• WELCOME  TO  TURKISH  CUISINE ...

• Have you ever heard of Shish Kebab ? Pieces of lamb grilled over charcoal...A delicious Turkish dish, well known by  people who have visited Istanbul...

• What about Döner Kebab ? A roll of lamb on a vertical skewer turning parallel to a hot grill...A typical Turkish dish..

• Turkish Yoghurt...Other specialties ;Pilav and Dolma (the name given to grape leaves,or green peppers stuffed with rice and spices) might not be familiar to you...

• But Turkish sweets; Lokum (Turkish Delight) and Baklava...Worldwide famous...

• If you are interested in ethnic food, come and try the Turkish Cuisine...

Food & Drinks

• Visitors who are not familiar with Turkish cuisine have a delightful surprise in store for them: stemming partly from the spectacular variety of ingredients and partly from the influence of the numerous civilizations which have inhabited Anatolia throughout history, Turkish cuisine is simply delicious.

• Regional Specialities• As you visit different areas of Turkey, there are local

specialities which must be eaten in their home region to be fully appreciated. Thus Kanlica in Istanbul is famous for its yoghurt, Bursa for its Iskendar Kebab, Gaziantep for its pistachio nuts, the Black Sea for hamsi (fried anchovies) and corn bread and the Syrian borderlands (Urfa and Adana) for spicy shish kebabs.

Startersand Soups

A meal out will usually start with a selection of mezes -- appetizers -- from an enormous and very colourful platter brought

to your table by the waiter. Cold mezes include stuffed mussels (midye dolma), humus, pureed aubergine salad (patlican salatasi), stuffed vine leaves (yaprak dolma) and Circassian chicken (cevizli tavuk). Among the selection of hot mezes are usually borek, (thin

layers of flaky pastry stuffed with cheese, meat or spinach), sautéed lamb's liver with onions and kalamari.

Salad lovers will find a variety of unusual, spicy herbs appearing along with the standard tomato and cucumber, especially in the

south. Roka is a bitter herb which translates as rocket in English, and you may also find spiky dereotu (bitter cress), nane (fresh mint) or even kuzu kulla (sorrel). A spinachy-textured vegetable

frequently served in garlic-yogurt is called semizotu, known to us as purslane.

• Ingredients: (6 servings) · 1 glass red lentils · 4 glasses of broth · 1 glass water · 1 tablespoon flour · 1 onion · 1 carrot · 1 tablespoon margarine · 4 slices of white bread · 3 tablespoons margarine · 2 egg yolks · 1 glass of milk · Salt to taste Chop the onion, put into a saucepan with 1 tablespoon of margarine and sauté. When onion is semi-sautéed add the flour and mix well. Wash the lentils, chop the carrot and put them in the saucepan. Pour the broth and water into the saucepan, add salt as desired and cook the soup for 30 minutes until the lentils are pasty. Strain the soup and pour it back into the same saucepan. Bring to the boil. Meanwhile blend egg yolks with milk well in a bowl and mix this into the soup. Remove saucepan from heat after 2 minutes. The soup is now ready to be served. Cut 4 slices of white bread into cubes. Fry bread in a pan with 2 tablespoons of margarine. Drain off the margarine and put the bread cubes (croutons) on the soup

Lentil Soup

Wedding Soup (Düğün Çorbası)

• Ingredients                                Measure                Amount             • Lamb meat with bone                   ----                            ½ kg.

Water                                         4 cups                       960 gSalt                                            2 teaspoons               12gEgg                                            1 medium size            50gLemon Juice                                1 ½ tablespoons          20gAll- purpose flour                          ¼ cup                        30g Water                                         1 cup                          240gButter or margarine                      1 tablespoon               15gRed Pepper                                 ½ teaspoon                 1g

• Instructions:Simmer meat in 4 cups of water in a large saucepan until tender. Remove from liquid; drain. Bone and dice stir in liquid. Add 1 cup of hot water. Season with salt, cover and simmer gently. Combine beaten egg, yolk, lemon juice and flour, mixing well.  Add 1 cup of cold water; stir Blend in broth gradually stirring constantly. Simmer gently for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat. Melt margarine in a skillet. Add red pepper; stir. Sprinkle over soup. Serve hot.

• (In the past, this dish was served to guests during wedding ceremonies.  For this reason it is called “Wedding Soup”)

• Tarhana Soup •  Ingredients:

· 100 gr. yeast · 300 gr. onions · 1000 gr very ripe tomatoes · 250 gr. big red peppers (may be hot or sweet according to taste) · 250 gr. natural yoghurt (unsweetened and unflavored) · 2000 gr flour · 1 glass of water Mix yeast with water and make it into a paste. Peel and strain tomatoes. Chop the peppers thinly. Grate the onions. Mix the yeast, yoghurt, tomatoes, peppers and onions in a bowl until they turn into a thick liquid. Start kneading the mixture by adding flour gradually. Knead the dough until it becomes very thick. Flour a tray, put the thick dough on the tray and cover it with a piece of cloth. If the dough is in a warm place it will puff up in 1 hour, if it is in a cool place it will puff up in 5-6 hours. When the dough has puffed up, remove it from the tray and knead well. Then put it on the tray as before and cover it. Go on with the same procedure until the dough no longer puffs up. Now that your tarhana is ready, you can take a piece of the dough and see that it breaks without stretching. Form the dough into small pieces, place pieces on a cloth and let them dry. Check the pieces as often as possible for drying. Crumble the dried pieces. (It is necessary to check the dough often, because if the dough dries too much, crumbling gets more difficult.)

Olive Salad• Ingredients:

1. Chick Peas - 1 can2. Chopped Cucumber, Onion, Celery, Coriander, Tomatoes, Lettuce - can also include Peppers, Romaine, Broccoli, Carrots and other veggies.3. Salt - to taste

For Dressing:

1. Olive Oil2. Lemon - 13. Garlic - 2 cloves4. Black Pepper - 1/2 tbsp

To make salad: Drain and wash the chick peas and layer them in a salad bowl. Then add all the veggies and salt. Mix well.

To make the dressing: Mix olive oil, lime juice, garlic and pepper.

Drizzle the dressing over the salad. This can also be substituted with any kind of ready-made dressing available in the market. Also, I garnished the salad with few nuts to make it more exciting.

Potato Salad• POTATO PUREE SALAD (Patates Püresi) (Salatası)• 4 large white potatoes

1 finely chopped onion1/4 cup olive oil1 tblsp vinegar2 tsp lemon juice2 hard boiled eggs1 large tomato1/2 cup chopped parsleysalt and pepper to taste8-10 black olivesBoil and peel the potatoes and mash well with a fork in a bowl. Add chopped onions, parsley, salt and pepper, vinegar, oil and lemon juice and mix well. Cut hard boiled eggs and tomato into wedges and garnish the smoothed top of the puree salad with them. Black olives are part of the garnish as well as some wedges or slices of fresh hard tomatoes. 

Main courses• Main courses are generally fish or meat kebabs,

though this word is used in a much wider sense than generally understood in the West. The spices and herbs used to delicately flavor the meat varies from region to region. Guvec dishes are delicious casseroles cooked in earthenware pots. Et sote, a kind of goulash, is very good, as is coban kavurma. The eating of fish has an elevated if not cult status in Turkey. It is best eaten in an open-air restaurant by the sea, preferably Anadolu Kavagi, Rumeli Kavagi or Kumkapi, always accompanied by raki, and enjoyed in the company of good friends. The choice depends on the catch of the day, and may include swordfish (kilic), bluefish (lufer), turbot (kalkan) or lobster (istakoz).

• The staple of lunch time cafeterias is ev yemek, which translates literally as home food, signifying tasty vegetable and meat-based stews. An interesting aspect of Turkish drinking culture is the all-night iskembe parlor, which serves tripe soup. It is considered medicinal after a night on the town, with crushed garlic from a bowl, red pepper, oregano and vinegar added to taste.

Turkish Döner

*Short for dönerkebab, from the Turkish for rotating grilled meat, and closely related to the Greek gyros or the arab schawarma, it is hard to think of a döner without thinking meat.

• Lahmacun (Turkish pizza) 

•   Ingredients A pack of pitas 1 lb ground beef 1 lb white onion 1 or 2 tomatoes Salt, black pepper to taste If you can't find tomatoes, you can replace it with

2 table spoons of tomatoe puree.     

•  Preparation:Peel, wash, place onions with tomatoes in a food

processor and ground.  Add salt, black pepper and meat, ground 30

seconds more.  With the help of a spoon spread this mixture over

pitas.  Put them in oven and bake at 400F about 20-30

minutes.  Check to see whether meat is cooked. Serve hot.

• Menemen can be used in a couple of different ways such as Turkish breakfast specialty or lazy dinner option or great summer dish.   Must-have traditional ingredients for menemen are eggs, tomato, onion, peppers (preferably banana peppers), and parsley. I modify the traditional recipe by replacing onions with green onions and adding feta cheese.

 menemen for four:

6 eggs, well-beaten4 juicy tomatoes, diced (you can also use canned diced tomatoes; prefer petite diced ones or put regular one in blender for a couple of seconds)3 green onions with tops, finely chopped4 fresh peppers, finely chopped (I used red and orange Italian sweet peppers and 2 green chilies)1/2 cup crumbled feta1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley, finely chopped2 tsp spicy pepper flakes1 tsp black peppersalt1-2 tbsp oil or butter

• -In a frying pan heat oil and add onion. Cook on medium until they're soft and then add fresh peppers.-Once they're cooked, pour in tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Wait until tomatoes cook down a little. -Stir in beaten eggs and feta. Stir constantly.-Right before eggs are cooked, add chopped parsley.-Serve with bread.

SHISH KEBAB - Sis Kebab•

5 Servings1 kilo of lamb meat (from the thigh or shoulder) cut into small pieces.2 green peppers4 tomatoes   Peel and seed the tomatoes and cut them into large pieces. Cut the green peppers in half, remove the seeds and cut into smaller pieces, Skewer a piece of meat, tomato, green pepper successively. Boil on a barbecue, 3 to 4 minutes per side.

Kebap With Eggplant (Patlicanli Kebap)

•5 Servings1 kilo lamb meat 2 glasses of water 2 onions 2 soup spoons butter 2 tomatoes (or 1/2 coffee cup tomato sauce) 4 small eggplantssalt, pepper  Peel and cut the eggplants lengthwise into 4 pieces, then each quarter in 3 cm. long pieces. Soak the eggplant pieces in well salted water for 1/2 hour. Then squeeze them and fry them in a frying pan where the butter and some oil have been heated. Remove them from the frying pan and put aside.

• Then, in the same frying pan, partially cook the meat for 3 or 4 minutes, then put it all in a saucepan where the kebab will be cooked. In the frying pan, brown the onion that has been halved and cut into fine slices. Add the peeled, diced tomatoes (or the tomato sauce diluted in a half glass of water). Stir for one minute. Add a coffee spoon of pepper, a soup spoon of salt, 2 glasses of hot water, the tomatoes and onions to the meat in the saucepan. Cook for about 1 and 1/2 hours until the meat becomes soft. Add the previously cooked eggplant to the saucepan and cook 30 to 40 minutes more.

Fırında Pilic Kızartması (Roasted Chicken)

•4 Servings1 small coffee cup of yoghurt 1 tablespoon margarine1 tablespoon tomato paste 2 chickens Salt  Put the chickens into a saucepan, cover them with water, add salt and cook them only as much as they do not fall apart.

• Put the chickens into a large pan. Cover with a sauce of well beaten yoghurt, tomato paste and melted margarine. Put the pan into the oven to roast until brown.

• Meanwhile make a delicious "ic pilav" described in this series with the chicken broth to serve with the meal. You can use the sauce of yoghurt, tomato paste and melted margarine with roasted meat, poultry and game. It's always a success.

Dry White Bear Pilaki (  Kuru Fasulya Pilakisi)•

6 Servings1 and 1/2 coffee spoons salt1 and 1/2 coffee spoons sugar1 carrot1 celery, 1 potato, 1 tomato1 clove of garlic1 coffee cup water1 finely chopped onion2 and 1/2 cups olive oil250 grams dry beans  Soak the beans in water overnight. Place them in a saucepan of water, heat on low flame for 45 minutes and then drain. Peel and dice the vegetables, and cut the garlic into thin slices.

• Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the onion and garlic and brown for 2 minutes. Then add the carrot and brown for 2 minutes, then add the celery and potato and brown them for 2 minutes as well. Finally add the beans, the grated tomato, water, salt and sugar and cook on a very low heat for 1 hour. Serve when cool.

Eggplant with Olive Oil(İmam Bayıldı)

•  5 Servings 1 and 1/2 tea cups water1 medium tomato3 cloves of garlic3/4 glass of olive oil5 medium eggplants 5 not too large onionschopped parsley, salt to taste    Remove the stems of the eggplants leaving 2 cm remaining. Peel the eggplant leaving length-wise bands 2 cm wide (to prevent the eggplant from crumbling while cooking). Cook them in olive oil, turning them on all sides. (They may be previously treated with salt to prevent them from absorbing too much oil while being cooked).

• In a frying pan, brown the onion which has been cut into very fine rings, and the garlic cut into small pieces. When the onion and garlic begin to turn brown, add the chopped parsley. Place the eggplants side by side in a baking dish or in. a large cake mold. Split the eggplants lengthwise and remove some of the seeds if necessary, spreading the two halves apart. In the cavity, put the mixture of garlic, onion and cooked parsley. Garnish each eggplant with a tomato ring.

• Place the remaining oil on the bottom of the dish or mold, (if none remains, make a sauce with 2 or 3 tomatoes). Place in a warm oven for 20 minutes. Serve when cool.

Etli Yaprak Dolması

Stuffed Grape Leaves • To Prepare the Filling: Icin hazirlanisi

500 grams ground meat 150 grams rice 1/2 soup spoon salt, a little pepperChopped dill, parsley and mint 5 (1/2 bunch each)5-6 finely chopped onions    Place the onion on a soup plate, sprinkle with salt, and knead until the onion becomes transparent. Add water and drain. Repeat this procedure twice.Place the prepared onion and all the other ingredients in a bowl, and mix very well. The filling is ready.  6 Servings1 soup spoon butter 500 grams grape leaves (fresh or preserved in salt) the juice of one lemon   

• Chose small, finely veined leaves. Remove the stems. Boil the leaves for 5 minutes in 10 glasses of water to which the lemon juice has been added. Remove them from the water, drain and let cool. Put the firmest leaves with the most veins on the bottom of the saucepan.Place the stuffed leaves in a saucepan. Add 2 and 1/2 glasses of water, and the butter and cook on a low heat for. 35 or 40 minutes.

Mantı    • RECIPE  

1 and 1/2 coffee spoons red pepper12 glasses water 200 grams ground meat 3 onions 5 cloves of garlic5 soup spoons butter500 grams bowtie noodles 500 grams yoghurt   In a saucepan, brown the onions in 3 and 1/2 soup spoons of butter. Add the ground meat and a coffee spoon of salt. Mix and cook on a low heat, then put aside.

• In another saucepan, boil the noodles for 15 minutes in salted water. Drain. Pour the noodles into the sauce pan containing the meat. Mix and reheat.

• Beat the yoghurt and crushed. garlic. Pour the noodles onto a serving dish and pour the yoghurt sauce over them. Finally sprinkle the dish with a soup spoon of melted butter to which red pepper is added. For the Sauce:1 and 1/2 coffee spoons red pepper100 grams butter400 grams yoghurt

• For Boiling:6 glasses meat broth   Make a hollow place in the center of the flour. Put an egg yolk and a whole egg, 1/2 soup spoon salt and a coffee cup of water into it. Make a dough. Roll it into a ball and cover with a damp cloth. Let stand 1 hour.

• Sprinkle the dough and rolling pin with flour and roll out the dough as thin as possible. Cut the dough into 5 cm. squares.

• To Prepare the Filling:• Brown the finely chopped onions and ground meat for 3 minutes. Add salt, pepper and stir.

Place a small portion of this mixture, the size of a large hazelnut, in the center of each square of dough, Fold each corner to the center, sealing the sides so that the small package will not become undone. Some people find it easier to make a single fold triangle shape manti. Close the sides well.

• Place the "manti" in a large, round, buttered cake mold and bake for about 25 minutes, until they are brown.

• Pour the broth over the "manti", then either return them to the oven, or cook over a low heat, until they have absorbed all the liquid. Place the "manti" in a serving dish. First pour 50 grams of melted butter over them, then 400 grams of beaten yoghurt, and finally 50 grams of butter mixed with a coffee spoon of red pepper.

Börekler• Sigara Boregi, Muska Boregi •

 For approximately 12 borek:1 yufka1/2 bunch dill1/2 bunch parsley1/2 glass oil150-200 grams white cheese    Spread out one "Yufka" and fold it in half. Cut along the diameter, producing 2 half-circles, one on the other.

• To make the "cigarettes" trace 5 to 7 lines from the center of the straight side, forming sharp triangles. Place a little mixture of white cheese, parsley and dill at the base of the triangle. Roll toward the point while folding in the 2 sides to prevent the filling from leaking out. To make the point stick to the dough, dip it in a saucer of water before finishing the last roll.

• When made, the "amulet borek" has a triangular shape. Fold the "yufka" in two and cut along the diameter to obtain the 2 half-circles, one over the other. Cut each "yufka" with a knife in 10 cm. wide lengths perpendicular to the diameter, giving you long strips of dough.

• Place a small portion of mashed white cheese, parsley and dill mixture at the base of each strip. Take the small side of the strip and fold it to the large side, and then take the point and fold it to the next side. Continue until the end of the strip. (See diagram).

• Stick the last point to the dough by dipping it in water first. When the borek are thus prepared, fry them in oil until golden brown in color.

Puf Boregi – Puf Börek•1 egg 1 soup spoon olive oil 1 to 1 and 1/2 glasses of oil for cooking 250 grams flour 250 grams white cheese or, 250 grams ground meat mixed with grated onion3/4 coffee cup water 75 grams butter   Make a dough with the flour, water, egg and oil. Wait 15 minutes. Separate the dough into 5 equal pieces. Roll the 5 pieces with a pastry rolling pin. Spread melted butter on each surface and place one on the other. Let stand 1/2 hour.

• Now roll out the dough as fine as possible into a large disk. On one half of the disk, place small portions of the filling, be it white cheese or meat mixed with onion. The small portions should be spaced about 10 cm. apart. Fold the empty half over the filled half. Around the base of each portion of filling cut a half-moon with an aluminum saucer or something similar. Press around the circumference of each mound with your fingers to close it well, then fry the borek in oil.

Köfteler• Dry Köfte - Kuru Kofte

5 Servings 1 soup spoon butter1/2 coffee cup water100 grams bread (without crust)2 eggs2 small onions, grated. 4 soup spoons flour750 grams of ground lamb, or a mixture of ground beef and lamblittle pepper and cuminSalt to taste   Soak the bread in water, and when thoroughly soaked, remove from the water and sponge by hand.

• Place the bread in a salad bowl. Add 2 eggs, salt, pepper, cumin, onions, water and the ground meat. Knead and roll in the palm of your hand until they have the thickness and shape of a finger. Roll the kofte in flour, then fry them in butter for 4 or 5 minutes.

Woman Thigh Meatball (Kadin Budu Köfte)

•5 Servings500 grams ground meat (preferably lamb}2 egg whites 1 small coffee cup of rice1 finely chopped onion1/2 soup spoon salt

• For frying: 2 egg yolks a glass of oil  Mix all the ingredients, except the oil and egg whites. Knead. Make flattened ovals 5 cm. long. Place these meat patties side by side in a large frying pan and cover with water. Cook on medium heat. As soon as the water is absorbed place the enlarged patties on a plate.

• Beat the yolks in a bowl. Heat the oil in a small frying pan. Place each patty in the egg yolk, then in the oil. Brown each side for 3 minutes and serve at once.

Humus. Humus have received the highest demand, so I

wanted to start with the humus recipe. Below the ingredients you’ll need for preparation :

• Tahini (1 tablespoon) • one can of chickpeas • one garlic clove • some vegetable oil • some water • salt • lemon juice

You can find tahini at asian shops, it is sesame seed paste. for convenience, to be more economical get your dried chickpeas, soak overnight, skim off any froth, and boil for two hours. Now you have the ingredients ready chuck the chickpeas, water, salt, lemon, garlic, Tahini and some of the oil in an electric blender, blend away, adding the oil, slowly, until the paste is just as chunky or as smooth as you like it. Taste as you go, adjusting the ingredients as required.

• That’s all, and your humus is ready, What makes different a humus from another it the amount used for each ingredient, it is not very detailed here but you can try a little of tahini and adjust ingredients until you get the best humus !

Desserts

• In restaurants, dessert is often a beautifully presented selection of seasonal fruits. In spring this may be green almonds and plums, generally an acquired taste for foreigners. There are strawberries in May, cherries in June, melons in July and August and apples, pears and pomegranates in autumn. Winter is the time for Turkish-grown citrus fruits and bananas.

• For a wider selection of sweets try the pastane, or pudding shop, where you'll find all the traditional Turkish sweets such as lokum, or Turkish delight, baklava, kadayif, halva and asure (traditionally held to contain the forty different ingredients left in the Ark's kitchen when Noah sighted Ararat). Sutlac, or rice pudding, is also popular, as are profiteroles, best tried at Inci Pastanesi on Istanbul's Istiklal Caddesi.

Turkish Delight• Turkish Delight, lokum, or

loukoum is a confection made from starch and sugar. It is often flavored with rosewater and lemon, the former giving it a characteristic pale pink color. It has a soft, jelly-like and sometimes sticky consistency, and is often packaged and eaten in small cubes that are dusted with sugar or copra to prevent sticking. Some types contain small nut pieces, usually pistachio, hazelnut or walnuts. Other common types include flavors such as cinnamon or mint.

How To Make Baklava

• İngredients1 glass melted margarine 1 glass of ground walnuts1 lemon1 teaspoon olive oil 1 teaspoon salt2 eggs 250 g flour 750 g sugarStarch   Knead flour, salt and a glass of water to a dough. Fold dough and knead again. Cover with a damp cloth and leave for some time.

• Divide dough into 8-10 pieces. Spread starch on it and roll out as thin as possible. Place half of it into a pan, pouring margarine on each layer. Spread walnuts evenly on it and place the remaining layers with margarine between one upon the other. Cut into squares. Pour the remaining margarine evenly on the baklava. Bake in medium hot oven for about an hour.

• In the meantime put sugar in a saucepan, cover with water, add one tablespoon lemon juice and boil to a heavy syrup. Pour it upon the lukewarm baklava, a little at a time, so that baklava absorbs the entire syrup. Serve cold.

BAKLAVA

Sutlatch - Sutlac•

100 grams rice2 and 1/2 litres milk200 grams powdered sugar50 grams potato starch mixed with a glass of milk.   Wash the rice and let it soak 1 hour in warm water. Drain. Boil the rice in the milk while stirring constantly with a spoon. Continue to boil it for 30 minutes on a low heat, stirring occasionally. Add the sugar and continue to cook the "sutlatch" for 5 more minutes. Add the starch with milk and stir until the mixture thickens. Pour into dessert bowls and serve cold.

Ashure- Aşure • 600 grams sugar

1 glass milk3 and 1/2 litres water 1/2 tea cup rose water 1/2 tea cup potato starch

• To Soak Overnight: 150 grams chick peas 200 grams dry beans 200 grams rice 200 grams wheat

• To Have in Reserve: 12 dried apricots 12 dried figs 125 grams raisins 150 grams walnuts50 grams butter50 grams pistachio nuts 75 grams pinenuts   Cook the soaked chick peas and beans separately. Drain. Boil the rice in half the water, the wheat in the other half. Cook the rice for 30 minutes and blend it in the water in which it was cooked. Add this puree to the wheat and continue to cook for approximately 3/4 hour. Add the chick peas and beans. Mix and remove from the heat.

• Boil the figs, walnuts, raisins, apricots, pine nuts in a large quantity of water. Cut the figs and apricots in four. Put aside 10 pieces each of apricots and figs, 20 pieces of walnuts and half the pine nuts. These will be used for decoration.

• Pour the rest of the ingredients, including the butter, but not the milk, rosewater or starch, into the saucepan where the wheat is cooking. Boil for 15 minutes. Add the milk, the starch mixed with rose water, and boil for 3 minutes. Pour into dessert bowls, decorate with the nuts and fruit and serve cool.

Tulumba Tatlısı    

•1 soup spoon sugar100 grams butter 250 grams flour 400 grams water 50 grams potato starch 6 eggs

• For the Syrup:1 kilo sugar2 soup spoons lemon juice500 grams water

• For Frying:2 glasses olive oila pinch of salt   Prepare the syrup with the ingredients shown above by boiling them for 2 minutes. Put it aside. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the water, salt and sugar and bring to a boil. Add the flour while beating the mixture vigorously with a whisk. Cook for 10 minutes while continually beating it. Remove from the heat.

• When the mixture has cooled, add the eggs one by one, then the starch while mixing constantly. Warm the oil in a frying pan. Make a horn with heavy cloth (or use a pastry bag). Leave the end open and fill the horn with the dough. Squeeze out pieces of dough into the oil, each one being 4 or 5 cm. wide. Move the pan back and forth occasionally while the cakes are cooking. Cook for 10 - 15 minutes until the cakes are golden brown.

• Put them into the cooled syrup and let stand 15 minutes, then place them on a serving dish. Serve when the tulumba have completely cooled off.

Fig Jam (Incir Receli)•

1 kg sugar1 tablespoon of lemon juice10 cloves100 wild figs for jam   Skin the green figs using gloves in order to avoid your hands from getting dark. Cook them in plenty of water for some time. Rinse in cold water. Squeeze each fig gently.

• Boil sugar with about three glasses of water to a thick syrup. When ready add figs and cook on medium heat until figs let go water and absorb it again. Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, boil for one minute and take off fire.

• You may add cloves or vanilla to give more flavour.

Cezerye (• Name of dish:

CezeryeMain Ingredients: Carrot, walnut (crushed), tea biscuits, sugar, crushed coconut

Breakfast

• Turkish breakfasts are dominated by freshly baked bread, eaten with salty white cheese, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, butter, honey, jam, and often a boiled egg. Deliciously creamy yoghurt is an optional extra. Other breakfast alternatives include pastry shops which serve a variety of flaky pastries with cheese or meat fillings.

Breakfast

Drinks• Turkey produces some excellent dry wines, both red and white, which go

well with a variety of foods. Names to look out for include Villa Doluca, Kavakladere Cankaya, Yakut and Dikmen. Efes and Tuborg beers are almost always the only beers available, and both are good. A must is the local aniseed-based drink, raki, drunk with water added and called "lion's milk" by Turks. But heed this tried and tested warning well: “you must drink the raki and not let it drink you!” A meal is often followed by an espresso sized cup of Turkish coffee, though Italian coffees are becoming increasingly popular.

• For day-time and non-alcoholic alternatives, try ayran, a yogurt, salt and water mix. Freshly-squeezed juices are also widely available and cheap, but best in winter when the citrus season is in full force in the South. There is also carrot juice, banana milk and sour apple juice. Strong black tea in tulip shaped glasses will be served any time you are asked to sit and wait, or go visiting, but there is also a strong tradition of herbal teas, some of which (like sage) are unusual to the western palate but very good.

• Boza and sahlep are popular drinks in winter. The former is made from mildly fermented millet and tastes rather like eggnog. Sahlep, on the other hand, is served hot on ferry boats and other public places and is made from the pulverized tubers of the wild orchid. It is very sweet and comes sprinkled with cinnamon, and is the perfect companion on a cold winter’s day.

Turkish Tea (Türk Çayı)

Although there are some different tea brewing styles in Turkey, this one is almost common among Turkish people:First put the water into a kettle, put enough tea into a teapot and put the teapot on the kettle.When the water boils in the kettle, pour some on tea into the teapot. Wait 15 minutes. The tea in the teapot mustn't be boiled but the water in the kettle must be hot. Then pour brewed tea into teacup (or tea glass), half of the cups must be brewed tea and other half the hot water.Brewing time is longer in Turkey, but they add water to brew and they generally use sugar.

Ayran1 pt. low-fat or non-fat yogurt (if you are in Southern California try using "Trader Joe's non-fat yogurt" found at Trader Joe's speacialty food stores.)1 cup cold water,Salt to taste,1 cup ice cubes.Mix the yogurt with the water,ice and salt in an electric blender, or beat well together using a wooden spoon. Serve well chilled.Mixture whould be thick

Turkish Coffee (Türk Kahvesi)

• Centuries ago, when people devoted more time to attend to the demands of their earthly pleasures and less time to the demands of business and corporate life, coffee making developed some rituals that exist in ‘lite’ versions in our days. In old times, connoisseurs expected their coffee to be heated slowly over charcoal embers for 15 to 20 minutes, the copper coffee pot being frequently taken away from the fire to prevent overheating.  

• A connoisseur can easily tell the difference between a properly made Turkish coffee and one prepared the way cheap restaurants would do, basically boiling the coffee quickly, degrading thus the taste and producing little if any froth that needs to cover the cup of coffee.  

• Although to this day there are still a few people who either do or at least know the days when coffee was heated on charcoal, for all practical purposes modern electric or gas stove tops became the heating equipment of choice. To make proper Turkish coffee you need Turkish coffee beans, a Turkish coffee pot (“cezve”), and Turkish coffee cups (“fincan”), and optionally, if you want to grind the beans, a Turkish coffee grinder (“kahve degirmeni”). Note that Turkish coffee requires extra fine ground coffee which some electrical grinders fail to produce. To make Turkish coffee:  

• 1. Pour in cold water in the coffee pot. You should use one cup of cold water for each cup you are making and then add an extra half cup “for the pot”. Add a teaspoonful of the ground Turkish coffee per cup in the water while the water is cold and stir. The amount of coffee may be varied to taste, but do not forget, there will be a thick layer of coffee grounds left at the bottom of your cup for properly made Turkish coffee. Don’t fill the pot too much. If you need to add sugar this is the time to do it.  

• 2. Heat the pot as slowly as you can. The slower the heat the better it is. Make sure you watch it to prevent overflowing when the water boils.  

• 3. When the water boils pour some (not all) of the coffee equally between the cups, filling each cup about a quarter to a third of the way. This will make sure that everybody gets a fair share of the foam forming on top of the pot, without which coffee loses much of its taste. Continue heating until coffee boils again (which will be very short now that it has already boiled). Then distribute the rest of the coffee between the cups.  

• Since there is no filtering of coffee at any time during this process, you should wait for a few minutes before drinking your delicious Turkish coffee while the coffee grounds settle at the bottom of the cup.

TURKISH COFFEE

Sahlep• Ingredients:

     4 cups milk      1 cup sugar      1 Teaspoon sahlep powder (also sold in supermarkets)

• Preparation: Mix sugar and sahlep powder (dried powdered roots of a mountain orchid - Orchis Latifolia or Orchis Anatolica in Latin) in a pan. Add the cold milk and some sugar stirring constantly. Heat the mixture until it boils again stirring constantly. Let it boil for 2-3 minutes and remove from heat. Serve it warm and garnished with powdered cinnamon.

• Tips: The thicker the sahlep is, the better it gets, it's a hot and creamy drink. Sometimes addition of a little bit of starch might help to get the desired consistency. It is a remedy for sore throats and colds, therefore it's mainly consumed in the winter months for cold climate. Because the real sahlep powder is expensive, on the streets they make it with more cornstarch than the real thing, that's why it would be better to do it at home or go to reputable pudding shops in Beyoglu district or along the Bosphorus for example.

• Usually the mountain orchids have tuberous roots rich of starch-like substance. These tubers are gathered while the plant is in flower, then washed, boiled in water or milk and then dried. These dry tubers are grinded. This grinded powder is called sahlep.

• Sahlep can also be added to ice-creams in the city of Kahramanmaras, it's the famous Maras Ice-Cream. In Maras ice-creams, sahlep gives its great taste and strong mixture with goat milk being the first and the most important element of Maras ice-cream, and the second one is real goat milk.

Salgam• Ingredients: • Water, violet carrot, turnip, salt, pounded wheat or

bulgur flour. • A traditional Turkish drink (pronounced shal-gum)

made from dark turnips and violet carrots and sira. It's served cold with pickles and available in Hot and Mild formulas. It's a very traditional drink in Adana province and in the GAP and South Eastern Anatolia, especially served with Kebab dishes. Some people drink it with Raki saying that it removes or softens the effects of alcohol. It has a dark red or purple color and a very strong soar taste.

• Because it's a juice full of minerals and vitamin C, it's one of the most preferred drinks in the winter time for colder climates. It also contains Thiamin (B1) and Riboflavin (B2) vitamins, and is rich in Calcium, Potassium and iron.

• Preparation: it's made of the essence of violet carrots. First, bulgur rice flour is left for lactic acid fermentation for a week until it gets very soar, than put in wooden barrels made of mulberry tree. After well cleaning and boiling violet carrots, it's put in these barrels together with dark turnips (Brassica Napus in Latin). After another week in these barrels salt is added. When Salgam gets mature in these barrels like a wine does, at the end the fermentation period it's filtered and ready to drink. For people who prefer it hot and spicy, hot sauce obtained from red paprika is added in as well. The total processing time to prepare it is between 2-4 weeks.

Let’s make GözlemeLet’s make Gözleme

How to make Gözleme (crepes)

As you see here, she is rolling a dry flour ball into a big circle.  This is similar to a pide, but it will be cooked over heat and not a charcoal grill.

So far, the initial crepe

shape is done.

Now the crepe is

filled with spinach, cooked

eggplant, and

cheese.

For any crepe, one consistent factor you need is an even and

low temperature

to evenly cook the crepe.

As you see here,

it is beginning to brown.

The crepe is now

done and she is

cutting it.

An absolutely delicious crepe.

THANK YOU !!!