The Turkish Cuisine
The Turkish Cuisine is considered one of the best in the world. It would be a real shame to visit Turkey ad not sample some of the tasty dishes Turkey is famed for.
Turkish cuisine is largely the heritage of the Ottoman cuisine, The Ottomans fused various culinary traditions of their realm with influences from Levantine cuisines, Egyptian cuisine, Greek cuisine, Balkan cuisine, along with traditional Turkic elements from Central Asia (such as yogurt and pastırma), creating a vast array of specialities.
Dolma
Dolma simply means, “stuffed,” but there are limitless possibilities when it comes to stuffing, a common technique in Anatolian cuisine. Dolma often uses a rice-based mixture of spices, pine nuts, and even small dried fruits to stuff vegetables such as flavorful peppers or courgettes. The streets of coastal towns and downtown Istanbul, however, feature a different kind of dolma: midye dolma, or stuffed mussels are a delicacy relished by night owls. Midye dolma come packed in their shells and arranged on large circular platters, equipped with fresh lemons to squeeze onto the salty sea-dwellers – a Turkish street food staple.
Menemen
Think all the ways to serve eggs for breakfast have been exhausted? Think again. Somewhat similar to shakshuka, menemen is a cross between scrambled eggs and a vegetable stew. Tomatoes, onions and peppers are cooked down to a savory broth, then eggs are quickly whisked in and broiled by the simmering tomato juice to form this filling, yet light breakfast staple. Additionally, cheese or sucuk, a spicy sausage, are ingredients often added to enrich the flavor. Any breakfast-goer would be remiss not to use liberal amounts of bread to dip and spoon out this goopy goodness.
Kebap
Most fast food connoisseurs will know kebap in its most basic form – döner, meaning ‘turning’, is the open-faced sandwich stuffed with greens and thinly shaved slices from a massive, vertically rotating skewer of meat from which it takes its name. However, those more familiar with Turkish cuisine will recognize kebap as a sprawling family tree of all kinds of skewered meats, seasoned and served with different accompaniments. Some of the most famous types of kebap are identified by their city or region of provenance, such as the spicy Adana kebap or the milder Urfa kebap. These are both from the southeast of Turkey. A particularly famous form of kebap is known as the Iskender Kebap. It is prepared over a bed of pita bread and drenched slices of meat and tomato juice and served with heaps of yogurt
Çig Köfte
Pronounced “chee,” this variant of köfte literally means “raw meatballs.” As unappetizing as the name might appear, çig köfte is said to have originated within the geography of modern-day Turkey as early as the time of Abraham. At this time, a shortage of firewood prompted the innovation of this original version of steak tartare. Traditionally an amalgam of kneaded bulgur, scallions, spices and fresh raw meat, the çig köfte served nowadays is a bit easier to stomach. This is due to legislature in 2009, after Turkey’s accession to the European Union, banning raw meat. The çig köfte lives on as a delicious, savory ball of kneaded bulgur and spices. In the style of çig köfte past, these balls of bulgur are served with all kinds of green garnishes, lemon juice and wrapped in lettuce or thin flatbread, making this dish a quick and delicious snack to eat on the go.
Turkish Breakfast
A typical Turkish breakfast consists of cheese (beyaz peynir, kaşar etc.), butter, olives, eggs, muhammara, tomatoes, cucumbers, jam, honey, and kaymak, sucuk (a spicy Turkish food similar to sausages), pastırma, börek, simit, poğaça ,fried dough (known as pişi), as well as soups are eaten as a morning meal in Turkey.
Kokoreç
Kokoreç consisting of Lamb intestines wrapped around seasoned offal, including hearts, lungs or kidney is typically grilled and is one of the most consumed fast foods in Turkey, being described as "the signature delight" of the country. Although it is also served in some restaurants, most of the kokoreç is prepared, cooked and sold in small kiosks year-round, and is usually consumed as a sandwich after having alcohol.
Börek
Börek is a family of baked filled pastries made of a thin flaky dough such as phyllo or yufka, typically filled with meat, cheese or vegetables. Turkey enjoys a wide variety of regional variations of börek, the most common being - Sigara böreği which is a cylindrical variety, often filled with feta cheese, potato, parsley and sometimes with minced meat.
Simit
Simit is a circular bread, typically encrusted with sesame seeds or, less commonly, poppy, flax or sunflower seeds, found across the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, and the Middle East. Simit's size, crunch, chewiness, and other characteristics vary slightly by region.
Dondurma
Dondurma is commonly sold from both street vendors' carts and store fronts, where the mixture is churned regularly with long-handled paddles to keep it workable. Vendors often tease the customer by serving the ice cream cone on a stick, and then taking away the dondurma with the stick by rotating it around, before finally giving it to the customer. Vendors often wear traditional clothing of the Ottoman period.
Baklava
One of the world-renowned desserts of Turkish cuisine is baklava. Baklava is a rich, sweet dessert pastry made of layers of filo filled with chopped nuts and sweetened and held together with syrup, frosting or honey. Baklava is usually served at room temperature, and is often garnished with ground nuts.
