Famous Turkish dishes
When you find yourself on an all-inclusive holiday in Turkey, it is better to leave the opportunity to fill yourself up for breakfast. And in the evening, instead of gobbling up French fries and fried chicken, go in search of real Turkish cuisine! The hotel buffet has nothing to do with the gastronomic attractions of the country, but a real tourist should try everything!
- Current tours to Turkey from Belarusian travel agencies
Turkish cuisine is varied, spicy and full of different flavours. There is an opinion that it is not as refined as the European one. But we can definitely say that, like all oriental cuisine, it is exotic and unusual, especially for Belarusians.
So, what to try in Turkey and what dishes to pay attention to when visiting restaurants of national cuisine, we will tell you in our review.
What to try when traveling in Turkey
Eating in Turkey is a big part of the fun experience. When traveling around Turkey, do not limit yourself to eating in restaurants (especially hotel and/or tourist ones). Try street food in small cafes and food stalls.
Turkish breakfast (kahvalti)
Turkish bread or toast, butter, jam, chocolate and/or honey, olives, hard-boiled eggs, the most delicious tomatoes in the world, cucumbers, several types of cheese, and, of course, coffee or tea. Turkish breakfast (kahvalti) is considered one of the best in the world and is served in many restaurants, cafes, hotels and guesthouses. There are no restrictions for kahwalti, so each owner brings something of his own to this wonderful tradition.
Menemen
The Turkish version of scrambled eggs for breakfast is an omelet mixed with stewed vegetables. Very tasty with warm pita bread) Menemen can be easily found in the menus of cafes and small restaurants, and is often offered as an addition to the Turkish breakfast.
Simit
The most popular baked goods sold everywhere in Turkey. Known since the 16th century. Probably, the popularity of this sesame bun is due to the fact that it can be a complete breakfast or snack.
Chorba
Typically, Turkish soups (chorba) are thick and rich, based on lentils or tomatoes. Try traditional chorba made from lentils and rice (ezogelin çorbası, ezo-gelin) or just from lentils (mercimek çorbası, mermesik - chorbasi), chicken soup (tavuk suyu çorbası, tavuk-sayu), fish soup (balık çorbası, balyk chorbasi) or fermented milk soup with mint (Yayla çorbası, yayla chorbasi).
Manti
Manti (manti) is a Turkish version of dumplings that are prepared with lamb or beef and either boiled or fried. Served with spicy sauce based on natural Turkish yoghurt. Considered the national dish of Turkey.
Meze
Cold Turkish appetizers - salads, stuffed peppers and tomatoes, pickles, olives, dolma and sarma, small seafood such as mussels and squid, hummus, sauces, etc., etc. Appetizers are usually served before main courses.
Dolma and sarma
Dolma and sarma are two dishes based on spicy rice with onions. Dolma - vegetables (pepper, zucchini or eggplant) stuffed with a mixture of rice, currants, spices, cinnamon, nuts and minced veal (optional). Salma is a more ascetic version, grape leaves stuffed with spicy rice. Both dishes are often served as meze (cold appetizers).
Kebab
Kebab in Turkey is meat cooked over an open fire, served with vegetables and sauces. Each region of Turkey prepares kebab differently. Often kebab is named after the area in which it is prepared. Be sure to try the kebabs in Cappadocia, which are cooked in clay pots.
The most popular kebab option, which is definitely worth trying, is shish kebab (Şiş Kebap) - lamb fried on skewers, served with vegetables and pita bread (practically our kebab)
Next in popularity and fame are street options - döner kebab and dürüm kebab, meat with vegetables and sauces, wrapped in pita bread (döner) or pita bread (dürüm).
The real gastronomic pride of Turkey is Iskander kebab, a variant invented in Bursa in the 19th century by Iskander Efendi. In this version, lamb is cut into thin slices, stewed in tomato sauce and served with yogurt and pita bread.
Adana kebab is also a classic. It is prepared from minced lamb, grilled and served, again with vegetables and pita bread.
Kefte and Chi Kefte
Along with kebab, kefte is a traditional and beloved dish in Turkey that is prepared almost everywhere. Essentially, these are meat balls. They are served on street stalls accompanied by pita and salad.
Chi Kefte (Çiğ köfte) is a vegetarian version of kefte, which in appearance is very similar to regular meat kefte, but is made from bulgur, tomato paste and spices.
Imam Baildi
The history of this dish goes back to the Ottomans. The name Imam Bayildi is translated very funny - stupefied imam. The swoon item is an eggplant stuffed with a vegetable mixture of onions, garlic and tomatoes. There are also modern variations with meat fillings. Delicious with traditional pilaf butter rice.
Lahmakun and Pide
Lahmacun and pide are two variants of “Turkish pizza”. Lahmakun is a flat crispy flatbread stuffed with meat and spices. Pide is a more advanced version with different kinds of topping and curled edges. Both options are quite popular as local fast food.
Delicious recipe! Moldovan placenta recipe with photos step by step
Borek and Gezleme
These delicacies are most often filled with meat or a mixture of spinach and cheese. The basis for borek (börek) is puff pastry. Borek is baked in different ways - in portions, in large pieces, in rolls. The basis for Gözleme is lean dough in the form of a flatbread. A special chic is borek or gozlemek, cooked in traditional ovens or over low heat. Very Turkish pastries, be sure to try them!
Balik Ekmek
Balik Ekmek - literally translated as fish sandwich. Baguette, fried or grilled fish fillet, onion, salad. Simple, cheap, colorful and very tasty. In Istanbul, look for the best fish sandwiches in street restaurants under the Galata Bridge.
Mussels Dolma
Mussels Dolma (Midye Dolma) is a popular street food on the streets of Istanbul, Bodrum and Antalya. It consists of mussels with spicy rice. They are often stuffed right next to the mussel tray. The seller stuffs and serves the mussels until the stop sign on the buyer's side)
Kumpir
Kumpir (kumpir) - baked potatoes in their jackets, with butter and cheese and a variety of fillings to choose from.
Chestnuts and corn
Roasted chestnuts and grilled corn are very tasty and “healthy” snacks that are sold in abundance on the streets of Turkish cities.
Ayran
Ayran – be sure to try this wonderful Turkish drink. It is very refreshing, tasty and healthy. Ayran is made from Turkish yoghurt, whisking it with water and salt.
Coffee on coals
Turkish coffee is black, very strong coffee, served in small cups. In Turkey they never add milk to coffee. Traditional Turkish coffee is prepared in small pots over coals.
Baklava, Turkish delight and halva
Very sweet, with a special, very delicate and, at the same time, spicy taste, Turkish sweets are a special type of culinary art. Very affordable, too).
Dondurma
Dondurma (Maraş Dondurma) is a traditional Turkish ice cream, which is very different from the delicacy we are used to. Dondurma is prepared from milk, sugar, mastic and salep (a drink made from orchis tubers). The consistency of this ice cream is thick and sticky. On the streets of Turkish cities, the sale of dondurma is often accompanied by funny performances by sellers.
When you come to Turkey, forget about fast food chains. National Turkish cuisine is tasty and varied. On the Turkish cuisine menu you will find a mixture of Central Asian, Middle Eastern and Balkan culinary traditions.
That’s why it’s so difficult to narrow down all the variety to a short list of must-try food items in Turkey. But I still tried to highlight the main and most delicious dishes that Turks cook and eat at home and in restaurants.
Look for last-minute tours in the Onlinetours and Travelata search engines. Using these sites, you can instantly compare offers from more than 120 tour operators . Read on for the secrets of finding the best deals on vacation packages.
KEBAB
If we talk about traditional Turkish cuisine, then first of all we mean kebab. The dish is prepared from any meat over an open fire, and there are a great many varieties of its preparation: the meat is baked, fried, stewed, baked.
In addition, each region of Turkey has its own characteristics and centuries-old traditions for preparing kebab.
So, wherever you find yourself in the country, be sure to try kebab - the taste will be unique every time. Educational program on Turkish kebabs: - Shish kebab is a familiar kebab for us; — Iskender kebab – pieces of lamb with yogurt-based sauce; — Adana kebab – minced lamb with red pepper and spices, served on a thin flatbread with tomato sauce; — Testi kebab is meat baked in a clay pot. Its peculiarity is that in front of guests the pot is broken and the dish is served for consumption; — Tandoor kebab is a lamb carcass baked in the ground.
Turkish meat dishes
Eastern people love meat - the vast majority of soups, stews, and salads include this product.
- Kebab is shish kebab or fried (usually grilled) meat. There are many varieties, the most famous döner kebab is sliced lamb, beef or chicken fried on a vertically rotating spit.
- Pastyrma is air-dried beef. The preparation process takes about 1.5 months.
- Kokoreč – roasted (traditionally on a spit) sausages made from offal. They are served sliced and sprinkled with oregano. As a garnish there are pickled peppers or cucumbers.
- Pilaf is the basis of the eastern table. It is made from rice, bulgur, shehriye (vermicelli) and, of course, lamb or chicken.
- Kuru kefte - meatballs made from minced or minced beef, chicken, and lamb. The meat is mixed with rice, bulgur, eggs are fried and baked. Steamed.
The aromatic smells of meat food provoke even the most incorrigible vegetarians to taste it.
LAKHMAKUN
Lahmakun can be called the Turkish version of pizza. Minced meat and vegetables are placed on a very thin flatbread and the dish is baked in a roasting pan. Like all Turkish cuisine, lahmacun is characterized by a special spiciness and pungency.
But you need to eat this pizza a little differently than we are used to: lahmacun is rolled into a tube and eaten, washed down with ayran.
General information[ | ]
Turkish cuisine has developed over the centuries and takes its origins from the culinary traditions of nomadic Turkic tribes, which in turn were most influenced by Greek (and all Mediterranean), Balkan, Arab, Caucasian cuisines, as well as food prohibitions of Islam. As throughout the Islamic world, in Turkey there are special regulations for food and its preparation - haram (forbidden) and halal (permitted). Animals are slaughtered in a special way, according to Muslim ritual.
IMAM BAYADLI
It is difficult to count how many dishes in Turkey are made from eggplant. This is one of the most popular vegetables in the country. Tourists who went to Turkey for the first time and want to try the main national dishes should pay attention to “Imam Bayadli”.
The dish is a baked eggplant, cut in half, stuffed with other vegetables. It is interesting that the dish is translated into Russian: “the imam fainted,” according to legend, one day the imam (the main cleric of Islam) tried the dish and liked it so much that he fainted. So, we highly recommend trying this dish for those who want to test their endurance.
PILAF
As it is not difficult to guess from the name, Turkish pilaf is an analogue of our usual pilaf. Once in Turkey, tourists have the opportunity to compare their home-cooked pilaf with the version from local chefs.
Turkish pilaf is prepared from rice, millet and bulgur, with meat, stewed onions, tomatoes and green peppers added to it. Usually pilaf is used as a side dish and meat dishes are ordered with it.
National Turkish vegetable food
Turkey grows a lot of vegetables, which is noticeably reflected in local dishes. If you are a vegetarian, then it is important for you to know that Turkish dishes that do not contain meat are called zeytin yağlı, cooked in olive oil. As a rule, these dishes are served cold. Here are the best vegetable dishes in Turkey:
- Sarma ( Yaprak Sarma ) - grape leaves stuffed with rice, onions and spices (mint, currants, pepper and cinnamon).
- Dolma - Fresh or dried eggplants, peppers, tomatoes or zucchini stuffed with rice, onions and spices .
- Taze Fasulye - beans or chickpeas (chickpeas) stewed with tomatoes or tomato paste and onions.
- Cacik ( Cac ı k ) is a refreshing Turkish soup. It is prepared from finely chopped cucumbers, sour cream, garlic and mint. On a hot summer day it is served with ice cubes.
Turks love meat very much, and therefore all the dishes listed above, except for the last soup, can also be found in a meat version.
Look for cheap flights using the Aviasales and Skyscanner search engines. These services compare prices from all air carriers. Find out the secrets of finding the best flight tickets.
PAINIR
There are more than 100 types of cheese in Turkey, so already heading to Turkey it becomes clear that cheese tasting should be included in the “must-do” list.
We recommend trying Turkish sheep's peynir cheese. It tastes somewhat like feta cheese and each variety is really very tasty. There is hard kashar-peynir, there is a very salty dil-peynir and beyaz-panir, similar to Greek feta. Hard cheese can even be an excellent souvenir from Turkey.
Sweet Turkish desserts
© shutterferret / flickr.com / CC BY 2.0
Kunefe ( K ü nefe ) is a traditional Arabic cheese pastry. Unsalted cheese is placed between two layers of dough made from a simple mixture of water and flour. Kunefe is served warm and soaked in syrup. The dessert is sprinkled with pistachios on top. The sensations and taste are very unusual. On one side there is crispy dough, on the other there is soft cheese soaked in sweet syrup.
Baklava is another Turkish dessert with a simple set of ingredients (dough, nuts and syrup), but very tasty . The decisive factor is how thin the layers of dough are. Whether walnuts, hazelnuts or pistachios will be in your baklava depends on the region where you try it.
DESSERTS AND SWEETS
Now where the paradise for sweet tooth lovers is located is Türkiye! Puddings, marmalades, jams, jams, ice cream, baklava, Turkish delight, halva... What I want to say: forget about diets in Turkey and just enjoy all the sweet gifts that the country offers during your vacation. You can think about your diet at home.
Of all the variety, I would like to recommend the “dondurma” dish and baklava. Dondurma is a delicious ice cream made from goat milk. It is prepared in wooden barrels, adding orchid root and fruit. The dish is eaten with a knife and fork.
The word “baklava” is familiar to all tourists who have been to Crimea at least once. The dish consists of thin dough cakes with nuts, dipped in honey. There are over 200 ways to prepare baklava in Turkey, so enjoy.
The main thing when traveling is to be open to experiments! Try everything new and don't limit yourself to the buffet selection! Every dinner in Turkey can be special, because there are countless delicious national dishes in this country.
Sweet popular Turkish dessert dishes
Türkiye has always been famous for its sweets. Desserts are endowed with a special taste. The recipes, at first glance, are simple, but rarely does anyone manage to prepare even approximately similar delicacies at home.
Many sweets have long been prepared in different countries on an industrial scale. Often all that remains of a real dessert is the name. At home, desserts are also prepared in confectionery factories, but products made by housewives or in small private bakeries are in great demand.
- Baklava is one of the world famous desserts. The classic version is several layers of sweet phyto dough, generously sprinkled with pistachios or walnuts, sealed with sugar syrup and honey. The city of Gaziantep is famous for its pistachio baklava. The recipe is believed to have been brought by Lebelebi Güllü from Damascus in 1871.
- Halva . There are several types of this dessert, but only two are well known. The first is prepared from grain flour or semolina with the addition of ghee and sugar. The second is crumbly halva made from tahini (sesame paste), nut and sunflower oil and sugar. Beans, pumpkin, yams, and lentils can also be used as ingredients.
- Gullach . The dessert resembles baklava. Thin layers of dough made from cornstarch and wheat flour, sprinkled with pomegranate, walnuts, and soaked in milk.
- Cezerye - rectangular sweet products made from caramelized carrots, grated coconut, roasted nuts, hazelnuts. Instead of carrots there can be figs and dates. The province of Mersin is considered to be its homeland. Caeserie is served only on special occasions.
There are so many sweet recipes, it’s impossible to try them all.
