich group of dish is ornamental to our tables.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
1 cup of strained yoghurt
3 cup tablespoons of grated feta cheese
3 cloves of garlic
Cumin
Salt
Dried mint
4 tablespoons of olive oil
Preparation
Crush the garlic. Mix it with the grated cheese, strained yoghurt, mint, olive oil, cumin and salt. Serve with chili pepper as desired.
The eternal tree, olive, has carried on for ages just like o gift to human life.
Olive offers us the elixir of life that comes in the form of olive oil. It is the miracle of the Mediterranean and known for its benefits to human health.
It is used to cure many diseases and it serves to ensure a healthy diet.
Olive oil dishes are delicious, light and digestion-friendly.
They are easier-to-make, faster-to-cook compared to other dishes.
They can be preserved for longer periods compared to hot dishes.
Although the olive oil dishes are categorized as the “globally, the olive oil dishes are accepted as one of the main dishes in Turkey.
Especially, on the broiling summer days, the olive oil dishes are preferable in our tables.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
300 g vine leaves
4 onions -3 tomatoes
1 ½ cup of rice- ½ cup of olive oil
1 tablespoon of dried mint
1-1 ½ dessertspoon of black pepper
1 dessertspoon of red pepper - Salt
Preparation
Put the vine leaves in boiled water and boil until they change color. Drain the leaves and let them rest aside. Stir the chopped onions in a deep pan with olive oil until tender. Wash the rice and add it into the stirred onions.
Stir more until the rice gets transparent. Add the grated tomatoes and stir for about 1-2 minutes. Add the salt, black pepper and mint on the top. Finally, add a little bit of water and cook until the rice is tender. Let it cool.
Once cooled, lay down the vine leaves and wrap the rice mixture with them. Then tuck in the sides of the leaf and roll it up tightly to make a cylindrical parcel. Place some of the vine leaves at the bottom of the saucepan and arrange the stuffed vine leaves on those leaves. Cover the pan with the lid and bring it to boil. Served cold.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
½ cup of red lentil
¼ cup of rice
¼ cup of bulgur
1 tablespoon of flour
2 tablespoon of margarine
2 tablespoon of tomato paste
6 cups of bouillon
Chili pepper
Mint
Salt
Preparation
Melt one tablespoon of margarine in a saucepan on low heat. Add flour and brown it using a wooded spoon. Dilute the tomato paste using two tablespoons of water.
Add it to the flour. Pour the bouillon gradually stirring and cook until boiled. Clean the lentil, rice and bulgur. Add them to the boiling bouillon. Add salt. Cook until the lentil, rice and bulgur are tender. Melt the remaining margarine in a pan. Add the chili pepper and mint. Let them brown. Pour the sauce over the soup. Serve hot.
Vegetable dishes are one of the indispensables of Turkish cuisine.
Many of those dishes are made with a variety of vegetables and herbs available throughout our country and form a regular meal of our daily lives.
Stuffed vegetables or wraps are usually made without meat but with olive oil. Meat and ground meat can be used with all sorts of vegetables.
Not only can stuffings be made by carving tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines, artichokes, calery roots, but also wraps by boiling leaves and vines of cabbages and chards with ground meat, raw rice, onion, parsley, dill and black pepper as desired.
In making pastries also, stuffings can be made using a mixture of feta cheese, raw eggs and vegetable.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
4 mid-size aubergines
2 onions-2 tomatoes
200 g ground meat
1/3 cup of sun flower seed oil
2 table spoons of margarine
1 cup of bouillon-Half bunch of parsley
Black pepper- Salt
Preparation
Peel the aubergines and slash them down. Then, soak them into rather salty water and let them rest for about thirty minutes. Take the aubergines out and rinse them. Peel the tomatoes.
Take six slices out of the tomatoes and chop the remaining into small pieces. Dice the onions. Fry the aubergines in a pan until tender. Melt the margarine in another pan and stir the onions. Add 4/5 of the ground meat and continue stirring.
Once the ground meat is boiled down, add the tomatoes and brown them. When they change color, remove from heat and mix with salt, black pepper and the rest of the ground meat. Fill the smashed aubergines with the mixture and place one slice of tomato on each aubergine. Arrange the aubergines in a tray.
Pour one cup of bouillon on the aubergines and cook on stove or bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. Garnish with the chopped parsley before serving
If a guest is over of a reception is organized, meat dish is the first that will flash in one’s mind.
Meat dish works well with the main course to increase the variety and to empower the table.
In our country, the easy-to-make ones are made at home wile the more difficult ones, especially the local ones are served at restaurants.
Doner kebab and local kebabs are usually difficult-to-make and are more likely to be enjoyed at restaurants.
It is a unique experience to enjoy a special kind of kebab made by a competent cook.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
7 ½ kg lamb’s leg
2 ½ kg veal’s leg
2 ½ kg ground lamb meat
(the separating membrane of the lamb’s internal organs from its chest cage)
2 kg of onions
250 g olive oil
One handful of ungrounded black pepper
Preparation
Tear the meat into pieces in the size of skewer portions into a bowl large enough to maintain all the meat ingredients.
Finely chop the onions and rub them with salt. Fill in the meat with onion using one line of meat against one line of onion with a few peppercorns. Sprinkle olive oil. Keep the mixture in a refrigerator. Salt the ground meat and membrane part. Cover it using two onions. Place it also in the refrigerator. Once in a while, take the meat mixture contained in the deep bowl out of the refrigerator and toss it upside down. Then knead it and put them back in the refrigerator. Preserve the meat in the refrigerator and shake off the onion and peppercorns on them. Arrange on the skewer one small piece of fat, then one piece of meat, some ground meat and membrane in order all cut proportionally. Cut away the meat pieces that ooze out and stack them back into the skewer. Arrange all the ingredients on the skewer this way. Mount the skewer back and roast it constantly revolving the skewer.
Keep the skewer away from the fire so as to prevent it from burning.
An hour later, bring it closer to the fire. If you do not do this, one side of the meat will be roasted even burnt while the inside of it will remain raw. It is more delectable when the doner kebab is cooked using wood charcoal.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
500 g ground
3 onion
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 ¼ cup of rice
2 dessertspoon of grated yellow cheese
1 bunch of parsley
1 bunch of dill
1 pinch of thyme
Frying oil
1 ¼ cup of flour
2 egg
Salt-Black pepper
Preparation
Heat the oil. Chop the onions and brown them in the frying oil. Add half of the ground meat into the onions and brown it until it boils down. Remove from heat. Mix up the onion – meat mixture and the remaining raw ground meat in a large bowl. Add one egg, boiled rice, grated yellow cheese, chopped dill and parsley, thyme, black pepper and salt. Brown them all.
Then, pick small pieces from this mixture and shape them oval. Beat the eggs in another bowl. Coat the meatballs with flour and then beaten eggs. Fry the meatballs.
Our cuisine yields a rich variety of this category of dishes thanks to the peninsula shape of our country.
The most consumed sea food is mussels and the most consumed fish is anchovy.
The manner of cooking seafood and fish also varies quite a lot. Steamed fish stew, frying, grilling, and baking are only the most known and common methods.
The fish dishes are rich in vitamin and protein and are easy-to-digest.
In the fish restaurants in large cities, you can find any type of fish during any season.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
500 g anchovy
2 potatoes
2 onions
2 tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic
Bay leaves (as desired)
Half a lemon
Vegetable oil
Salt- Black pepper
Preparation
Chop the onions. Arrange them at the bottom of the saucepan. Cut the potatoes and arrange them at the bottom of the saucepan also.
Grate the carrot and finely chop the garlic. Add them all to the saucepan. Arrange the anchovy in the sauce-pan.
Slice the tomatoes in rounds and arrange them over the anchovy. Season with salt and black pepper.
Slice the lemon in rounds and arrange them over the tomatoes. Place the bay leaves at the top. Let it cook in its juice on low heat without any water.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
12 mid-size mussels-1/4 cup of olive
1 roundly chopped lemon-1 cup of water
For the stuffing
300 g rice-2 onions-30 g blackcurrants-30 g pine kernel
Salt- Black pepper- 1 teaspoon of spice
1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh mint
1 cup of olive oil- 1 ½ cup of water- 1 teaspoon of sugar
Preparation
Rest the rice in plenty of warm water for an hour. Rinse and drain it. Heat 1 cup of olive oil in a deep saucepan. Stir the pine kernel and brown until they turn pink. Finely chop the onions and stir slowly until tender. Add the rice and brown the mixture for about 4-5 minutes. Add salt and blackcurrant to stir. Add 1 cup of hot water and cook it like rice dish for about 15 minutes. Once you remove from stove, add the spices, dills, parsley, mint and sugar to blend and leave to cool. Once the mussels are cleaned properly, open them at the back using a flat knife. Be careful not to let the shell break off.
Clean the sand and hair inside the mussels and push the flesh to one side of the shell. Stuff the mussels with the mixture and stick together the shell. Arrange the lemon slices at the bottom of the saucepan. Arrange the stuffed mussels on top of the lemon slices. Sprinkle olive oil. Pour water. Cover with a plate first an then the lid of the saucepan in order to prevent the stuffed mussels from moving. Let it boil and as soon as it has boiled, turn the heater down. Cook on low heat for about 20 minutes.
Apply olive oil before serving so as to give them a shin y look before serving.
The most important characteristic of chicken dishes is that they are light and healthier compared to the red meat dishes.
It is possible to make a series of dishes using chicken rich in variety.
Just like the red meat, you can diversify the dish offering it with vegetables if you like. Chicken dishes are indisputably delicious.
Chicken may be cooked in a series of ways.
Grilled chicken wings have become particularly common in the recent years.
In our cuisine, egg dishes are usually served in mornings. Egg is very rich in nutrients any may as well be preferred in other meals as a light option as desired.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
2 Chicken breasts
1 onion
1 red pepper
5 pepperonis
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 large size tomatoes
Salt-Black pepper
Thyme
Preparation
Dice the chicken breast in cubes and brown them in a Teflon pan on mid-heat until it boils down. Sprinkle some salt. Finely chop the onions and garlic. Saute them in olive oil.
Add them to the pan. Add salt, black pepper and thyme and mix.
Cover and simmer stirring once in a while on mid-heat for about 15 minutes.
Turkish people consume a high degree of rice annually.
Our rice dishes are incomparably delicious to other cuisines.
A variety of delicious rice dishes can be achieved through adding all kinds of vegetables, herbs, spices and legumes.
Rice and pasta are generally served with the main course.
When, for example, the traditional Turkish dish haricot beans are cooked, a dish of rice will certainly accompany it.
The rice dish usually is served with a couple of spoons of haricot beans on the top.
Bulgur, on the other hand, is most consumed in more rural areas.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
2 cup of bulgur
2 onions
2 tomatoes
2 green pepper
½ cup of vegetables oil
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
3.5 cup of water
Red pepper
Black pepper
Salt
Preparation
Wash and drain the bulgur. Finely chop the onions. Brown them in a saucepan. Finely chop the peppers. Add the peppers into the onions. Dice the tomatoes. Add the tomato paste. When the vegetable juice has boiled down, add bulgur. Brown the bulgur. Add water.
Season with salt, black pepper and red pepper. Cover and simmer on low heat until the food has boiled down.
Pastries in Turkish cuisine date back to old days.
They are so delicious because there are various ways to make pastries.
It is everyone’s favorite dish. Neighbors tell each other about the pastries they make. Dough is rolled; stuffing is made by mixing up spices, vegetables or ground meat or cube meat, and herbs and the pastry is ready to be cooked.
On religious festival days, baklava and pastries are the favorite. Pastries are both delicious and economic; and can be served both cold and hot.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
1 cup of grated feta cheese
5 eggs
500 g flour
Half a cup of yoghurt
Half a cup of milk
Salt
Preparation
Mix up all the ingredients except for cheese. Knead softly. Divide the dough into 5 equal portions. Roll out each portion.
The dough must be mid-thick (like it is for the ‘manti’). Sprinkle the grated cheese and cut the pastry in 4 inch thick stripes. Roll the stripes and tuck in the ends of each roll.
Press them lightly to stick together. Let them rest in refrigerator.
Then, unroll them in a serving plate and fry in Teflon pan with a little bit of oil.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
2 cups of flour- 2 teaspoon of salt- 3 g dry yeast
Half a dessertspoon of sugar
¼ cup of warm water – 150 g yoghurt – 3 tomatoes
1 onion – 250 g ground meat – 1 bunch of parsley
5 cloves of garlic – 5 long green peppers
Black pepper – Salt
Preparation
Finely chop the onion, parsley and long green peppers. Crush the onions. Crush the yeast and sugar using warm water. Divide the lemon into eight. Peel and dice the tomatoes. Sift the flour.
Set aside 2 tablespoons of flour and mix the rest with 2 teaspoons of salt. Create a pool in the middle of the flour. Put the yeast – sugar – water mixture and yoghurt in there. Knead the batter until it is not sticky.
Place a damp piece of cloth and let it ferment for about 30 minutes. Divide the dough into large pieces. Dip each piece in flour and unroll in 0.8 inch thick. Prepare the stuffing. Blend well in o bowl the tomatoes, onions, ground meat, parsley , long green peppers , garlic , salt , and black pepper. Spread the mixture over the unrolled dough.
Leave about 0.4 inch blank on the edges of the dough. Sprinkle flour over the baking tray.
Arrange the lahmacuns on the tray and bake in the preheated oven at 220 degrees for about 15 minutes.
Desserts have o wide variety ranging from to ones with syrup to ones with milk.
Milky desserts are not only lighter compared to the ones with syrup but also easier and quicker to make. Syrup desserts, however, offer a palatable pleasure.
It is hard to make a preference between the two. Desserts are usually served after meals.
Many of desserts can be made at home, although harder compared to other dishes in our cuisine.
However, it is worth all the effort at the end of the day. Home – made traditional Turkish deserts have always been a unique offer for its ingredients and taste.
Desserts are made and offered quite often at every Turkish home.
Ingredients (Serves 6)
1 kg baklava.
3 eggs.
1 pinch of salt (to fortify the dough)
2 cups of water
500 g of farina
500 g of farina
400 g of butter or margarine.
1 kg of sugar.
250 g of nuts.
For syrup
2,5 cup of sugar
2 ½ cup of water
Juice of half a lemon
Preparation
Pour flour into a wide bowl and break the eggs. Add and a cup of warm water. Knead the dough until it is hard. Cover the bowl with a damp piece of cloth and leave in to rest for about 20 minutes. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Sprinkle farina over each piece. Give them a flat shape. Roll the pieces. As thin as possible using a roller over a counter.
Constantly sprinkle farina as you roll the pieces. Oil the baking tray. Arrange the dough pieces in the tray. Melt butter in a pan. Apply using a brush the melted butter over the first dough piece as you spread it in the tray.
Once the half of the dough is placed in tray, spread the ground nut over them. Arrange the remaining dough pieces over the first layers. Do this with each piece.
Tuck the oozing dough in to the tray. Slice the dough using the back of a knife in the pattern you like. Pour the melted butter over the slices. Preheat the oven on mid-heat.
Bake the baklava for about 30 minutes. Boil water, sugar and lemon juice (add the lemon juice last just a few minutes before you turn off the stove).
Serve with cold syrup on the top as soon as you take baklava out.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
1.375 g of sugar
16 cups of water
1 cup of wheat farina
1/3 of rose water
1 cing sugar
Preparation
Put water in a large saucepan. Melt sugar in the water using a wooden spoon. Place it on a low –heat stove and gradually add the wheat farina. Stir constantly. Ensure to stir from bottom to top to ensure a thickness. Remove from heat. Pour just a few drops of the mixture over sugar. This is to test if the mixture is cooked: it is not cooked if the sugar gets wet and absorbs the mixture. Continue boiling. Add rose water. Stir one more minute. Oil a 1inch high baking tray using almond oil. Pour the mixture into the tray. Slice it when cold in 1inch thick pieces. Dip each piece into a powder mixture made of half a pack farina and 1 pack icing powder. Serve when they are completely dipped into the powder mixture and not sticking one another.
A variety of the meals are accompanied by a variety of drinks at different times. Pastries and rice dishes are accompanied by dried fruit compotes and stewed fruits.
Ayran (buttermilk drink) completes the meat dishes while tea is served after meals. It is indispensable at breakfasts, in late afternoons and any time of the day.
Taste of Turkish coffee is unique. It is complementary to social occasions during conversations and chats.
On hot summer days, lemonade and sour cherry syrups are preferred.
A rich variety of drinks can be included in the lists and it surely all depends of your taste.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
3 dessertspoons of sugar
4 dessertspoons of Turkish coffee
4 Turkish coffee cups of water
Preparation
Put coffee and sugar in a coffee pot (for Turkish coffee). Add water and stir. Cook on low heat until the top foams up.
Distribute the foamy part into the coffee cups. Put the pot on stove again to boil the rest. Once boiled, pour it all into the coffee cups. Serve hot.