Turkish Delights Stunning Regional Recipes From The Bosphorus To The Black Sea

Turkish
delights
John Gregory-Smith is a chef and food writer who specialises
in Turkish cuisine. He is passionate about Turkey having
explored the country extensively over the last 10 years and
regularly hosts Turkish pop-ups and secret supper clubs in
London.
This is John’s third book and follows the success of Mighty
Spice Cookbook and Mighty Spice Express. He is the founder
of online magazine Eat Travel Live, a weekly columnist for
Grazia and has presented programmes on TV in both the UK
and USA.
contents
introduction
1 breakfast
2 meze
3 pide & köfte
4 kebabs
5 salads
6 meat
7 seafood
8 vegetarian
9 desserts
index
How to Use This Ebook
Select one of the chapters from the main contents list
and you will be taken to a list of all the recipes covered
in that chapter.
Alternatively, jump to the index to browse recipes by
ingredient.
Look out for linked text (which is in blue) throughout
the ebook that you can select to help you navigate
between related recipes.
You can double tap images to increase their size. To
return to the original view, just tap the cross in the top
left-hand corner of the screen.
introduction
Turkey
With so many wonderful regions and food
so deeply steeped in culture and history, it is
easy to be inspired by the cuisine of this
magnificent country.
I first visited Turkey ten years ago with my father, who
was brought up there. When he was a boy, he lived in
Ankara, the capital of Turkey, in Central Anatolia, and
he has beautiful black and white photos of family
holidays to Ephesus, an Ancient Greek city on the
Ionian coast, in the 1950s. He remembers the food of
his home country only too well, and I’ve certainly
inherited his love for this exquisite cuisine. On that first
visit, I took my dad to Çiya, a kebab restaurant on a
busy backstreet on the Asia side of Istanbul, surrounded
by vibrant shops selling piles of fresh herbs, vegetables,
nuts, dried fruits, coffee and olive oil.
The menu at Çiya was very eastern Turkish, with
stews, meze, kebabs and incredible homemade breads.
They had a small display of tempting food laid out
canteen-style as we walked in and a great wood-fired
oven crackling away at the back.
We sat outside the restaurant, chatting in the sunshine
and waiting for our food. I knew I must be in for a treat,
but I was unprepared for just how good it was. I had
ordered their speciality, the Çiya kebab. It was a
minced beef kebab wrapped in thin pastry with mint, a
stringy, mozzarella-like cheese (lor peyniri) and
walnuts. The kebab was baked until golden and served
with yogurt. Tasting the first bite of that kebab was a
real revelation for me – it was so delicious.
We also ate meze salads, stuffed dried aubergines, içli
köfte (a fried meatball köfte), okra cooked in tomato
and garlic, lentil soup and a wonderful chicken pilav
that was baked in a dough case and turned out at the
table. At first glance, it looked like a traditional British
suet pudding, but as I broke into the crispy golden
pastry the aromas of black pepper, allspice and
cinnamon wafted up. A perfect pilav was inside,
beautifully spiced, with shredded chicken and almonds.
What a feast. I had fallen for Turkish food – and good
God, I had fallen hard.
I was hooked, and so began years of trips to Turkey
to discover more about the cuisine, along with hours
dining in the Turkish restaurants of East London –
thank you Mangal and Tas Tirin. My cupboards became
stocked with Turkish ingredients as I explored more
and more traditional recipes. My father was thrilled
with my new-found love for the flavours of his
childhood, and I loved hearing his memories. It helps
that my partner, Murat, is also Turkish, and together we
have had many great adventures discovering more of
his beautiful home country.
the melting pot
It is the history of this part of the world that
makes Turkish cuisine so interesting.
Turkey is a vast country of dramatically varying yet
stunningly beautiful landscapes. Enormous, snow-
capped mountains dominate the east, huge, lake-
covered plains make up the centre, and tall pine forests
roll down into the Black Sea in the north. The
Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea hug the southern
and western coasts. Here, the temperature is blissful,
the rugged coves give way to white sandy beaches and
the hills are littered with oregano-scented stone
villages. Further up the coast lies Istanbul, one of the
great cities of the world and the bridge between Europe
and the East.
Turkish people are very warm and welcoming.
Family is extremely important to them – and so is food.
Hugely varied, it covers everything from freshly
cooked light coastal cuisine to fiery eastern kebabs and
opulent Ottoman dishes.
It is the history of this part of the world that makes
Turkish cuisine so interesting. Turkey is a relatively
new country, born on 29th October 1923, when Atatürk
founded The Republic of Turkey, ending the 600-year-
old Ottoman Empire. Before this, the Lycians, Persians,
Ancient Greeks, Romans and Byzantines all passed
through, conquering and falling. Turkey was the link
between East and West and the bridge of the Silk Road,
which saw spices and other precious cargoes
transported across Europe. Each culture brought their
religions, customs and food, which were absorbed like
a sponge into this melting pot of a country.
The Ottoman Empire had been one of the largest in
the world – the sultans reigned over all of Asia Minor
and parts of Europe. Their religion was Islam, but as
they conquered further East and West they assimilated
new cultures and traditions. The reign of Sultan
Süleyman in the 1500s was the start of a golden age for
the Ottoman Empire, where art, culture and cuisine
flourished. Taking influence from Anatolia, Europe, the
Balkans, the Middle East and North Africa, Ottoman
cuisine evolved and was refined. At its peak, during the
18th and 19th centuries, the palaces of Istanbul (then
called Constantinople) set a new standard in lavish
food. The kitchens of the Topkapi Palace housed 1,300
chefs, who cooked regular feasts for the sultans and
their guests. They enjoyed lamb stews flavoured with
paprika and walnuts, roasted pigeon, pilav with fruit
and nuts, boreks, stuffed pepper dolma, spicy kebabs
and smooth, milky puddings.
Istanbul was the centre of the world for an empire
that spanned three continents. Trade was ruthlessly
controlled and exotic ingredients flowed along the Silk
Road. Hungry Ottomans, ever keen to impress,
absorbed what they could into their cuisine. Today,
Turkish cuisine has not forgotten any of this and the
fertile country is blessed with incredible produce. The
food is regional, seasonal and steeped in history. As
you explore you will start to notice how the food varies
from region to region, but also that firm favourites like
kebabs, breads and baklava are enjoyed everywhere.
the regions
The Black Sea
In the beautiful Black Sea region, the people love cooking
with butter, which you’ll find used over and over again in the
local recipes. Tea, corn, hazelnuts and saffron are grown
here, and the locals fish in the dark waters of the Black Sea
for hamsi – a silvery little anchovy that is consumed in vast
quantities and loved all over the country.
Murat and I have friends and family all over Turkey, but
home is Samsun, a sleepy town on the Black Sea where we
go to stay with his mother, Tülay. We have had so many
happy times sitting around her kitchen table eating, but my
favourite meal has to be her classic Black Sea breakfast. She
sets the table with plates of cucumber, sliced tomato, parsley,
cheese and bread. Jam and honey are brought out and we
brew tea in her magnificent Turkish teapot. As we start
picking at the food, she will prepare menemen with mince – I
love this recipe so much that I have included it in this book.
As we feast, different family members drop in to eat and
share their news. The meal meanders for hours, baklava
appears and the tea never stops flowing.
Central Anatolia
The Central Anatolian region of Turkey is home to immense
plains, crystal-clear lakes and sleepy hill villages. This
region was once known as the breadbasket of the world and
wheat still plays a huge role in Turkey today. Soft white
bread is served with every meal and the snack food of
Turkey is all wheat based – pide (a boat-shaped pizza),
gözleme (a folded and stuffed flatbread), lahmacun (a
Turkish pizza) and borek (a stuffed pastry). The best place to
eat these satisfying snacks is in the town of Konya.
Originally established on a trade route, Konya became a
cultural centre where great scholars, mystics and poets
gathered in the 13th century. Today, the city retains much of
this historical charm. The buildings in the old centre are still
built of wood and house some of the best tea shops in
Turkey, where you can put your feet up with a hot chai and
tuck into a feast of local snacks.
My favourite teahouse is Pharmacy Café. Here you can
watch the women sitting on the floor preparing the pastry to
make their gözleme as you sample everything on the menu.
The pastry is rolled into a circle and stuffed with lamb and
cheese, then folded and cooked on a hot stone plate, which
gives it a smoky finish. They also make an incredible borek,
another pastry that is stuffed with cheese, meat or spinach
and baked with butter. It looks a little like a lasagne and is
served in small square pieces with tea.
The Konya pide is really special. It is larger than the pide

found elsewhere in Turkey and made with little chunks of
lamb. The pide is sliced up and served with lemon wedges
and parsley. This style of snack food is found all over Turkey
and is loved by all ages. I have included a whole section
dedicated to pide. Traditionally, you would eat them at a pide
salon, cooked until crispy in a huge wood-fired oven. But if
you get your oven really hot, you can make a fantastic
version at home.
Marmara
Marmara, in the north-west of Turkey, is home to the cities
of Istanbul and Bursa. The locals are blessed with fertile
lands and seafood is caught in abundance from the Black Sea
and Sea of Marmara. Istanbul, the capital city, is a melting
pot of food from different cultures, religions and times. The
extravagant recipes from the ancient sultans’ kitchens are
still prepared, and locals enjoy fabulous fusion food from the
Greeks, Jews and Armenians.
Turkey is the home of the kebab, and my first destination
when I land in Istanbul is Zübeyir, a restaurant where I will
order an Adana Kebab, no matter what time of day or night it
is. Kebab culture is actually strongest in eastern Turkey (see
right), where they love cooking meat over charcoal, and they
have perfected the art over centuries.
The city of Bursa is the home of the Iskender Kebab, one
of my favourite Turkish dishes, made with succulent lamb,
served on soft bread and covered in yogurt and tomato sauce.
It is traditional yet extravagant and I have a stripped-back
recipe that you will love.
All around this city, chestnuts grow in abundance, and in
this area the locals use them in place of pistachios and
almonds. You can also find chestnut kebabs sold on the
roadside, as well as candied chestnuts and pilav adorned with
these savoury nuts.
South-eastern Anatolia and East Anatolia

Together, these two vast regions make up East Turkey, cold
and unforgiving in the winter and formidably hot in the
summer. The food is meat-heavy and rich. The people of this
area cook with lots of butter and animal fat, and eat a lot of
pulses and bulgur wheat.
My first visit to the eastern side of the country was to the
dusty town of Gaziantep, which is famous all over Turkey
for kebabs, pistachios and baklava. I have dedicated a whole
chapter to kebabs based on what I learned there, with
traditional meat kebabs like the spicy Adana kebab and the
more refined Ali Nazik kebab.
Just outside Gaziantep lie the local pistachio farms. The
gnarled old pistachio trees grow out of the scorched red earth
and beautiful pastel pink pistachios hang heavily from the
tops. At harvest, large tarpaulin mats are laid under the trees,
and young lads climb to the tops of the trees and vigorously
shake their branches. The pistachios rain down and are
gathered up to be sorted and sold at markets around the city.
In the local baklava factories, shards of the bright green
nuts are showered into great tins lined with pastry. A
generous amount of melted butter is poured in and the
baklava is baked in wood-fired ovens. Once golden and
crispy, boiling hot sugar syrup is poured over the top and the
baklava is left to firm up. Because baklava is a very labour-
intensive dish, most people in Turkey buy it ready-made
rather than making it at home. I have, though, included a
really quick baklava recipe that uses shop-bought pastry,
walnuts and honey. It is very easy to make and tastes just as
good as the real thing, especially with hot Turkish tea.
Traditionally, you should eat this type of baklava upside
down, so that you get the full sugary effect on your palate
and the perfect crunch from the pastry, but upside down or
not, it tastes divine.
Aegean and Mediterranean

Western Turkey has a much more Mediterranean mindset
when it comes to eating. Here, the food is fresh and light,
using lots of herbs and seafood. They cook with plenty of
olive oil and love eating fresh fruit. The two regions have
subtle differences: goat is used more in the Mediterranean
region, and in the Aegean region they make the most of the
abundance of wild herbs and flowers that are native to this
area.
One of my favourite places in this part of Turkey is the
sleepy stone village of Alaçati, just south of the city of Izmir
on the Aegean coast. Purple and pink bougainvillea spill
over the top of the pale stone houses and out into the cobbled
streets of this charming place. It smells of wild herbs and
lemons and, for such a small village, it is packed with
bustling balik (fish) restaurants serving chilled meze,
calamari, grilled octopus and fried fish. The food scene is
also quite refined and we have discovered some excellent
modern Turkish restaurants serving light Eastern-Med-
meets-Turkish food. Our great friend Gökçen lives here. He
is a famous chef in Turkey and knows the Aegean cuisine
like no one else. Last time we visited, he made us a light
lunch of zingy aubergine salad, samphire and grilled fish
with lemon and rocket. We ate sitting at a table on the
cobbled street outside his stunning stone house. It was a
sublime meal and a perfect showcase for the light, fresh
cuisine of this region of Turkey.
With so many wonderful regions and food so deeply steeped
in culture and history, it is no wonder that I have been so
inspired by the cuisine of this magnificent country. The
recipes that I have put together in this book are my favourite
Turkish dishes to make at home – some classic regional
recipes, others old Ottoman fare and a few with a deliciously
modern twist. I hope you will enjoy them all. As they say in
Turkish, serefe – cheers!
essential ingredients
Turkish cuisine is really simple and they
love to celebrate clean flavours.
Whether it’s aubergine, lamb or fish, the main
ingredient should always be the star of the show.
Turkish kitchens are full of fresh vegetables, fruit
and herbs. Meat is bought from the local butcher and
fresh bread from the baker. Cupboards are packed with
spices, rice, grains and nuts. Cheese is eaten regularly
and tea and coffee are kept in huge quantities to drink
throughout the day. Below, I have listed some of the
most commonly used Turkish ingredients, and
suggested substitutes for those that are harder to get
hold of.
SPICES
Spices are used in lots of Turkish recipes, both sweet
and savoury. These are the essentials:
* Cumin
An earthy spice that is used ground to give a musty
flavour to a variety of savoury dishes. The taste is quite
subtle so you can afford to be generous with this spice.
* Cinnamon
Naturally sweet, cinnamon is used to flavour stews,
pilav and many sweet dishes in Turkish cooking. You
can find wonderful rolled cinnamon sticks and ultra-
fine, ground cinnamon, which is what I use in this
book.
* Saffron
Picked from purple crocus flowers, this fragrant spice
imparts a vibrant yellow colour and an incredible
pungent aroma. Good-quality saffron is expensive, but
a little pinch goes a long way.
* Sumac
This ground red berry has a wonderfully sour tang and
is used in salads, meat dishes and kebabs to add an
extra hit of flavour.
* Allspice
As the name suggests, allspice really does have a
flavour that is hard to define, but it adds a sensational
background note that works beautifully in rice dishes
and stews.
* Pul biber – Turkish pepper flakes
Made from dried red pepper, these flakes have a smoky
taste and a mild piquant quality. They are typically
Turkish and used in lots of recipes, as well as being a
condiment to add to your food at the table. You can find
pul biber in good-quality Turkish grocery stores or
online. If you can’t find them, use a little smoked
paprika with a pinch of chilli flakes, or a spicy smoked
paprika.
* Black pepper
This ancient spice is used generously in Turkish
cooking to add favour and warmth. Be generous and
make sure that you use freshly ground black pepper so
that you get the best taste.
CURED MEATS
Cured meats are used to add an instant meaty hit to
many dishes, from eggs to white beans.
* Sujuk
Sujuk (traditionally spelt ‘sucuk’) is a cured sausage
made from beef. It is smoky and can be spicy. You can
find it in Turkish grocery stores or online. It has a waxy
skin that is best removed. As it is cured, it cooks very
quickly. If you can’t get sujuk, use a cured beef or, if
you eat pork, chorizo.
* Turkish pastrami
This smoky ingredient is used with eggs and generously
on pide. It has a slightly chewy texture and a really
smoky flavour. You can find it in Turkish grocery
stores. If you can’t get hold of Turkish pastrami, use a
really good-quality dried beef salami or Parma ham, if
you eat pork.
FRUIT
Fresh fruit is eaten after most meals and some fruits are
also used in cooking.
* Lemons
One of the main cooking ingredients in so many
Turkish dishes. It is always worth having piles of
lemons around, and if you find yourself with any
leftovers, mix the juice with water and a little sugar to
make a glass of refreshing lemon water.
* Pomegranates
These are squeezed on street corners for juice and the
seeds are used to add a sweet tang to salads, desserts
and meat dishes.
* Dried figs, apricots and dates
As well as being served with breakfast, these are also
used in lots of the older Ottoman dishes to add a mild
sweetness.
FRESH VEGETABLES
Bought from local markets, great mounds of fresh
vegetables are kept in every Turkish kitchen.
* Onions and garlic
The base of so many great dishes, onions and garlic are
used in most recipes in Turkey. Slow-cooked onions
and garlic start all the great stews off and they love
using sweet raw onions, finely sliced in salads and as a
side dish to have with grilled meats.
* Tomatoes
Juicy, ripe tomatoes are loved all over Turkey and most
people will serve sliced tomatoes for breakfast. They
also make the sauce for many incredible stews and add
a beautiful bright red colour to numerous Turkish
salads.
* Aubergines
Turkish people love eating aubergines and they have
hundreds of ways to use this fabulous vegetable, from
mashed to roasted and grilled. They are often scorched
until almost black over a flame in order to give the
flesh a wonderful smoky flavour.
* Turkish green peppers
These look like long, slightly twisted green chillies. But
they have a very mild heat and a sweeter flavour than
the green peppers we know. If you can’t find them in
your local Turkish or Middle-Eastern grocer, use red
peppers instead.
CHEESES
Cheese is whipped out for breakfast, slipped into lunch
and used as a topping for a huge variety of breads and
pastries. Each region has a wonderful variety of local
cheeses, which are very hard to get abroad. I have given
supermarket-friendly version in my recipes that will
work just as well.
* Beyaz peynir
A crumbly, feta like cheese that is milky white and
medium soft. It is great in salads.
* Kaşar
This is a hard cheese that has a wonderful melting
quality. It is not too oily, so perfect when hot. Cheddar
is similar and works just as well.
* Erzurum tulum peyniri
I love this soft, creamy cheese that is great in the
morning with honey. It is perfect to fold into anything
sweet. Ricotta is the best substitute.
* Lor peyniri
This soft, stringy cheese is ideal for ripping over salads
or melting. It is slightly rubbery, so stays together when
melted. Mozzarella is the best substitute.
YOGURT
Thick, creamy yogurt is made all over Turkey and
served with most meals. Greek yogurt is similar and
easy to source. Yogurt is watered down to make a drink
call ayran and hung up in muslin to make a thicker
version called labnah that is used to make meze dips.
BREAD, RICE AND GRAINS

These form the backbone of Turkish cooking. Bread is
served with everything, and on every street corner you
can buy simit, a doughy sesame-covered pretzel, to eat
as breakfast on the go. You can find amazing Turkish
breads in a Turkish or Middle Eastern shop, but if you
don’t have one nearby use the freshest bread you can
find. Pilavs can be lavish or simply prepared with
butter and orzo. I use basmati rice when I cook mine at
home. Turkish cooks use lots of pearl barley, couscous
and bulgur. They have a real respect for wholegrains
and use the natural nuttiness to their advantage.
TEA AND COFFEE

Turkish çay (tea) is drunk throughout the day, served
black with sugar on the side. It is brewed in what looks
like two teapots stacked on top of each other. The idea
is that you brew tea in the bottom one and keep boiling
water in the top one. You add a little of the strong black
tea to your cup and top it up with the hot water to your
preferred strength. Thick black Turkish coffee has an
intense chocolatey flavour and is served in espresso
cups. It is not filtered, so you have to leave the residue
at the bottom – or if you want to get really Turkish, flip
the finished cup over into the saucer, tap it and wait 5
minutes, then try to read your fortune!
HERBS
Herbs are hugely important in Turkish cooking and are
grown all over the country.
* Parsley, mint and dill
This classic trio of fresh herbs is used in so many
Turkish dishes. Parsley is adored, and they often serve
plates of fresh parsley at meal times for you to roll up
and eat, or add to your food as you like. It a very
healthy herb, so it’s great to eat as often as you can.
* Mint, oregano and thyme
These herbs are dried in the summer to use throughout
the year to flavour stews, köftes and kebabs. Dried mint
is added to melted butter and used as a temper for
soups, stews and manti, a traditional Turkish ravioli.
NUTS
Nuts are grown all over Turkey and they play an
important part in the diet.
* Walnuts
These are served with breakfast and also enrich many
sweet and savoury dishes.
* Almonds
Turkish people love using almonds in desserts, ground
or whole, and since the Ottoman times, toasted almonds
have adorned bejewelled pilavs.
* Pistachios
Grown in the south-east of Turkey, pistachios are used
to flavour desserts and elaborate rice dishes. The
variety they have in Turkey is madly green in colour
and if you can find similar in a good Middle-Eastern or
Turkish shop, they are a beautiful ingredient to use.
OLIVES AND OLIVE OIL

Turkey has been growing olives and producing oil for
centuries. Olives are served with most meals and olive
oil used to dress cooked vegetables and salads.
STORECUPBOARD
Every Turkish household will keep these essentials.
* Pomegranate molasses
A sticky, tangy fruity molasses that is made from
concentrated pomegranate juice. It is used to dress
salads, and add a tangy hit to stews or kebabs.
* Honey
Turkey is blessed with incredible fragrant honey.
During summer, you can find great slabs of honeycomb
in the markets. It is eaten at breakfast and used to
flavour desserts. I like to keep a jar of best-quality
lavender honey in the cupboard for when I need it.
* Red pepper paste
Every home keeps this thick, smoky, concentrated red
pepper paste. It is used very liberally in Turkish
cooking and you can find it in all good Turkish or
Middle-Eastern grocers.
* Tomato purée
We are more familiar with this ingredient, which is
used in so many classic Turkish recipes to add an
instant tomato hit.
* Pickles
Stored in massive plastic tubs, pickles are served as a
side to most meals. They can be anything from peppers
to carrots and even cabbage.
chapter
1
breakfast
A traditional Turkish breakfast is the
biggest meal of the day.
It is a long and lazy affair, but is eaten on small plates
and with small cutlery in order to avoid over-eating.
Breakfast is a central part of Turkish family life. Many
Turks who live abroad will still get up early in their
adopted countries and indulge in this morning ritual,
filling their tables with a delicious spread. Dozens of
little plates are laid out, piled high with juicy tomatoes
sliced up and covered in olive oil, cucumbers, black
olives, fresh parsley, walnuts, cheeses, honey, jam and
bread. These are enjoyed with black tea, thick Turkish
coffee and glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice.
Eggs are also served, either plainly fried, fried with a
Turkish salami called sujuk, or as menemen, scrambled
eggs with tomatoes, green peppers and meat.
Turkey is a vast country, and so breakfast varies from
region to region. On the coast, lots of fresh fruit is
served, while in Anatolia they love eating buttery
gözleme, rustic flatbreads stuffed with meat and cheese
and cooked on a large, flat, stone plate. On the huge
plains of south-east Turkey they love a sweet pastry
called katmer, which is made from thin layers of pastry
stuffed with pistachios and kaymak (Turkish clotted
cream), served with big bowls of the bright red cherries
that grow all over this region. Further north, towards
the Black Sea, the famous anchovy, or hamsi, is made
into a pide using cornflour and then fried. It is fabulous
served with a dollop of thick, spicy tomato salsa.
The breakfast in Van, in Southeast Anatolia, is truly
special. Surrounded by huge mountains, the locals of
this magical city on Lake Van tuck into an enormous
breakfast of murtuga, a thick paste made from flour,
eggs and butter, served with yogurt, buttery fried eggs
and fresh, herby cheeses.
The breakfast recipes that follow are authentic,
inspired by all these regions, but are also easy make. To
achieve a real Turkish experience, cook a savoury dish
and serve it with cucumber, tomatoes and a soft white
cheese… oh, and make sure there is a sweet dish to
follow.
Black Sea Pancake
Butter Beans with Sujuk
Yumurtali Ekmek – Turkish-style French Toast
Ispanakli Yumurta – Baked Eggs with Spinach
Poached Eggs, Yogurt and Avocado
Mince Menemen
Village Pancakes with Honey and Clotted Cream
Tahin Pekmez Toast
Pomegranate Jam
Black Sea Pancake
This heavenly pancake is a classic Black Sea breakfast.
Fresh herbs and spring greens are finely chopped and
mixed into a lovely light batter. I learnt this recipe from
my friend Saliha, who lives with her family in a
beautiful house high in the hills overlooking the town
of Trabzon and the dark waters of the Black Sea. She
serves these pancakes with a tangy salad of chopped
parsley and onions covered in olive oil and lemon juice.
You can use any greens you like, but baby spinach
works very well.
120g plain flour
150ml full-fat milk
4 eggs
80g spring greens (baby spinach is great)
a handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
3 spring onions, finely chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt
Makes 2 large pancakes
1. Tip the flour into a mixing bowl, add the milk and whisk to
a smooth batter. Add the eggs and a pinch of salt and whisk
together.
2. Stir the greens, parsley and spring onions into the batter.
3. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium–
high heat. Pour in half of the batter and spread out in an even
layer. Make a few holes in the pancake using a fork and tilt the
pan slightly from side to side to fill the holes with the
uncooked batter to get a really even layer. Cook for 2–2½
minutes on each side until lightly golden. Repeat with the
remaining batter and serve immediately.
Butter Beans with Sujuk
Sujuk is a smoked Turkish sausage made from beef.
Being a Muslim country, the Turkish don’t eat pork,
although it can occasionally be found in Istanbul.
However, they have perfected the art of curing beef so
that they have incredible smoky, spicy sujuk and
wonderful silky beef pastirma, or pastrami, that is
delicious with eggs in the morning, or on a pide. You
can find sujuk in Turkish food shops, or, if you eat
pork, you can just use a mild chorizo instead.
Traditionally served as a meze dish, these beans also
make the perfect brunch. The sauce becomes rich and
thick as it cooks, taking on the flavour of the fried
sujuk. This is ideal served with crusty bread and, if you
want to go all out, a poached egg on top.
200g sujuk (or mild chorizo), sliced into half moons
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 Turkish green peppers, deseeded and finely chopped
4 tomatoes, skinned and finely chopped
2 x 400g tins butter beans, drained and rinsed
½ teaspoon Turkish pepper flakes
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1½ tablespoons tomato purée
200ml boiling water a handful of finely chopped flat-leaf
parsley leaves sea salt and freshly ground black pepper crusty
bread, to serve
Serves 4
1. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and add the
sujuk. Cook for 1½–2 minutes on each side until golden.
Remove from the pan and set to one side.
2. Reheat the pan over a medium heat and add the onion.
Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3–4 minutes until soft. Add the
garlic and green peppers and continue to cook, stirring
occasionally, for 2–3 minutes until soft. Stir in the tomatoes,
butter beans, Turkish pepper flakes, cumin, tomato purée and a
good pinch of salt and black pepper. Pour in the boiling water,
mix well, cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 10
minutes.
3. Return the sujuk to the pan and mix together. Turn the heat
up a little until bubbling, then cook, stirring occasionally, for
12–15 minutes, or until the sauce is lovely and thick. Scatter
over the parsley and serve immediately with crusty bread.
Yumurtali Ekmek – Turkish-style
French Toast
Although I have described it as French Toast, Yumurtali
Ekmek is actually a very traditional Turkish breakfast
recipe that is served all over the country. Like most
things in Turkey, it has been given a spicy sprinkling to
enhance it, with Turkish pepper flakes, cumin and dried
mint adding plenty of flavour. This recipe traditionally
calls for beyaz peyniri, or ‘white cheese’. This is
essentially a feta cheese that the Turkish eat at
breakfast. It melts over the ‘Turkish toast’ and adds an
extra savoury dimension.
2 eggs
60ml full-fat milk
½ teaspoon dried mint
2 thick slices of white bread
1½ tablespoons butter
30g feta cheese sea salt
Serves 2
1. Crack the eggs into a shallow dish and add the milk, Turkish
pepper flakes, cumin and mint. Season with salt and whisk
together. Dunk the bread slices into the egg mixture and leave
for 30 seconds. Flip over, then leave for a couple of minutes to
absorb all the egg.
2. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat.
Add the bread and cook for 2–2½ minutes on each side until
golden. Serve the bread immediately with feta crumbled over
the top.
Ispanakli Yumurta – Baked Eggs
with Spinach
This dish is inspired by the classic Turkish ispanakli
yumurta, a hearty breakfast that is eaten across Turkey.
Not only is this brilliant breakfast healthy, it also tastes
divine. As in the traditional recipe, I use smoky Turkish
pepper flakes. They add just the right kick to wake you
up in the morning, and the hint of spice from the cumin
gives an extra hit of flavour.
1 onion, finely chopped
520g baby spinach
1 teaspoon Turkish pepper flakes
4 eggs
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Serves 4
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Heat the oil in a
large ovenproof frying pan over a high heat. Add the onion
and fry for 2–3 minutes until just golden. Add the garlic and
cook for 10 seconds until fragrant.
2. Add the spinach in three batches and fry each batch for 2–
2½ minutes, tipping out any excess moisture as you go. Once
you have fried the last batch, sprinkle in the Turkish pepper
flakes, cumin and a good pinch of salt and black pepper. Fry
for a further minute, or until any excess moisture has gone.
3. Make four wells in the spinach using the back of a spoon
and crack in the eggs. Pop the pan in the oven for 4–5 minutes,
or until the egg whites are just set and the yolks still gloriously
runny. Serve immediately.
Poached Eggs, Yogurt and Avocado
The classic Turkish egg dish, çilbir, comes knee-deep
in yogurt and swimming in a naughty (but oh so nice)
chilli butter. This twist on the traditional recipe goes
easy on both the butter and yogurt, instead bringing in
creamy avocado. The different textures, temperatures
and colours all work together beautifully to help set you
up for the day. As in the traditional dish, the Turkish
pepper flakes are added to the melted butter so that the
flavours and deep red colour of the spice bleed out and
run all over the finished dish.
2 eggs 2 slices of wholemeal bread
½ teaspoon Turkish
pepper flakes
2 avocados
juice of ½ lemon
100g Greek yogurt
sea salt and freshly ground
black pepper
Serves 2
1. Poach the eggs in boiling water for 3–4 minutes until they
are set and the yolks are beautifully runny.
2. Meanwhile, toast the bread, and melt the butter in a small
pan over a medium heat for 2–3 minutes until bubbling. Add
the Turkish pepper flakes to the butter, then take the pan off
the heat.
3. Scoop the avocado flesh out into a mixing bowl. Pour in the
lemon juice and season with salt and black pepper. Mash
together and spread generously onto the toast.
4. Tip the yogurt into a mixing bowl and add 2 tablespoons of
cold water. Season with a good pinch of salt and mix together
to loosen.
5. To serve, divide the toast between two serving plates and
top each slice with a poached egg. Spoon over the yogurt and
drizzle over the melted butter. Serve immediately.
Mince Menemen
Ask any Turkish person what they eat for breakfast
each week and they will undoubtedly say they eat
menemen at least twice. Once you have tried it, you will
see why. Tomatoes, peppers and onions are cooked
slowly and then eggs are whisked in and gently
scrambled. This version is inspired by kιymalι
menemen, a traditional dish made with lamb mince. The
meat melts into the eggs, giving masses of extra
flavour. With a large coffee, this is the ultimate
hangover breakfast… just in case you might be in need.
2 tablespoons butter
6 Turkish green peppers, deseeded and finely sliced
220g lamb mince
3 tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 eggs
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat and melt the
butter. Add the onion and fry for 2 minutes until translucent.
Stir in the peppers and lamb mince and fry for 4–5 minutes, or
until the meat has browned.
2. Tip in the tomatoes, Turkish pepper flakes, black pepper,
cumin and a good pinch of salt. Mix together thoroughly.
Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally,
for 6–7 minutes, or until the tomatoes have broken down.
3. Push the back of a spoon into the mix to make four wells
and crack in the eggs. Cover, reduce the heat to low and cook
for 6–7 minutes, or until the eggs are just set. Serve
immediately with loads of bread and Turkish çay tea.
Village Pancakes with Honey and
Clotted Cream
Served in the beautiful stone village of Alaçati on the
Aegean coast, these delicate pancakes are the perfect
breakfast for anyone with a sweet tooth. The pillowy
light pancakes use soft-peak egg whites to keep them
extra flu˚y and are served with thick süt kaymak or
clotted cream and a lovely local honeycomb from the
surrounding lavender-covered hills. If you can’t find
honeycomb, get a really good runny lavender honey
from the supermarket.
2 eggs, separated
220g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
2 teaspoons caster sugar
300ml full-fat milk
50g butter, melted and slighlty cooled, plus a little extra for
frying
To serve
jam of your choice
clotted cream
runny honey or honeycomb
Serves 2
1. Whisk the egg whites into soft peaks.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a
separate large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and add
the egg yolks. Start whisking together and pour in the milk, a
little at a time, until it is all incorporated into the batter. Pour
in the melted butter and mix together. Gently fold in the egg
whites.
3. Heat a small knob of butter in a large non-stick frying pan
and ladle in a table tennis ball-sized portion of the batter. Cook
for a minute on each side until golden. Once bubbles appear in
the middle of the pancake, it’s time to flip it over. Transfer to a
serving plate and repeat with the remaining batter to make 6–8
pancakes.
4. Serve the pancakes in stacks topped with your favourite
jam, clotted cream and some honeycomb or a drizzle of honey.
Tahin Pekmez Toast
Pekmez and tahini is traditionally a very Anatolian dish,
but the recipe has been picked up by most of western
Turkey. French toast is covered in a rich sauce made
from tahini and Turkish grape molasses, which has the
most unbelievable summery sweet flavour. It is made
during the autumn in the villages of the grape-growing
regions of Turkey. The grapes are trampled and then
cooked for hours. The mixture is filtered several times
during the process to ensure a really pure final product.
You can find this molasses in Turkish food shops, but if
you can’t get hold of any, just use a high-quality runny
honey and a tiny squeeze of lemon.
2 eggs
60ml full-fat milk
2 thick slices of white bread
2 tablespoons tahini paste
2 tablespoons Turkish
grape molasses
Serves 2
1. Crack the eggs into a shallow dish and add the milk. Whisk
together. Dunk the bread slices into the egg mixture and leave
for 30 seconds. Flip over, then leave for a couple of minutes to
absorb all the egg.
2. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat.
Add the bread and cook for 2–2½ minutes on each side until
golden.
3. Meanwhile, mix the tahini and molasses together in a small
bowl with 3 tablespoons of cold water. It will go dry at first,
but keep mixing and it will relax into a smooth sauce.
4. To serve, divide the French toast between two plates, drizzle
over the tahini sauce and serve immediately.
Pomegranate Jam
I first tasted this jam one morning when I was sitting
with my friends Sebahat and Osman in the shade under
an ancient fig tree in their beautiful courtyard in
Alaçati. At the end of a true Turkish feast of a
breakfast, we were sipping çay (tea) when Osman
produced a magnificent array of homemade jams:
lemon, mandarin and vibrant pink pomegranate jam.
Each one was made with seasonal fruit and natural
apple pectin, which sets the jam. The pomegranate was
my favourite and I managed to persuade Osman to part
with his recipe. Every time I make this glorious fruit
jam the smell reminds me of their wonderful company
and beautiful home.
5 Granny Smith apples, chopped into 2.5cm cubes, pips in and
skin on, stalks removed
7 pomegranates
460g caster sugar
juice of 1 lemon
To sterilise a jam jar, take a clean jar that has just been washed
and fill it right to the top with just-boiled water from a kettle.
Cover with the lid and leave for 3–5 minutes. Pour out the
water and let the jar cool for a few seconds, then use
immediately.
Makes 1 x 340g jar
1. Start by making the pectin. Put the apples into a saucepan
and pour over 1.25l of just boiled water. Bring to the boil over
a high heat and cook for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to
medium and boil gently for a further 15 minutes. Remove the
fruit from the heat and leave to cool for about half an hour. Tip
into a fine sieve and strain into a bowl, reserving the cooking
water. Using the back of a spoon, gently push the apples to get
out all the pectin for the jam. Discard the apples and keep the
pectin water.
2. Using an old fashioned orange squeezer, squeeze 6 of the
pomegranates, and sieve the juice with a fine sieve to remove
any bits.
3. Pour the sugar, lemon juice, pomegranate juice and apple
pectin water into a heavy casserole dish. Bring to the boil over
a high heat and remove any scum from the surface with a
metal spoon. Reduce the heat to low and cook gently for 2–3
hours, continuing to remove any scum as you go, or until the
jam has reduced by three quarters and is really thick. To test
when it’s ready, put a drop of jam onto a side plate and leave it
to cool for a few seconds. It should remain in a blob and not
run. You can taste the jam and add some more lemon juice if
you think it’s too sweet. Remove from the heat and leave to
cool for 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, remove the seeds from the last pomegranate.
Add to the cooled jam and mix well. Pour into a sterilised jam
jar and leave to cool for 24 hours before serving with fresh
bread and lots of butter. Once opened, this jam will keep for
up to 2 weeks in the fridge.
chapter
2
meze
For me, meze is truly Turkish.
It is a selection of dishes that are served at the start of a
meal, alongside plenty of soft white bread. The
conversation flows and these tempting small bites lead
you into what you know is going to be a fabulous long
dinner. Everyone stays up for hours, late into the warm
evenings, enjoying the food and company. It is a very
social way to eat.
The word meze is believed to come from the Persian
mazze, meaning taste or snack. These mazze dishes
were served during the Ottoman Empire as a starter to a
grand meal or, more excitingly, as an appetiser that was
served with alcohol at the local tavern, or meyhane.
Traditionally, men would gather in their nearest
meyhane for a long evening of raki, the Turkish
national drink, and endless meze dishes. Despite being a
Muslim country, Turkey has always had alcohol as part
of its culture, with incredible old wines and raki. Made
from molasses, this clear aniseed drink is served neat or
chilled over ice, turning a milky white colour as it is
poured.
There are so many meze dishes served across Turkey:
smoked aubergine dip; cacik, made from yogurt and
cucumber; a spicy walnut paste called muhammara; a
vibrant chilli salad called acιlι ezme; chopped
aubergine salads; fava bean paste; courgette fritters;
fried liver; köfte; and borek.
In Turkish culture, meze changes depending on the
main course. If you’re having fish as a main dish, the
typical meze is samphire, aubergines with yogurt,
octopus salad, calamari or fava beans. But if a kebab is
being served, the meze changes to a more spicy eastern
fare of acιlι ezme, içli köfte and haydari. However you
decide to eat your meze, make sure you make several
dishes and serve with good bread and great company.
Acιlι Ezme – Chilli Salad
Paçanga Börēgi – Cheese and Pastrami Borek
M’s Basil Tabbouleh
Alaçati Borek
Freekeh, Yogurt and Spinach Salad
Aubergine Salad
Charred Samphire with Lemon
Yoğurtlu Közlenmiş Biber – Red Pepper Dip
Cabbage Dolma
Balik Kroket – Sardine Croquettes
Chargrilled Squid with Smoked Aubergine
Smoked Aubergine Yogurt
Kiz Güzeli – Beetroot Dip
Fava Bean Dip
Haydari – Lemon, Garlic and Herb Yogurt
Acιlι Ezme – Chilli Salad
Acιlι ezme is a classic meze dish that is served at the
start of meals throughout Turkey, with piles of freshly
baked bread and cacik, a cooling yogurt and cucumber
dip. This salad is packed with fresh herbs, Turkish
peppers and tomatoes in a tangy pomegranate dressing,
giving it fresh, spicy flavours and a juicy texture. I love
acιlι ezme any time, but my real weakness is having
this vibrant salad with a chargrilled lamb kebab. The
freshness of the salad works so well with the smoky
meat, and the delicious juices can be soaked up with
lots of soft flatbread.
3 tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and finely chopped
3 Turkish green peppers, deseeded and finely chopped
4 handfuls of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 handfuls of finely chopped mint leaves
1 teaspoon sumac
1½ teaspoons Turkish pepper flakes
juice of ½ lemon
2 tablespoons pomegranate
molasses
1 tablespoon extra virgin
olive oil, for drizzling
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Put the tomatoes, green peppers, herbs, sumac, Turkish
pepper flakes, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses and a good
pinch of salt into a mixing bowl. Mix together really well and
tip onto a serving dish.
2. Drizzle over the olive oil and serve immediately.
Paçanga Börēgi – Cheese and
Pastrami Borek
This delicious melted cheese and pastrami borek is one
of my favourite mid-afternoon snacks. Originally, it
would have been the recipe that used up leftovers; any
extra cheese, meat and vegetables would be put into a
borek and served with raki. Like so many recipes,
paçanga börēgi has been refined to a simple dish with
butter, cheese and pastrami. The cheese melts inside the
pastry and the pastrami adds a perfect hit of
savouriness. The recipe uses Turkish pastrami, which
has a strong, salty flavour. You can find this in Turkish
food shops, otherwise use a good pastrami from your
local supermarket.
4 sheets of filo pastry
35g butter, melted
4 slices of Turkish pastrami
120g kaşar or Cheddar cheese
1 egg, beaten
Makes 4
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Line a baking sheet
with baking paper. Lay a sheet of filo pastry onto a chopping
board with the long edges at the sides and the shorter edges at
the top and bottom. Brush all over with melted butter. Lay a
slice of pastrami about 5cm from the bottom of the filo pastry
sheet and top with a quarter of the cheese. Fold the long edges
of pastry inwards by about 2cm on each side, then fold over
the bottom 5cm of pastry so that it covers the pastrami.
Working from the bottom, roll the pastry up so it looks like a
sausage roll. Place onto the baking tray and repeat with the
rest of the pastry and filling.
2. Brush the tops of the borek with beaten egg and bake for
15–18 minutes until golden and crispy. Serve immediately.
M’s Basil Tabbouleh
My partner, Murat, makes his basil tabbouleh for me
whenever we have a barbecue – it’s his spin on the
classic Middle Eastern tabbouleh that is prepared
throughout Turkey as a meze dish. The trick to making
the perfect tabbouleh is to hand chop the herbs and
vegetables really finely, so that when they are dressed
and the flavours mix together, the juices get soaked up
by the bulgur. The addition of basil is brilliant – it
makes the tabbouleh more fragrant and a little sweeter,
and I love that contrast against the tangy dressing.
60g bulgur wheat
100ml boiling water
4 handfuls of finely chopped
flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 handfuls of finely chopped mint leaves
2 handfuls of finely chopped basil leaves
2 tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
½ teaspoon sumac
Serves 4
1. Tip the bulgur wheat into a mixing bowl and pour over the
boiling water. Cover with clingfilm and set to one side while
you prepare the other ingredients.
2. Combine the herbs, onion, tomatoes and garlic in a large
mixing bowl. Pour in the lemon juice, oil and pomegranate
molasses. Season and mix together.
3. Tip the bulgur into the tabbouleh, add 2 tablespoons of cold
water and mix together. Leave to stand for 10 minutes before
serving so that the bulgur can absorb some of the wonderful
fresh flavours. Transfer to a serving dish. Scatter over the
sumac and serve immediately.
Alaçati Borek
Borek is found in different guises all over Turkey.
Various types of pastry are filled with meat, vegetables,
cheese or sweet fillings. Everyone loves it and has a
favourite type. This recipe is a spin on the traditional
sigara börēgi, or rolled borek. Lamb, onion, parsley
and spices are mixed with a soft cheese, rolled in pastry
and cooked. I favour a triangle shape rather than the
cigar as you can pack in more filling this way. In
Turkey, the borek would be stuffed with Erzurum tulum
peyniri, a soft creamy white cheese that has a very mild
flavour. I have used ricotta cheese for this recipe as it
has the same texture and flavour and is easier to come
by outside of Turkey.
1 tablespoon olive oil
220g lamb mince
½ red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
a handful of finely chopped
250g ricotta cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon nigella seeds
sea salt
Serves 4–6 (makes 10)
1. Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat and fry the lamb
and onion for 2–3 minutes until the lamb is just cooked
through.
2. Add the garlic and fry for 10 seconds until fragrant. Remove
from the heat and tip into a mixing bowl. Leave to cool for a
few minutes, then add the parsley, black pepper, Turkish
pepper flakes, ricotta and a good pinch of salt. Mix everything
together well.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Cut the sheets of filo
pastry into squares. Take one square and lay it on a chopping
board. Brush the sides with the beaten egg and fold it into a
triangle. Place a walnut-sized piece of the filling on the pastry,
2.5cm in from one of the narrow corners. Fold up the pastry
from the tip over the filling so that you can start to see a
triangle shape. Fold this over itself and brush the top with
more beaten egg. Fold the remaining corner of pastry over the
top and push down gently around the filling. Trim off any
excess pastry so that you have a neat looking triangle shape.
Place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and repeat
until all the filling is used up.
4. Brush the top of the triangles with beaten egg and scatter
over the nigella seeds. Bake for 15–20 minutes until golden
and crispy. Leave to cool for a few minutes before serving.
Freekeh, Yogurt and Spinach Salad
This is a classic meze dish that comes from Izmir on the
west coast of Turkey. The smoky freekeh melts into the
yogurt sauce and the spicy butter brings it all together
beautifully. I first ate this dish with my friend, Aysenur,
who is a fabulous cook. Her mother taught her how to
make this and her mother before that. Aysenur served
the salad at room temperature with braised fennel meze
and thick garlicky yogurt. If you can’t find freekeh in
the shops, you can substitute it for bulgur wheat and
still get the same nutty flavour.
200g freekeh
200g baby spinach, washed
350g Greek yogurt
flat-leaf parsley
juice of ½ lemon
30g butter
1 teaspoon tomato purée
1 teaspoon dried mint
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Cook the freekeh according to the packet instructions in a
large saucepan of boiling water. Drain, refresh under cold
running water and drain again, thoroughly. Tip into a mixing
bowl.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat.
Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3–4 minutes
until translucent. Add the spinach and a pinch of salt. Mix well
and cook for 2–3 minutes until wilted. Leave to cool for a few
minutes, then add to the freekeh.
3. Add the yogurt, parsley, lemon juice and a pinch of salt to
the bowl. Mix well and tip onto a serving dish.
4. Heat the butter in a small pan over a low–medium heat until
melted. Add the tomato purée, mint, Turkish pepper flakes and
a pinch of salt. Mix well and remove from the heat. Leave to
infuse for a minute, then pour over the salad and serve
immediately.
Aubergine Salad
There are different varieties of cold aubergine salad
served all over Turkey and this fresh zingy version is
typical of the Mediterranean region. The aubergines
take on the classic Turkish smoky flavour in the oven
(you can, alternatively, cook the aubergines and peppers
over a gas flame) and the whole thing is freshened up
with flecks of red onion, pomegranate seeds and lots of
lemon juice. This salad would be served with a
selection of meze dishes at the start of a meal, with
plenty of fresh bread and peppery olive oil.
2 aubergines
2 red peppers
½ red onion, finely chopped
2 large handfuls of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
juice of 1½ lemons
seeds from ½ pomegranate
Serves 4
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Put the aubergines
and red peppers into a mixing bowl and rub the oil all over
them. Tip into a roasting dish and roast for 45–50 minutes
until charred and tender. Remove from the oven and leave to
cool.
2. Scrape out the aubergine flesh, discarding the skin, and
finely chop into a coarse paste. Tip into a mixing bowl. Cut the
tops off the red peppers and deseed them. Remove and discard
the skin. Finely chop the peppers and add to the bowl with the
aubergines.
3. Stir in the onion, garlic, parsley, lemon juice and a good
pinch of salt and black pepper. Mix everything together well.
Transfer to a serving dish and scatter over the pomegranate
seeds. Serve immediately.
Charred Samphire with Lemon
The Aegean coast of Turkey is stunning: rugged rocky
outcrops, long, white sandy beaches and crystal-clear,
azure sea. The food of this region is fresh and light,
with lots of vegetables. Samphire grows in the coves of
the Aegean coast in the hot summer months and is
served boiled as a simple salad at balik (fish)
restaurants. This mouthwatering recipe is slightly
different from the traditional boiled version. The
samphire is griddled to give it a smoky finish, then
dressed in olive oil, lemon and garlic while still warm,
so that it soaks up all the flavours as it cools.
180g samphire
juice of ½ lemon
Serves 4
1. Blanch the samphire in a saucepan of boiling water for 3–4
minutes until tender. Refresh in iced water and drain.
2. Heat a griddle pan over a high heat until smoking.
Meanwhile, pour the oil into a flat dish. Add the lemon juice
and garlic and mix together.
3. Griddle the samphire in batches. Spread it out onto the
griddle and cook for 2 minutes until a little charred and smoky.
Remove from the pan and toss straight into the dressing.
Repeat with remaining samphire and leave for 2 minutes to
soak up the dressing. Serve immediately.
Yoğurtlu Közlenmiş Biber – Red
Pepper Dip
Red pepper dip, or red pepper salad, as it is known in
Turkey, is a staple meze dish that is served across the
entire country. The cooked peppers are mixed into a
smooth paste with yogurt and garlic. I have made a
slightly more modern version using dill and walnuts as
garnish. I love the extra flavour and texture they add to
the creamy peppers. The dip works perfectly as part of
a meze spread, along with beetroot dip, freekeh with
spinach and fresh bread.
4 red peppers
180g Greek yogurt
juice of ½ lemon
30g walnuts, finely chopped
a handful of finely chopped dill
black pepper
Serves 4
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Put the red peppers
into a mixing bowl and add the oil. Season with salt and black
pepper and mix well. Tip into a roasting dish and roast for 40–
45 minutes until charred and tender, then leave to cool.
2. When cool, remove the stalks and deseed and skin the
peppers. Put the flesh into a blender and add the yogurt, lemon
juice, garlic and Turkish pepper flakes. Pulse to a fine paste.
Check the seasoning. Transfer to a serving dish. Scatter over
the walnuts and dill, and serve immediately.
Cabbage Dolma
Dolma was a very popular Ottoman food. Aubergines,
courgettes or peppers were hollowed out and stuffed
with beautifully flavoured rice, then cooked slowly to
create a lavish dish perfect for the opulent dinner
parties of the sultans. As well as vegetables, dolma
extended to cabbage and vine leaves that were rolled up
with a filling and cooked in the same way. Today, most
Turkish households will have a stack of cabbage leaf
dolma in the fridge for hungry visitors. They are served
as a quick snack, a meze dish, or even as a side for a
long, lazy breakfast.
14 large cabbage leaves
½ onion, finely chopped
50g rice, washed
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
120g lamb mince (20% fat)
2 tablespoons tomato purée
400ml boiling water
sea salt
Serves 4–6 (makes 12–14)
1. Blanch the cabbage leaves in a saucepan of boiling water
for 4–5 minutes until soft. Refresh in ice cold water and drain.
2. Put the onion, rice, oil, pepper flakes, black pepper, lamb
and a good pinch of salt into a mixing bowl and mix well.
3. Wring any excess moisture out of the cabbage leaves and
tear them into large strips. If the stalk is a bit hard, place it on
a chopping board and gently press down with your thumb.
This will flatten the stalk without ripping the leaf. Roll a small
piece of filling up in the cabbage leaves – they should end up
about 5cm long and 1cm wide. Set aside.
4. Mix the tomato purée and butter in a small saucepan with a
good pinch of salt and black pepper. Place the dolma in two
layers on top of each other in the pan. Pour over the boiling
water; there should be just enough to cover the dolma. Bring
to the boil over a medium heat. Cover, reduce the heat to low,
and cook for 30–35 minutes, or until the rice is tender. Leave
to cool. Serve at room temperature with a little of the buttery
tomato sauce over the top.
Balik Kroket – Sardine Croquettes
Balik kroket are eaten as a starter in fish restaurants
along the Mediterranean coast. The crispy croquettes
make the perfect meze dish and are wonderful served
with a glass of chilled raki. The traditional recipe uses
lor peyniri, a soft, stringy cheese that keeps the
croquettes really moist. I have used mozzarella for ease
– it has the same texture, but is easier to source.
500g potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
350g sardine fillets
120g grated mozzarella cheese a handful of finely chopped
flat-leaf parsley leaves a handful of finely chopped dill
2 teaspoons baking powder
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 egg
60g breadcrumbs
vegetable oil, for shallow frying
lemon wedges, to serve
Serves 4 (makes 12–15)
1. Cook the potatoes in a large saucepan of boiling water over
a medium heat for 8–10 minutes, or until soft. Drain and mash.
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan over
a medium heat and gently fry the sardine fillets for 2–3
minutes on each side, or until just cooked through. Discard the
skin and transfer the fish to a mixing bowl. Remove any bones
you can see.
3. Add the mashed potato, mozzarella, parsley, dill, Turkish
pepper flakes, baking powder, dried mint, lemon zest and egg.
Season with a good pinch of salt and black pepper and mix
everything together. Roll a walnut-sized piece of the mixture
into a ball and roll in the breadcrumbs. Repeat with the
remaining mixture.
4. Heat 1½–2cm of vegetable oil in a deep pan over a
medium–high heat. Fry the croquettes in small batches for 30–
45 seconds on each side, or until golden and crispy. Remove
with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Serve
immediately with lemon wedges.
Chargrilled Squid with Smoked
Aubergine
The food along the Mediterranean coast is fresh-tasting
and light. Seafood is always the star of the show, and
fresh parsley, mint and oregano are used in abundance.
This squid salad captures all the flavours from this
region of Turkey – wonderfully soft, smoked
aubergines, charred baby squid and a showering of
lemon juice and fresh herbs. I love the contrasting
flavours of the rich aubergine base and the fresh
seafood topping … heaven.
1 large aubergine
1 tablespoon tahini paste
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
juice of ¼ lemon
350g baby squid, cleaned
1 teaspoon sumac
black pepper
Serves 4
1. Prick the aubergine all over with a skewer. Place over a
medium gas flame and cook for 3–4 minutes on each side,
turning four times, or until tender. You should be able to poke
a skewer into the charred skin and straight through the flesh
when it is cooked. Leave to cool.
2. When cool to the touch, remove and discard the burnt skin.
Cut off the top of the aubergine and finely chop the flesh.
Place in a mixing bowl and add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil
and the tahini, Turkish pepper flakes, cumin, lemon juice and a
good pinch of salt and black pepper. Mix together well.
3. Heat a griddle pan over a high heat. Put the squid into a
mixing bowl and add the remaining oil and a pinch of salt and
black pepper. Toss together and char on the griddle for 30–60
seconds on each side until just cooked.
4. To serve, tip the aubergine onto a serving dish and top with
the squid. Scatter over the parsley and sprinkle over the
sumac. Serve immediately.
Smoked Aubergine Yogurt
My dear friend and Aegean chef extraordinaire,
Gökçen, makes this simple meze dish for me every time
I go to his house. He has lived on the Aegean coast for
years and is considered a real authority on the food of
the region. His smoked aubergine yogurt is clean-
tasting and alluring. The smoky aubergines, creamy
yogurt, lemon and garlic all work beautifully together,
and the result is like a lighter version of baba ganoush,
which is made in a similar style, but enriched with thick
tahini.
2 aubergines
1 tablespoon extra virgin
olive oil
200g Greek yogurt
juice of ½ lemon
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Prick the aubergines all over with a skewer. Carefully place
over a medium gas flame and cook for 3–4 minutes on each
side, turning four times, or until tender. You should be able to
poke a skewer into the charred skin and straight through the
flesh when it is cooked. Set aside to cool.
2. When cool to the touch, remove and discard the burnt skin.
Cut off the tops of the aubergines and finely chop the flesh.
Place in a mixing bowl and add the oil, yogurt, garlic, lemon
juice and a generous pinch of salt. Mix everything together
thoroughly and serve.
Kiz Güzeli – Beetroot Dip
This beetroot dip is another vibrant meze dish from
Izmir on the Western coast of Turkey, where it would
traditionally be served during the winter months as a
meze before red meat. The earthy beetroots cook slowly
in the oven, intensifying the flavour, and the roasted
garlic adds an incredible background musk. If you can’t
get hold of fresh beetroots, use the pre-cooked variety
and just roast the garlic beforehand to give the same
flavour. Don’t add the lemon juice until you have tasted
the finished dip, as prepared beets are already sour with
vinegar.
600g beetroots, washed and trimmed
1 garlic bulb
180g Greek yogurt
juice of ½ lemon
a small handful of mint leaves
Serves 4
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Put the beetroots into
a mixing bowl and add the garlic and oil. Season with salt and
black pepper and mix well. Place in a small roasting dish and
cook for 1½–2 hours until tender. Remove from the oven and
leave to cool.
2. When cool, skin the beetroots and transfer the flesh to a
blender. Squeeze the garlic cloves into the blender. Pulse to a
fine paste and tip into a mixing bowl. Add the yogurt and
lemon juice. Mix well and check the seasoning. Tip into a
serving bowl, scatter over the mint leaves and serve
immediately.
Fava Bean Dip
As my wonderful niece Daisy said to me last time I was
preparing this fava bean dip, ‘it smells like a wet dog’.
It does smell odd when you are boiling the beans, but
freshen them up with herbs and lemon juice and they
make a meltingly soft dip, with a light, earthy flavour.
Fava beans are available throughout Turkey and they
are used both fresh and dried for different recipes. The
traditional version of Turkish fava is served differently,
set in the fridge and cut into cubes – far too fussy for
me. I prefer this non-traditional version, served as a
thick dip with rivulets of peppery olive oil glimmering
all over it.
360g dried fava beans
2 handfuls of finely
chopped dill
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
juice of 1½ lemons
black pepper
Serves 4
1. Put the beans into a saucepan and pour over 1½ litres of
cold water. Bring to the boil over a medium heat and remove
any red husks that float to the surface. Cover, reduce the heat
to low and cook for 30–35 minutes, or until the beans have
broken up. Drain in a colander and return to the pan.
2. Add the dill, oil, lemon juice and a generous pinch of salt
and black pepper. Mash everything together into a textured
paste. Check the seasoning and scoop into a serving dish.
Cover and leave to cool to room temperature. Serve with extra
olive oil drizzled over the top.
Haydari – Lemon, Garlic and Herb
Yogurt
Meyhane (tavern) culture in Turkey is the original
drinking culture, where the men get together to drink
wine or raki, eat and chat. Dinner at these taverns can
go on late into the night and songs will be sung as the
evening goes on. Haydari is one of the classic meyhane
dishes, made from a strained yogurt that is flavoured
with lemon juice, garlic and herbs. Traditionally, the
yogurt is hung overnight in muslin, allowing the excess
moisture to drip out, so that it gets really thick and
creamy. I have to admit that I am never that organised,
so I just buy a thick Greek yogurt instead.
375g Greek yogurt
55g feta cheese
a handful of finely chopped mint leaves
juice of ½ lemon
20g walnuts, finely chopped
Serves 4
1. Scoop the yogurt into a mixing bowl and add the feta, herbs,
garlic, lemon juice, oil and a good pinch of salt and black
pepper. Mix everything together thoroughly and pour into a
serving dish.
2. Top with the walnuts and serve immediately.
chapter
3
pide & köfte
Pide and köfte are classic Turkish street
foods.
Pide are like boat-shaped pizzas that are covered in
meat, cheese and butter, and served as an afternoon
snack or light dinner, often with plates of parsley and
lemon wedges. Traditional pide are very meat-heavy
and the best version comes from Samsun on the Black
Sea, where the locals love cooking with pastry and
butter. Some of the most popular pide include kiymali
pide a closed meat pide from the Black Sea, Konya
pide, which has large hand-cut chunks of lamb on top,
and Kayseri pide, which is topped with shaved beef
pastrami and egg.
Pide are not usually prepared at home – instead,
hungry Turks head to their local pide salon to feast on
these crispy treats. Cooked in old wood-burning ovens,
the chefs prepare the pide on long, oar-like paddles and
then transfer them to the oven to cook. Once golden,
they are removed and finished with melted butter. Over
time, pide have evolved to incorporate lighter toppings,
like smoked aubergine, spinach and olives.
Köfte are little round or oval-shaped meat patties
made using finely minced lamb or beef. They are a very
old dish, found in some of the first Persian and
Ottoman recipes, and now different varieties exist all
across Turkey, with most towns and cities having their
own recipe.
Köfte vary in flavour, from plain meat seasoned with
just a little salt, to heavily spiced with black pepper or
Turkish pepper flakes. Some even include finely
chopped onion and herbs. They are fried or grilled on
the barbecue and served with a sauce or sometimes just
a pinch of ground cumin for extra seasoning. Köfte are
a national treasure and very easy to prepare at home.
Using good-quality mince with at least 20 per cent fat
will give you the best köfte – they should be soft, juicy
and full of flavour.
These two dishes are Turkish takeout – fast food that
can be eaten on the go. Whether you’re driving through
the stunning plains of Anatolia, relaxing on the
beautiful Mediterranean coast or exploring Adana, you
can stop anywhere and eat delicious pide or köfte. Here,
I have picked out some of the classics so you can
recreate these perfect pick-me-ups at home.
Pide Dough
Kιymalι Pide – Black Sea Pide
Kayseri Pide – Pastrami and Egg Pide
Sujuk Pide
Konya Pide
Spinach Pide
Chicken, Artichoke and Olive Pide
Aubergine and Lamb Köfte
Sea Bass Köfte with Smoked Pepper Sauce
İçli Köfte – Stuffed Meatball Köfte
Hasan Pasha Köfte – Cheesy Beef Köfte
Akçaabat Beef Köfte
Pide Dough
Pide are really easy to make. You just need a simple,
well-seasoned dough made from fine flour, yeast, salt
and water. The dough is best used straight away as it
has the perfect flavour and texture when fresh. If you
don’t want to use all of the pide dough at the same
time, pop any remaining dough into a freezer bag and
store in the freezer for up to 2 weeks. Just take the bag
out and thaw overnight before using.
7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
1 teaspoon caster sugar
300g 00 grade durum wheat flour, plus extra for dusting
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for greasing
100ml ice-cold water
topping of your choice (see recipes)
butter, for brushing
Makes 8 pide shells
1. Put the yeast and sugar in a small bowl and add 2
tablespoons of lukewarm water. Stir and set aside for a few
minutes until the mixture begins to froth.
2. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre
and add the salt. Pour in the olive oil and yeast mixture. Start
to combine with your hands, while slowly pouring in the ice-
cold water. Continue until all the water is incorporated and the
dough starts to stick together. If needed, add a few extra
tablespoons of water to help the dough fully combine. Tip the
dough out onto a floured board and knead for 5–6 minutes
until shiny and stretchy. Place into an oiled mixing bowl,
cover with a clean tea towel and leave for 30 minutes to rise.
3. Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7 and line a baking
sheet with baking paper.
4. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. Use your hands to form
each piece into an oval shape. Dust both sides with flour and
roll out into a large boat shape. The dough should be really
thin – you should be able to just about see the board through
the dough. Once you are there, prick the dough all over with a
fork. Carefully place on the prepared baking sheet.
5. Arrange your chosen topping down the middle of each pide,
leaving a 2cm gap around the edges. Fold the edges in on
themselves, all around the pide, so that you have a folded 1cm
border. Starting at one end and using your thumb and
forefinger, squeeze the pastry border together so that it crimps
and stands up a little. Do this all the way around and squeeze
the two ends together. You should end up with a boat shape.
Bake for 8–10 minutes, or until the two pointy edges have
slightly curled up and the sides are golden.
6. Meanwhile, melt the butter in the microwave or a small pan.
Brush the melted butter all over the cooked pide, slice and
serve immediately.
Kιymalι Pide – Black Sea Pide
When we visit my partner’s family in Samsun, one of
the biggest cities in the Black Sea region, we make
kιymalι pide (Black Sea pide) every Sunday. This is the
classic Samsun pide. We fry small pieces of beef with
onions and cumin, then take the meat to the baker down
the road. He wraps the filling in a thin pastry and bakes
it until crispy in his magnificent old oven, before
brushing a thick coating of butter generously over the
top. It’s almost impossible to resist the temptation to eat
them on the walk home.
½ quantity of pide dough, cut into 4 equal pieces
1 onion, very finely chopped
300g lamb mince (20 per cent fat)
Makes 4 pide
1. Preheat the oven to 220°/gas mark 7 and line a baking sheet
with baking paper.
2. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter with the olive oil in a frying
pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring
occasionally, for 3–4 minutes until soft. Add the lamb and fry,
stirring, for 3–4 minutes until just cooked through. Add the
Turkish pepper flakes and a good pinch of salt and black
pepper. Add the parsley and mix everything together well.
Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
3. Use your hands to form each piece of dough into an oval
shape. Dust both sides with flour and roll out into a large boat
shape. The dough should be really thin – you should be able to
just about see the board through the dough. Once you are
there, prick the dough all over with a fork. Carefully place
onto the prepared baking sheet.
4. Arrange the lamb mixture down the middle of each pide,
leaving a 2.5cm gap all around. Fold the edges over the top of
the filling. Starting at one end and using your thumb and
forefinger, squeeze the two sides together tightly over the
filling. Your pide should look like a very long, thin baguette.
5. Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter. Brush the melted
butter all over the cooked pide, slice and serve immediately.
Kayseri Pide – Pastrami and Egg
Pide
One afternoon in Samsun, I stumbled across an old pide
shop called Gözde Pide Salouu. It had a huge wood-
burning oven and the two brothers manning it made the
best pide I have ever eaten. Their pide-de-resistance
was a kayseri pide – a pastrami and egg pide made with
the smoky dried beef pastrami that is loved all over
Turkey. This pide is all about simple ingredients cooked
to perfection. The idea is to tear pieces o and dip them
into the egg yolk. You can buy Turkish pastrami at a
Turkish food shop. It looks and tastes like parma ham,
which is a great alternative if you eat pork. In Turkey,
this would be made with kaüar, but Cheddar works just
as well.
½ quantity of Pide Dough, cut into 4 equal pieces
140g Turkish beef pastrami
200g grated Cheddar cheese
4 eggs
Turkish pepper flakes
Makes 4 pide
there, prick the dough all over with a fork. Carefully place on
the prepared baking sheet.
3. Tear the pastrami into pieces and drape it down the middle
of each piece of dough, leaving a 2cm gap all around. Scatter
over the cheese. Fold the edges in on themselves all around the
pide, so that you have a 1cm border. Starting at one end and
using your thumb and forefinger, squeeze the pastry border
together so that it crimps and stands up a little. Do this all the
way around and squeeze the two ends together. You should
end up with a boat shape. Bake for 7 minutes.
4. Carefully crack an egg in the middle of each pide. Return to
the oven for 4–5 minutes until the egg is just set and the edges
are golden. Season with Turkish pepper flakes and serve
immediately.
Sujuk Pide
This is Turkish fast food at its best: a perfectly cooked,
crispy pide, topped with thinly sliced sujuk and melted
cheese. You can find this pide in towns and cities across
the land and everyone loves it. Traditionally in Turkey
they would use a hard cheese called kaüar, which has a
strong flavour and a great melting quality. Cheddar
works just as well and is easy to get hold of. If you
can’t find sujuk, use a good-quality shop-bought
pepperoni instead (if you eat pork).
100g sujuk, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon butter
Makes 4 pide
2. Use your hands to form each piece of pide dough into an
oval shape. Dust both sides with flour and roll out into a large
boat shape. The dough should be really thin – you should be
able to just about see the board through the dough. Once you
are there, prick the dough all over with a fork. Carefully place
on the prepared baking sheet.
3. Spread the tomato purée down the middle of each pide,
leaving a 2cm gap all around. Tear the sujuk into pieces and
place it over the purée, followed by the cheese. Fold the edges
in on themselves all around the pide, so that you have a 1cm
border. Starting at one end, and using your thumb and
4. Meanwhile, melt the butter in the microwave or a small pan.
Brush the melted butter all over the cooked pide, slice and
serve immediately.
Konya Pide
Konya is a town in the middle of the central Anatolian
region of Turkey. This beautiful city houses the
stunning blue-tiled temple of Mevlana (see photo),
home to the Persian mystic Rumi and the order of the
Whirling Dervishes. The temple is truly beautiful, with
towering minarets that stick out from a huge domed
roof. Just as famous is the Konya pide, a very thin,
crispy, boat-shaped pizza that is topped with lamb and
lots of butter. It is served with mountains of fresh
parsley and lemon wedges, and, to me, is as incredible
as the temple.
1 onion, very finely chopped
flat-leaf parsley leaves, plus extra to serve
Makes 4 pide
shape Dust both sides with flour and roll out into a large boat
there, prick the dough all over with a fork. Carefully place on
the prepared baking tray.
3. Put the lamb, onion and parsley into a mixing bowl, season
with salt and black pepper, and mix well.
4. Spread the tomato purée down the middle of each pide,
leaving a 2cm gap all around. Spread the meat mixture over
the top in a thin layer. Fold the edges in on themselves all
around the pide, so that you have a 1cm border. Starting at one
end and using your thumb and forefinger, squeeze the pastry
border together so that it crimps and stands up a little. Do this
all the way around and squeeze the two ends together. You
should end up with a boat shape. Bake for 10–12 minutes, or
until the two pointy edges have slightly curled up and the sides
are golden.
5. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a microwave or a small pan.
Brush over the top of the cooked pide and serve immediately
with lemon wedges and parsley.
Spinach Pide
Traditional pide are made with lots of meat and butter.
Spinach pide is a modern version that is much lighter.
The pide are flavoured with spinach, onions, cheese and
a background hint of cumin. The trick here is making
sure that the pan is really hot when you cook the
spinach, so that it cooks quickly and doesn’t go watery,
meaning the pide stays perfectly crispy.
½ quantity Pide Dough, cut into 4 equal pieces
200g baby spinach
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
Makes 4 pide
there, prick the dough all over with a fork. Carefully place
3. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a high heat. Add the onion
and fry for 3–4 minutes until golden. Add the spinach and fry
for 2–3 minutes until wilted. Add the cumin, black pepper and
a good pinch of salt. Mix well, remove from the heat and leave
to cool for a few minutes.
4. Arrange the spinach down the middle of each pide, leaving
a 2cm gap around the edges. Scatter over the cheese. Fold the
edges in on themselves all around the pide, so that you have a
1cm border. Starting at one end and using your thumb and
slightly curled up and the sides are golden. Serve immediately.
Chicken, Artichoke and Olive Pide
These pide make the perfect light lunch, served hot
from the oven with a side salad. I have used olives and
artichokes, classic flavours from the Mediterranean
coast of Turkey, along with shredded chicken and
cheese. In Turkey, cheese is very popular, and there is a
huge variety of interesting local cheeses. Something
like kaşar, a hardish yellow cheese, would be more
traditionally used here, but Cheddar has a similar
flavour and is easier to find outside Turkey.
½ quantity Pide Dough, cut into 4 equal pieces
200g cooked chicken, shredded
200g griddled artichoke hearts in oil, drained
80g pitted black olives, roughly sliced
Makes 4 pide
2. Use your hands to form each of the pieces of dough into an
oval shape. Dust both sides with flour and roll out into a large
boat shape. The dough should be really thin – you should be
able to just about see the board through the dough. Once you
are there, prick the dough all over with a fork. Carefully place
3. Arrange the chicken and artichokes down the middle of
each pide, leaving a 2cm gap all around. Scatter over the
olives and cheese. Fold the edges in on themselves all around
the pide, so that you have a 1cm border. Starting at one end,
and using your thumb and forefinger, squeeze the pastry
border together so that it crimps and stands up a little. Do this
all the way around and squeeze the two ends together. You
should end up with a boat shape. Bake for 10–12 minutes, or
until the two pointy edges have slightly curled up and the sides
are golden. Serve immediately.
Aubergine and Lamb Köfte
Originally from Adana but hugely popular throughout
Eastern Turkey, these incredible köfte are made with
aubergines and lamb. The aubergines are smoked,
finely chopped and mixed into softened tomatoes,
spring onions and Turkish pepper. Lusciously spiced
köfte are then fried until golden and served nestled into
the aubergines. Often, this dish is served with balon
pide, a very thin bread that puffs up like a balloon in
the oven. It is perfect for scooping up the aubergine and
rolling around the delicious lamb köfte.
2 aubergines
4 spring onions, finely sliced
4 Turkish green peppers, finely sliced
juice of ½ lemon
300g lamb mince
4 garlic cloves
1 slice of bread, crusts
removed, soaked in 3 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons ground cumin
sea salt
Serves 4 (makes 12 köfte)
them over a medium gas flame and cook for 3–4 minutes on
each side, turning four times, or until tender. You should be
able to poke a skewer into the charred skin and straight
through the flesh when it is cooked. Leave to cool. When cool
to the touch, remove and discard the burnt skin. Cut off the
tops and finely chop the flesh.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a frying pan over a medium
heat. Add the tomatoes, spring onions and green peppers. Mix
well and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5–6 minutes until the
tomatoes have just started to break down. Add the cooked
aubergines and lemon juice, and season with salt. Mix
together, remove from the heat and set aside.
3. Put the lamb in a large mixing bowl and crush over the
garlic. Add the soaked bread, black pepper, cumin, Turkish
pepper flakes and a good pinch of salt. Using your hands, mix
together thoroughly for 5–6 minutes to help tenderise the
meat. Take a walnut-sized piece of meat, roll it into a ball and
flatten into an oval shape. Repeat with the rest of the meat.
4. Heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan over a medium
heat. Fry the köfte for 2–3 minutes on each side until just
cooked through. To serve, transfer the aubergines to a large
serving dish and arrange the köfte over the top. Scatter over
the parsley and serve with lemon wedges.
Sea Bass Köfte with Smoked Pepper
Sauce
Levrek, or sea bass, is hugely popular in Turkey and
enjoyed all along the Aegean and Mediterranean
coastlines, where it is pan-fried, salt-baked or stewed.
This simple köfte recipe is one of the few fish köfte
found in Turkey, as they generally tend to be meat
based. The sea bass can really take on the big flavours
of the dried herbs and spices. I have also added
bicarbonate of soda: you might associate this more with
baking, but as any good Turkish cook will tell you, this
secret ingredient keeps köfte, minced kebabs and
fishcakes really light and fluffy.
2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into quarters
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
juice of ½ lemon, plus a little
extra for the peppers
350g sea bass fillets, skinned and boned
40g breadcrumbs
1 egg
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon sumac
¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6.
2. Put the red peppers in a mixing bowl, add 1 tablespoon of
the oil and season with salt and black pepper. Mix well and tip
onto a baking tray. Roast for 30–35 minutes, or until the skin
is charred and the peppers are tender. Tip the peppers into a
mixing bowl, cover with cling film and leave for 10 minutes.
When cooled, remove the skins and then whizz the flesh into a
paste using a mini food processor. Pour the puréed pepper into
a mixing bowl, add the yogurt and a tiny squeeze of lemon and
mix well. Transfer to a small saucepan and keep warm over a
low heat, stirring occasionally, until ready to use.
3. Meanwhile, put the fish into a food processor or blender and
pulse until finely chopped. Tip into a mixing bowl and add the
parsley, breadcrumbs, egg, black pepper, thyme, sumac,
bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt. Mix well and divide
into eight equal portions. Roll each one into a ball and then
flatten into a round patty just under 1cm thick.
4. Heat the remaining oil in large pan over a medium heat. Fry
the köfte for 2½–3 minutes on each side, until golden and
cooked through. Squeeze over the lemon juice and serve
immediately with the warm pepper sauce.
İçli Köfte – Stuffed Meatball Köfte
İçli köfte, or stuffed meatball köfte, are famous
throughout Turkey. Originally from Gaziantep in East
Turkey, these deep-fried lamb köfte are served as a
meze dish before a kebab. A thick bulgur and lamb
casing is stuffed with a lamb and nut filling, then rolled
into cone shapes and deep fried. The outer casing goes
gorgeously golden and crispy, and the inside stays juicy
and rich. They taste incredible served hot with a dollop
of creamy yogurt and a squeeze of lemon.
1 onion, roughly chopped
250g lamb mince
300g bulgur wheat
50g breadcrumbs
vegetable oil, for deep-frying
For the filling
200g lamb mince
10g walnuts, finely ground
10g pistachios, ground
10g ground almonds
1. Put the onion in a food processor and blend until fine. Add
the lamb mince, bulgur wheat, breadcrumbs and Turkish
pepper flakes, season with salt and blend for 5 minutes,
stopping regularly to scrape the sides so that the lamb gets
really fine. Halfway through blending, add 5 tablespoons of
cold water to help bind everything together.
2. Meanwhile, put all the filling ingredients into a mixing bowl
and season with a generous pinch of salt and black pepper.
Mix together thoroughly.
3. Take a golf ball-sized piece of the first mixture and, on a
clean surface, roll it out into a circle about the size of a small
fried egg. Place a walnut-sized piece of the filling in the
middle. Pull one half of the outer layer over into a half-moon
shape. Wet your hands with a little water and roll the köfte into
a tight cone shape. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to
make 8 köfte.
4. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Drop
a small piece of the outer layer into the oil. It will sink. When
it bubbles up to the surface the oil is hot enough. Fry the köfte,
two or three at a time, for 8–10 minutes until golden and
cooked through. Drain on kitchen paper. Repeat with the rest
and serve immediately
Hasan Pasha Köfte – Cheesy Beef
Köfte
These Hasan Pasha köfte are named after Hasan Pasha,
the Ottoman ruler of Algiers in the 15th century. They
were presented to him at an epic dinner at the Sultan’s
palace after he won many great victories for the empire.
The köfte are like a miniature meal in themselves –
little beef köfte are topped with mashed potato and lor
peyniri, a soft, stringy, mozzarella-like cheese, then
baked in a tomato sauce. To make sure that your köfte
stay moist, keep them snug in a small baking dish and,
if you think they are looking too dry, add an extra
splash of water. Lor peyniri is hard to come by outside
of Turkey, so use a good-quality mozzarella instead.
300g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 tablespoon butter
1 egg, separated
500g beef mince (15 per cent fat minimum)
1 slice of bread, crusts
removed, soaked in 3 tablespoons cold water
125ml tomato passata
75g grated mozzarella cheese
a small handful of torn
sea salt
2. Cook the potatoes in a pan of boiling water until tender,
drain and return to the pan. Add the butter, egg yolk, Turkish
pepper flakes and a good pinch of salt. Mash together until
smooth and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, put the beef mince in a mixing bowl and add
the onion, garlic, black pepper, soaked bread, egg white and a
good pinch of salt. Using your hands, mix together thoroughly
for a few minutes. The mixture will feel wet at first, but the
bread will begin to absorb the moisture. Roll into eight
meatballs and place them in a snug ovenproof dish. Push your
thumb into the centre of each meatball and create a well. Top
each köfte with a spoonful of the cooked potatoes.
4. Mix the passata with 125ml cold water and pour around the
köfte. Cover the dish with foil and cook for 15–20 minutes, or
until just cooked through. Scatter over the cheese and return to
the oven for 2–3 minutes until melted. Sprinkle with parsley
and serve.
Akçaabat Beef Köfte
A few years ago, we were driving along the coast of the
windswept Black Sea towards the Georgian border and
had stopped at a tiny café near the town of Akçaabat.
This ‘café’ was, more accurately, a huge kettle slung
over an open fire, with a little grill for köfte and few
tables huddled together. We sipped tea and admired the
view, watching the fishermen cast their nets into the
silvery-grey waters of the Black Sea. Then came huge
plates of köfte, chopped salad and freshly baked bread.
The köfte were beef and spiked with lots of black
pepper and parsley. They warmed us up beautifully. I
hope you enjoy them as much as we did.
350g beef mince
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
25g dried breadcrumbs
1 egg
¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
vegetable oil, for frying
sea salt
1. Put all the ingredients, minus the oil, in a mixing bowl. Add
a large pinch of salt and, using your hands, mix the ingredients
together for 5–6 minutes to tenderise the meat.
2. Take a walnut-sized piece of the mixture, roll it into a ball
and flatten it into a 2.5mm thick, oval shaped köfte. Repeat
with the remaining mixture. Place the köfte on a tray and
refrigerate for 20 minutes.
3. Brush a griddle pan with a little oil and heat over a high heat
until smoking. Reduce the heat to medium and cook the köfte
for 3–4 minutes on each side, or until golden and cooked
through. Serve immediately.
chapter
4
kebabs
Smoky, charred, juicy and delicious,
Turkish kebabs are the best in the world. Over the
centuries, the Turkish people have perfected the best
techniques for grilling meat and turned it into an art
form. Now let me be very clear, true Turkish kebabs are
vastly different to the distant cousin you may have
eaten late at night on the way home from the pub.
Traditional Turkish kebabs are a thing of beauty. From
grilled kebabs on long metal skewers to döner kebabs
turning slowly on the heat, or Iskender kebabs that are
sliced onto bread and covered in sauce, there are many
varieties to choose from, each more delicious than the
last.
Kebabs are an old food, eaten across Persia and
Constantinople for centuries. The origins can be found
in the Persian word kebab, which was given to the meat
that soldiers skewered onto their swords and cooked
over hot coals. Now, mangal (barbecue) restaurants
across Turkey serve grilled kebabs to hungry diners for
a quick lunch or long dinner. Huge indoor barbecue pits
with massive extractors are the centrepiece and
skewered kebabs are expertly cooked over the hot coals
and served with bread, salads and meze.
For the perfect kebab, the meat should come from a
young male lamb, ideally 9 months old. For minced
meat kebab, a mix of leg, shoulder and belly, with at
least 40 per cent fat, is meticulously hand chopped until
fine using a mighty meat cleaver called a zιrh. The
curved blade looks like a huge mezzaluna with one
handle – it is the perfect shape to roll over the meat and
cut it to the right consistency really quickly.
While you can ask your butcher to do this for you, I
find using a good shop-bought mince with 20 per cent
fat that is given a good blast in the blender will give
you a lovely juicy kebab at home. I have recipes for
some of the most classic kebabs in Turkey, from the
spicy Adana kebab to the fragrant Iskender kebab, each
adapted so that you can make them at home without the
need for an indoor barbecue.
Spicy Adana Kebabs
Ali Nazik – Minced Lamb and Smoked Aubergine
My Iskender Kebab
Kilis Kebab – Lamb Meatball Kebab
Lamb Kebabs in a Smoky Tomato Sauce
Simit Kebab with Lamb and Pistachios
Gaziantep Lamb Cutlets
Tepsi Kebab – Tray Kebab
Kürdan Kebabs
Pomegranate Beef Skewers
Şiş Tavuk – Chicken Shish
Monkfish Kebabs
Vegetable Kebabs
Spicy Adana Kebabs
This is one of my favourite kebabs and I think I’m safe
in saying that that is true for most of Turkey, too.
Named after the city of Adana in the south east, this
kebab is very simple – and very spicy. Fatty lamb is
hand-chopped with salt and masses of Turkish pepper
flakes, which give the dish its distinctive hot flavour
and slight reddish colour. The lamb is fed onto flat
metal skewers and cooked over hot coals. It is served
on a flatbread with parsley, green peppers and tomatoes
on the side.
½ onion, roughly chopped
½ red pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
2 teaspoons Turkish pepper flakes
sea salt
Serves 4 (makes 4 kebabs)
1. Put the onion and red pepper into a food processor or
blender and give them a good blitz until fine. Add the lamb,
Turkish pepper flakes and a good pinch of salt, and blend for
2–3 minutes until really fine. Tip the mixture into a mixing
bowl, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat the grill or barbecue to high. Divide the mixture into
four equal portions and roll each one into a sausage shape.
Flatten slightly and thread on to a skewer. Rub all over with
oil. Place on the hot griddle and cook for 3–4 minutes on each
side or until charred on the outside and just cooked through in
the middle. Serve immediately.
Ali Nazik – Minced Lamb and
Smoked Aubergine
Ali nazik originated in the Eastern town of Gazientep,
which has some of the best food in Turkey. The dish
was prepared for a sultan in the 16th century and he
asked whose ‘gentle hand’, or ‘eli nazik’ had made it –
and so the dish was born. Traditionally in Turkish, the
word ‘kebab’ means anything that is cooked over
charcoal; something that Turkish culture excels in. This
particular kebab would involve cooking the mince in a
pan over hot coals to take on the smoky hues. You can
try this at home on your barbecue, otherwise it works
just as well on the hob.
2 aubergines
200g Greek yogurt
2 teaspoons tomato purée
½ teaspoon dried oregano
30g butter
a handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
flatbreads, to serve
Serves 4
over a medium gas flame and cook for 3–4 minutes on each
side, turning four times, or until tender. You should be able to
poke a skewer into the charred skin and straight through the
flesh when it is cooked. Leave to cool. When cool to the touch,
remove and discard the burnt skin. Cut off the tops and finely
chop the flesh. Tip into a mixing bowl and add the yogurt and
a generous pinch of salt and black pepper. Mix together really
well.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan over a high heat and
add the lamb. Fry for 8–10 minutes until golden. Add the
tomato purée, 1 teaspoon of the Turkish pepper flakes, the
oregano and a good pinch of salt. Mix together and then
remove from the heat.
3. Put the butter in a small pan and heat for 1–2 minutes over a
medium heat until bubbling. Add the remaining Turkish
pepper flakes and mix well. Remove from the heat and leave
for a few minutes to infuse.
4. To serve, spread the glorious aubergines out onto a serving
platter. Spoon over the golden nuggets of lamb and scatter
over the parsley. Drizzle over the red butter and serve
immediately with warm flatbreads.
My Iskender Kebab
Iskender is one of the most popular Turkish kebabs. It
was invented in the city of Bursa in the north west of
Turkey. In 1850, a restaurant owner called Iskender
decided to cook spit-roast lamb vertically, and so
invented the döner kebab. Not content with just this, he
served his sliced döner on freshly baked flatbread and
covered it with a rich tomato sauce and thick yogurt.
The Iskender kebab was born and it is now eaten all
over Turkey. The likelihood is that you won’t have the
tools to make your own döner at home, so I have
created a twist on the original, using charred steaks so
that it is a bit easer.
3 white tortilla wraps
2 rib-eye steaks (about 250g each)
30g butter
130g Greek yogurt
juice of ½ lemon
Serves 4
1. Roll the wraps up and cut them with a pair of scissors over a
serving dish into 0.5cm strips.
2. Heat a griddle pan over a high heat. Season the steaks with
salt and black pepper and rub each one with a little oil. Cook
for 2½–3 minutes each side until rare. Place the cooked steaks
on top of the shredded wraps and cover with clingfilm for 5
minutes to rest.
3. Meanwhile, put the butter, tomato purée, Turkish pepper
flakes and a pinch of salt into a pan and mix well. Heat over a
medium heat for 1–2 minutes until melted.
4. Put the yogurt, garlic, lemon juice and a pinch of salt into a
mixing bowl and mix together.
5. Slice up the steak and return it to the wraps. Dollop over the
yogurt and drizzle the hot tomato sauce over everything. Serve
immediately.
Kilis Kebab – Lamb Meatball Kebab
My first experience of this delicious dish was in east
Turkey, when I was at lunch with the mayor of
Gaziantep (as you do). The chef wanted to make
something special so he served Kilis kebab, named after
the town of Kilis, known for its rich kebab culture.
Lamb meatballs and aubergine chunks are skewered
together and cooked over charcoal until smoky. They
are then de-skewered and transferred into a rich tomato
sauce to finish cooking. The end result is sublime.
Although I have pan-fried the meatballs and aubergines
for my Kilis kebab, feel free to go all the way and cook
them on a barbecue to get a more authentic flavour.
2 Turkish green peppers, finely sliced
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
2 tablespoons red pepper paste
juice of ½ lemon
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 aubergine, half the skin removed in strips
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat.
Add the peppers and onions and mix well. Cook, stirring
occasionally, for 8–10 minutes until really golden and soft.
Add the garlic, mix well and cook for 10 seconds until
fragrant. Add the red pepper paste, tomato purée, lemon juice,
black pepper, tomatoes and a good pinch of salt. Pour in
200ml of cold water and mix together. Bring to the boil, cover,
reduce the heat to low and cook gently for 1 hour.
2. Meanwhile, cut the half-peeled aubergine into quarters
lengthways. Cut each quarter into three large pieces.
3. Put the lamb into a mixing bowl and season with a good
pinch of salt. Mix together really well. Take a walnut-sized
piece of mince and roll it into a ball. Repeat with the rest.
4. Heat the vegetable oil in a non-stick pan over a high heat
until smoking. Add the meatballs and cook for 2 minutes on
the top and bottom, until golden all over. Remove from the pan
and set aside. Add the aubergine pieces and cook for 2–3
minutes on just one side until really smoky and charred.
Remove from the pan and leave to cool. Once cool, cut any
larger pieces of aubergine in half, so that they are about 2–
2.5cm. If you cut them this small before charring, they would
lose their texture.
5. Add the aubergine pieces to the sauce, cover and cook for
30 minutes. Gently mix together and then add the meatballs.
Shake the pan so that they settle into the sauce and then cover
and cook for 25–30 minutes, or until the meatballs are just
cooked through and the sauce wonderfully rich. Serve
immediately.
Lamb Kebabs in a Smoky Tomato
Sauce
This is a great dish to serve when you have friends over
for dinner: juicy lamb kebabs sitting on top of a rich
tomato sauce. All you need then is a big salad and lots
of bread, and everyone will be very happy. This recipe
was inspired by a Turkish kiyma kebabi, a classic
minced meat kebab that is similar to the Adana kebab,
but has a milder flavour. It is hugely popular in the
eastern towns of Adana, Gaziantep, Urfa and Mersin,
which have all soaked up the kebab culture from Persia
centuries before.
2 tomatoes, halved
1 onion, quartered
1 Turkish green pepper, roughly sliced
1½ tablespoons tomato purée
½ teaspoon caster sugar
For the kebab
½ red pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
a handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 garlic clove
1. Heat a griddle pan over a high heat until smoking. Put the
tomatoes on the hot griddle, flesh-side down, and scatter the
onion and green pepper around them. Cook for 4–5 minutes
until charred. Remove from the pan and put in a food
processor or blender. Add the tomato purée, sugar, 150ml of
cold water and a good pinch of salt and black pepper. Blend
until completely smooth. Pour into a small saucepan, cover
and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour, or
until the sauce has reduced by half and is really thick.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the kebab. Put the red pepper, parsley
and garlic into a food processor or blender and blitz until fine.
Add the lamb, black pepper, Turkish pepper flakes and a good
pinch of salt. Blend for 3–4 minutes, until the meat sticks
together like dough. Place into an oiled mixing bowl, cover
and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.
3. Heat a griddle pan over a high heat. Divide the meat
mixture into four equal portions and roll each one into a 10cm
sausage shape. Gently flatten using two fingers all the way
along, so each sausage is about 2.5cm wide. Brush both sides
of each kebab with a little vegetable oil. Carefully place on the
griddle and cook for 2 ½–3 minutes on each side, until charred
and just cooked through.
4. To serve, pour the hot sauce onto a serving dish and place
the just-cooked kebabs on top. Leave to rest for 1 minute
before serving.
Simit Kebab with Lamb and
Pistachios
This special kebab gets its name from the Arabic word
‘semiz’, which means semolina or hard wheat. And it is
the hard bulgur wheat that is mixed with the ground
lamb that gives the simit kebab its nutty flavour and
wonderful texture. I love to dress up these kebabs with
a drizzle of yogurt and a sprinkling of bright green
pistachio nuts.
35g shelled pistachios
a handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves
a handful of mint leaves
½ onion, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves
25g bulgur, soaked in the same volume of boiling water for 10
minutes, then drained
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
yogurt and ground pistachios, to serve
1. Put the pistachios into a food processor or blender and blend
until fine. Add the herbs and give them a blitz until they are
finely chopped. Add the onion and garlic and blend until fine.
Add the lamb, Turkish pepper flakes, bulgur and a generous
pinch of salt and black pepper. Mix together for 4–5 minutes
or until the meat sticks together like dough. You will need to
stop and scrape down the sides every now and then. Tip the
blended mixture into an oiled mixing bowl. Cover and
refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.
2. Heat a griddle pan over a high heat until smoking. Divide
the meat mixture into four equal pieces and roll each one into
a 10cm sausage shape. Brush with a little vegetable oil. Cook
for 8–10 minutes, turning every 2–2 ½ minutes until cooked
through and juicy. Serve immediately with a drizzle of yogurt
and the ground pistachios over the top.
Gaziantep Lamb Cutlets
This recipe is based on a very simple lamb kebab that I
first tasted in Gaziantep. Traditionally it would be made
using chunks of lamb, marinated until terrifically
tender, then cooked furiously over hot coals. I have
slightly adapted the recipe to use lamb cutlets instead.
Like the original, the lamb is tenderised overnight in a
thick, spicy marinade and then cooked until charred. I
have used a griddle pan for this recipe, but feel free to
cook the cutlets on the barbecue for a more
sophisticated smoky finish.
750g lamb rack cutlets
2 teaspoons tomato purée
1 ripe tomato, skinned and deseeded
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Put the lamb cutlets into a mixing bowl and season with a
good pinch of salt. Add the yogurt, 1 teaspoon of the oil, the
Turkish pepper flakes, mint, garlic and tomato purée. Squish
the tomato between your hands and let it ooze through your
hands into the mix: the tomato will help tenderise the meat and
keep it moist. Mix everything together thoroughly so that all
the lamb gets coated. Cover and marinate overnight in the
fridge.
2. When ready to cook, remove the lamb cutlets from the
fridge and allow them to come to room temperature. Preheat
the grill to high. Drizzle the remaining oil over the cutlets and
grill them for 6–8 minutes each side, until golden on the
outside and pink in the middle. Serve immediately.
Tepsi Kebab – Tray Kebab
Turkish people love to eat and as a result most of them
are good home cooks. However, they still like to eat
out, and kebab is one of the most popular dishes to go
out for. It makes sense, as making perfect kebabs
usually requires a huge grill with masses of charcoal
and space. However, this east Turkish tepsi kebab is
cooked in the oven, so it’s easy to make at home. A
lamb stew, flavoured with black pepper, thyme, oregano
and cumin, is poured over aubergines that have been
cooked in hot oil. This is finished in the oven, so that
the aubergines absorb all the flavours of the lamb stew.
vegetable oil, for shallow frying
2 aubergines, half the skin
removed in strips, then cut into 5mm thick rounds
1½ tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
500g leg of lamb, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tablespoon red pepper paste
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon ground cumin
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Heat 5mm vegetable oil in a frying pan over a medium heat
and fry the aubergines, in two batches, for 6–8 minutes until
golden. Remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper.
2. Heat the olive oil and butter in a casserole dish over a
medium heat and add the onions. Cook, stirring occasionally,
for 5–6 minutes until translucent. Add the lamb, red pepper
paste, black pepper, thyme, oregano, bay leaf, cumin, Turkish
pepper flakes, tomatoes and a generous pinch of salt. Mix
everything together really well. Cover, reduce the heat to low
and cook for 1–1½ hours until tender. Remove the lid and turn
the heat up to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 15
minutes to thicken up. Check the seasoning.
3. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Layer the fried
aubergines in an ovenproof dish and spoon over the lamb and
all the wonderful juices. Cover with foil and bake for 10
minutes to allow the flavours to mingle. Serve immediately.
Kürdan Kebabs
Kürdan means toothpick, and this is a toothpick kebab.
Not that you need a toothpick after you’ve eaten it,
more that you need one (or a cocktail stick) to help
wrap soft slices of cooked aubergine around the
peppery meatballs, keeping them wonderfully moist in
the oven. Traditionally, this was served during
Ramadan; now it tends to be cooked as a weeknight
staple all over Turkey.
2 aubergines, cut lengthways into 6mm strips (you will need
16 slices)
olive oil, for frying
1 egg white
30g breadcrumbs
sea salt
1. Heat a griddle pan over a high heat. Brush the aubergine
slices with oil and griddle for 1–1½ minutes on each side until
tender and charred. Set aside and leave to cool.
2. Put the lamb in a mixing bowl and add the onion, garlic,
oregano, cumin, black pepper, egg white, breadcrumbs and a
good pinch of salt. Mix together thoroughly and roll into eight
balls. Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat and cook the
meatballs for 2 minutes, top and bottom, until golden all over.
3. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Lay 2 aubergine
strips on top of each other to make a cross. Place a meatball in
the centre and fold up the strips around it. Fasten with a
cocktail stick and put into a small ovenproof dish. Repeat with
the remaining meatballs and aubergine slices. Pour over the
passata and 150ml of cold water, cover with foil and bake for
20 minutes. Remove the foil and return to the oven for a
further 5 minutes. Serve immediately.
Pomegranate Beef Skewers
The inspiration for these beef skewers came from a
Turkish kebab called çöp şiş, an odds-andends sort of
kebab, where leftover bits of meat are chopped up and
marinated in yogurt and spices and then grilled. I first
ate these at a smoky street stall on a warm evening in
the town of Adana and quickly fell in love. The
marinade tenderises the meat beautifully and the
Turkish pepper flakes give it a little kick. For my
kebab, I have been a bit more fancy and used a good
piece of steak, marinated in the traditional way, and
finished off with pomegranate molasses and honey: two
flavours that work beautifully with the cooked beef.
600g rump steak, trimmed and cut into 3cm cubes
4½ tablespoons Greek yogurt
juice of 1 lemon
1 ½ teaspoons runny honey
Serves 4 (makes 8–10 kebabs)
1. Put the beef in a mixing bowl and add the yogurt, Turkish
pepper flakes and lemon juice. Season with salt and black
pepper and mix well. Cover and marinate for 30 minutes or in
the fridge overnight.
2. Preheat the grill or barbecue to high. Thread the meat onto
wooden skewers. Brush with the oil and cook for 4–5 minutes
on each side or until charred and tender.
3. Meanwhile, mix the pomegranate molasses and honey with
1 tablespoon of cold water and a pinch of salt in a mixing
bowl. Drizzle over the cooked beef skewers and serve
immediately.
Şiş Tavuk – Chicken Shish
Şiş tavuk is a classic Turkish kebab that is also found all
over the Middle East, with its roots in Syria and the
Persian Empire. It is also one of the simplest kebabs in
terms of ingredients, but getting it right is an art form:
the meat has to be very tender and juicy, perfectly
charred and well seasoned. A great trick they use in
Turkey is to squeeze half a tomato into the marinade –
the acidity helps tenderise the meat and the sugars keep
it sweet and help it turn a glorious golden colour as it
cooks.
600g chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
1½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons dried oregano
½ ripe tomato
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
sea salt
Serve 4 (makes 8 kebabs)
1. Put the chicken pieces into a mixing bowl. Add the yogurt,
garlic, black pepper, oregano and a good pinch of salt. Using
your hands, squish the tomato into the bowl so that it breaks
up. Mix it in well. Cover and marinate in the fridge for 2 hours
or overnight.
2. Preheat the grill or barbecue to high. Meanwhile, thread the
chicken onto skewers and rub a little oil all over them. Cook
for 4–5 minutes on each side or until charred and cooked
through. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.
Monkfish Kebabs
Although monkfish is found in the warm Mediterranean
waters off the south coast of Turkey, it is not a hugely
popular fish compared to levrek (sea bass) or lüfer
(bluefish). But what I love about monkfish is that its
big taste and firm texture can stand up to really robust
flavours. It works beautifully cooked over a high heat,
so it’s perfect for kebabs. With simple Aegean
ingredients, this recipe really captures the mood of the
lighter cooking on the western coast of Turkey.
450g monkfish, cut into 2.5cm cubes
1 lemon, quartered and then sliced
½ onion, quartered
4 bay leaves, torn
¼ teaspoon Turkish pepper flakes
Serves 4
1. Heat the griddle pan over a high heat. Mix all the
ingredients together in a mixing bowl with a good pinch of salt
and black pepper.
2. Thread the fish onto wooden skewers with a mixture of
onion, lemon or bay leaf in between. Cook for 2–3 minutes on
each side until just cooked through. Serve immediately.
Vegetable Kebabs
‘Vegetable’ and ‘kebab’ are not words that have much
synergy together in Turkey. Kebabs are meat, end of
story. However, while grilling up a batch of Chicken
Shish, vegetables are often skewered in between the
meat to be eaten with flatbreads. Juicy tomatoes, bright
green peppers and sweet onions char up beautifully, and
the flavours really intensify. I love them with or without
meat, so this is for all the vegetarians out there (and
even if you’re not, try this anyway).
4 red onions, halved
4 tomatoes
4 Turkish green peppers, halved
a handful of mint leaves
1. Heat a grill or barbecue to high. Put the onions, tomatoes
and peppers in a mixing bowl, add the oil and season with salt
and pepper. Mix well.
2. Thread the onions, tomatoes and peppers onto four skewers
and cook for 4–5 minutes on each side until charred on the
outside and tender on the inside.
3. Transfer to a serving dish and drizzle over the pomegranate
molasses. Sprinkle over the Turkish pepper flakes, oregano
and mint. Serve immediately.
chapter
5
salads
Turkish salads are simple, made with the
best ingredients
and dressed in lemon juice and tangy pomegranate
molasses. These sumptuous salads are served with
every meal and the standard plate of parsley leaves
comes with breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Traditional meze-style salads are still served in
restaurants or at home before a big dinner. These
include the classic aubergine salad made with chopped
tomatoes and sweet onions; Haricot, Egg, Spring Onion
and Tahini Salad; Fried Halloumi; and the simple
‘Spoon Salad’, a finely chopped, tangy treat.
In addition to these traditional dishes, there are
fabulous modern salads that make the most of
tantalising Turkish ingredients: fresh, fragrant herbs,
juicy tomatoes, olives, sweet onions, seasonal
vegetables and nutty wholegrains. Generous amounts of
olive oil and lemon juice are used to make a basic
dressing, and thick yogurt can be added for a creamier
finish, giving everything a wonderfully tart, cooling
flavour.
For something more substantial, try my Herby
Chicken and Pearl Barley Salad, made from a rustic
mix of shredded cabbage, carrot and onion,
traditionally served with a kebab dish. Or, to sample the
lively flavours of the Aegean coast, try my Baby
Octopus Salad, bursting with tomatoes, fresh oregano,
olives and lemon.
Classic Spoon Salad
Olive and Herb Salad
Orange and Celeriac Salad
Courgettes, Feta, Dill and Walnuts
Haricot, Egg, Spring Onion and Tahini Salad
Freekeh, Pomegranate and Black Olive Salad
Wild Rice, Kale, Chilli and Pomegranate Salad
Griddled Aubergines with Saffron Yogurt
Fried Halloumi with Herby Salsa
Herby Chicken and Pearl Barley Salad
Seared Tuna, Orange and Caper Salad
Baby Octopus, Tomato, Olive and Oregano Salad
Classic Spoon Salad
This simple salad is served with most restaurant meals,
with soft white bread to soak up all the tangy juices. It
gets the name ‘spoon salad’ because all the ingredients
have to be finely chopped so that they fit onto a small
spoon. It is colourful, juicy and delicious. Once you
have prepared it, leave the salad in the fridge for about
half an hour to allow the flavours to intensify.
150g cherry tomatoes, quartered
¼ cucumber, deseeded and finely chopped
1 red pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
1 handful of finely chopped mint leaves
juice of ½ lemon
40g walnuts, lightly crushed
black pepper
Serves 4
1. Put everything except the walnuts into a large mixing bowl
and mix together thoroughly, seasoning to taste as you go.
2. Cover and leave for 20–30 minutes in the fridge for the
flavours to develop. Tip onto a serving dish, top with the
walnuts and serve immediately.
Olive and Herb Salad
Olive and herb salads are often served in the eastern
regions of Turkey, as sides to a kebab. The tartness cuts
through the richness of the fatty meat and seems to
bring out the flavours of the kebab even more. Kebab
or no kebab, this olive salad is fabulous. Crunchy,
savoury and simple to make – what could be better?
250g pitted green olives, roughly sliced
2 handfuls of roughly chopped
2 handfuls of roughly chopped mint leaves
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Put all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and add a
small pinch of salt.
2. Toss together and tip onto a serving dish. Serve
immediately.
Orange and Celeriac Salad
This salad is my version of a wonderfully unusual
Ottoman dish called portakalli zeytinyağli kereviz,
where celeriac is slowly braised with carrots, apple,
orange and olive oil – all classic Aegean ingredients.
Once cooked, it is left to cool and served at room
temperature. It is quite incredible, with a floral smell
and delicate flavour, and it is often served with eggs for
a winter breakfast. I have taken the main ingredients of
that dish and turned it into this zingy salad. Nutty,
shaved celeriac provides the base, topped with sliced
apple and chopped red onion and a light, citrusy
dressing. It is fantastic with kebabs or plain grilled fish.
1 orange
250g celeriac, sliced with a mandolin
100g green apple, sliced with a mandolin
juice of ½ lemon
¼ teaspoon sumac
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Carefully peel the orange using a sharp knife. Cut out the
segments and put them into a mixing bowl. Squeeze the juice
of the remaining orange bits over the top.
2. Add the celeriac, apple, onion, lemon juice, sumac, olive oil
and a good pinch of salt. Toss together and serve immediately.
Courgettes, Feta, Dill and Walnuts
Cevizli kabak is one of the staple cold salads that are
served across Turkey. Instead of finely chopping
everything and mixing it with yogurt in the traditional
style, I have created a modern version, with griddled
courgettes laid out on a platter and topped with a mix of
feta, walnuts and griddled chilli strips, with yogurt
drizzled over the top.
300g baby courgettes, finely sliced lengthways into thin strips
2 red chillies
50g Greek yogurt
juice of 1 lemon
55g feta cheese
Serves 4
1. Heat a griddle pan over a high heat. Put the courgettes and
chillies into a mixing bowl and add the olive oil. Season with
salt and black pepper and mix well. Griddle the courgettes for
2–3 minutes on each side until charred and tender. Place onto a
serving dish and set aside.
2. Griddle the chillies for 4–5 minutes until charred and soft.
Leave to cool. When cool to the touch, remove the skin,
deseed and cut into thin strips.
3. Meanwhile, mix the yogurt, garlic, lemon and a good pinch
of salt and black pepper in a mixing bowl. Spoon over the
courgettes.
4. To serve, arrange the chillies and walnuts over the salad.
Crumble over the feta and scatter over the dill. Serve
immediately.
Haricot, Egg, Spring Onion and
Tahini Salad
Dried beans are sold at food markets throughout
Turkey, with enormous sackfuls lining the aisles of the
old markets. The tops of the sacks are rolled down to
display the beans, so that shoppers can scoop out what
they need. Beans are used in a variety of soups, stews
and salads. This white bean and egg salad was inspired
by the classic Turkish recipe fasulye piyazi, where
white beans are served with herbs, eggs and olive oil. I
have added a richer dressing, using a little tahini. This
salad works beautifully with grilled fish or as part of a
meze.
2 eggs
2 x 400g tins haricot beans, drained and rinsed
For the dressing
2 tablespoons tahini paste
juice of ½ lemon
1 teaspoon runny honey
2 tablespoons water
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Cook the eggs in a pan of boiling water for 8–9 minutes
until just hard. Cool in cold water, remove the shells and
roughly slice the eggs.
2. Meanwhile, whisk the ingredients for the dressing together
along with 2 tablespoons of cold water and a good pinch of
salt. The tahini will look like it has split, but keep whisking
and it will come back together into a rich, creamy dressing.
3. Put the beans, spring onions, parsley and Turkish pepper
flakes into a bowl. Pour over the dressing and toss together.
Add the sliced eggs and gently fold together. Serve
immediately.
Freekeh, Pomegranate and Black
Olive Salad
Freekeh, or firik in Turkish, is an ancient wholegrain
that has been used across the Middle East for centuries.
It is a young green wheat that is dried and smoked,
giving it a distinctive flavour. In Turkey, it is eaten in
pilav with vegetables or just cooked with bulgur and
lots of butter. I have used this nutty grain for the base of
this Turkish-inspired salad, combining it with the
classic flavours of pomegranate, Turkish pepper flakes,
olives, tomatoes and dill.
200g freekeh
juice of 1 lemon
100g pitted black olives, roughly torn
55g sun-dried tomatoes
40g cornichons, finely chopped
2 handfuls of finely chopped dill
30g pomegranate seeds
Serves 4
1. Cook the freekeh according to the packet instructions until
tender. Drain, refresh with cold water, and drain again.
2. Meanwhile, mix the oil, lemon juice, pomegranate
molasses, Turkish pepper flakes and a good pinch of salt and
black pepper together in a small bowl.
3. Put the cooked freekeh in a bowl and add the spring onions,
olives, sun-dried tomatoes, cornichons and dill. Pour over the
dressing, mix everything together thoroughly and transfer to a
serving dish. Top with the pomegranate seeds and serve
immediately.
Wild Rice, Kale, Chilli and
Pomegranate Salad
This hearty salad is a very modern recipe that is packed
with superfoods and classic Turkish ingredients. I love
the combination of the mixed rice – using black, red,
brown and white gives the salad a variety of colours,
textures and flavours. Turkish staples dill, parsley, mint,
pomegranate seeds and walnuts add flavour, and the
addition of kale gives it a light, modern twist. The
dressing uses sumac to give an extra sour note. A little
pinch of this ground red berry is a lovely way to
introduce more depth of flavour to any salad dressing.
350g mix of black, red, brown and white rice
150g kale
a handful of finely chopped mint leaves
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
For the dressing
juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon of sumac
black pepper
Serves 4–6
1. Cook the rice in a large pan of boiling water according to
packet instructions, starting with the variety that takes the
longest and adding the rest at appropriate times so that they all
cook perfectly. Drain and rinse under cold running water. Set
aside to drain.
2. Meanwhile, cook the kale for 2–3 minutes in a large pan of
boiling water. Drain and refresh under cold running water.
When cold, drain thoroughly and squeeze out the excess water
with your hands.
3. Whisk all the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl.
4. Put the drained rice in a large mixing bowl and add the kale,
herbs, chilli and half the pomegranate seeds and walnuts. Pour
in three-quarters of the dressing and mix everything together
thoroughly.
5. Tip the salad onto a serving dish and pour over the
remaining dressing. Top with the remaining pomegranate
seeds and walnuts and serve immediately.
Griddled Aubergines with Saffron
Yogurt
During the Ottoman Empire, the city of Safranbolu,
between Ankara and the Black Sea, was flourishing. It
was located on the Silk Road that linked the east with
the western trade routes. The city was was one of the
principle growers and traders of saffron, and took its
name from this illustrious spice. Today the beautiful
town still grows some of the finest saffron in the world,
and it is used to flavour stews and desserts throughout
Turkey. I have used it here to enrich a simple yogurt
dressing, imparting its vibrant yellow colour and
slightly musty smell. The dressing is generously poured
over grilled aubergines, which are then showered with
pomegranate seeds for a slight tang.
2 aubergines, sliced into 5mm rounds
30ml full-fat milk
a pinch of saffron
100g Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon tahini paste
juice of ½ lemon
2 handfuls of finely chopped dill leaves
20g pine nuts, toasted
Serves 4
1. Heat a griddle pan over a high heat. Place the aubergines in
a shallow dish and pour over the oil. Toss well so that they all
get coated in the oil. When the pan is smoking hot, cook the
aubergines for 4–5 minutes on each side, or until beautifully
charred and tender. Transfer the aubergines to a serving dish.
2. Meanwhile, pour the milk into a microwaveable dish and
heat for a few seconds until warm. Sprinkle in the saffron and
stir gently with a teaspoon. Leave for a few minutes to infuse.
3. Tip the yogurt into a mixing bowl and add the tahini, lemon
juice and a good pinch of salt and black pepper. Pour over the
infused saffron milk and mix everything together thoroughly.
4. To serve, drizzle the sunshine-yellow yogurt over the
aubergines. Scatter over the dill, pomegranate seeds and pine
nuts. Serve immediately with any remaining yogurt on the
side.
Fried Halloumi with Herby Salsa
Given the close proximity to Greece, it should come as
no surprise that halloumi is eaten as a meze dish on the
western coast of Turkey and in the modern restaurants
of Istanbul. It is often served pan-fried with a tangy
tomato salsa. This light and refreshing dish is perfect
for a summer’s evening. The halloumi must be served
straight out of the pan so that it is still hot and oozy
when you bite into it. Make sure you have your salsa
ready first, so that you can pour it straight over the
cooked cheese.
½ red onion, roughly chopped
150g cherry tomatoes
a handful of roughly chopped
mint leaves
a pinch of Turkish pepper flakes
500g halloumi, cut into 5mm slices
Serves 4
1. Put the onion into a mini food processor and blend until
finely chopped. Add the tomatoes and pulse to create a salsa.
Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the herbs, half the oil, the
pomegranate molasses, Turkish pepper flakes and a good
pinch of salt and black pepper. Mix together thoroughly.
2. Heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan over a medium
heat. Fry the halloumi for 1–2 minutes on each side until
golden and oozing. Place onto a serving dish and top with the
salsa. Serve immediately.
Herby Chicken and Pearl Barley
Salad
This light and modern salad is packed with goodness.
The base of the salad looks like a colourful slaw, using
a classic Turkish combination of red cabbage, carrot,
onion and fresh herbs. A tangy yogurt dressing binds it
all together beautifully without feeling too creamy. It is
perfect to make if you have leftover roast chicken and
works brilliantly for a packed lunch or picnic as
everything stays crunchy.
250g cooked pearl barley
180g red cabbage, finely sliced
1 carrot, grated
1 red onion, finely sliced
a handful of roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
a handful of roughly chopped mint leaves
juice of ½ lemon
300g roast chicken, shredded
For the dressing
100g Greek yogurt
50g mayonnaise
juice of ½ lemon
Serves 4
1. Put the pearl barley, cabbage, carrot, onion, parsley and
mint into a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, oil and a good
pinch of salt and black pepper. Mix well.
2. Place all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl along with
2 tablespoons of cold water and season with salt and black
pepper. Whisk together to form a smooth mixture.
3. To serve, spread the barley mix onto a large serving plate.
Arrange the shredded chicken over the top and drizzle over the
dressing. Serve immediately.
Seared Tuna, Orange and Caper
Salad
Sitting in the sunshine at a tiny restaurant in the fishing
village of Göcek, we were given the catch of the day,
gently fried and served with a herby salad in a light
orange dressing. It was perfect – the food, my family
and the view of the wooden gulets sailing in between
the islands of the beautiful turquoise bay. It inspired me
to create my own version, using pan-fried tuna, masses
of fresh herbs, capers and a zingy orange vinaigrette.
This recipe also calls for sumac, made from a tart red
berry, which gives a sour dimension to the finished
salad.
2 tuna steaks (about 120g each)
juice of ½ an orange
juice of ½ a lemon
1 teaspoon English mustard
a handful of finely chopped dill leaves
1 tablespoon capers, drained
a pinch of sumac
Serves 2
1. Heat half the oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Add
the tuna steaks and sear each side for 30–60 seconds until
charred and pink in the middle. Remove from the pan and set
aside to cool. Chop the tuna into tiny pieces and transfer to a
mixing bowl.
2. To make the dressing, whisk together the remaining olive
oil with the orange juice, lemon juice, mustard, sugar and a
good pinch of salt and black pepper.
3. Add the herbs, spring onions, capers and pine nuts to the
tuna and pour over the dressing. Tip into a serving bowl.
Scatter over the sumac and serve immediately.
Baby Octopus, Tomato, Olive and
Oregano Salad
Octopus is a classic Aegean meze dish that is served
with glasses of cold raki and plenty of bread.
Traditionally, the octopus is cooked until tender,
chopped up with green olives and herbs, and served
with lemon juice and olive oil. I have slightly refined
this, using griddled baby octopus and plenty of fragrant
oregano, invoking the scent of the hills that surround
this stunning part of Turkey. The simple list of fresh
ingredients is so indicative of the cooking of this
region, where it’s all about using the best produce you
can find.
3 tomatoes, roughly chopped
½ red onion, roughly chopped
100g green pitted olives, roughly halved
2 handfuls of roughly torn
a handful of oregano leaves
juice of 1 lemon
300g baby octopus, cleaned and trimmed
Serves 4
1. Put the tomatoes, onion, olives, parsley, oregano, half the
lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of the oil and a good pinch of salt
and black pepper into a mixing bowl. Toss together and set
aside for a few minutes so that the flavours develop.
2. Heat a griddle pan over a high heat. Put the octopus into a
mixing bowl with the rest of the oil and season with salt and
black pepper. Mix well. Griddle for 1½–2 minutes on each
side, until light pink. Place on top of the salad and squeeze
over the rest of the lemon juice. Serve immediately.
chapter
6
meat
Lamb is Turkey’s most popular meat, from
stews to sizzling kebabs.
There are some delicious chicken dishes and beautiful
beef recipes, but traditionally, lamb holds centre stage.
In nomadic culture, sheep were easy to care for and
herd, and lamb was used for everything from simple
stews to stuffed dolma, köfte and kebabs. My Café Lala
Lamb Güvec is a beautifully subtle lamb stew made
with aubergines, garlic and tomatoes. It is perfect
peasant food and utterly divine.
When it comes to beef, the Turkish have perfected
the curing process, making spicy sujuk and smoky
pastrami to last the long winter months. These cured
meats are used in lots of dishes to add a strong, savoury
flavour. Sujuk is a bit like a chorizo, meaty and spicy,
but made with less fat. It is great on pide and with eggs.
Turkish pastrami is very smoky and a little chewy,
similar to a good-quality Parma ham. It is served in
generous quantities with eggs, on pide, in borek and
finely chopped into dolma.
Chicken is popular, too – from tempting Charred
Sumac and Oregaono Chicken Wings to Lemon and
Apricot Cinnamon Chicken, a delicate Ottoman stew
that is still popular in Turkey today.
Classic Turkish meals involve charred kebabs, well-
seasoned grilled köfte and delicately flavoured stews
left to cook for hours. The Turkish way with meat has
had a huge influence on my cooking style, and these
dishes have real staying power.
Charred Sumac and Oregano Chicken Wings
Chicken and Orzo Soup
Konya Chicken Sandwich
Spiced Chicken and Bulgur Pilav with a Crunchy Walnut
Topping
Balli Mahmudiye – Lemon and Apricot Cinnamon Chicken
Chicken Stuffed with Spinach and Cheese
Granny’s Pilav
Arnavut Cigeri – Liver, Onions and Sumac
Beef, Okra and Lemon Stew
Café Lala Lamb Güveç
Güveçte Kuzu Incik – Ottoman Lamb Shank Stew
Denizli Aubergine Dolma
Mevlana Pilav
Sac Kavurma – Smoky Fried Lamb with Peppers, Tomatoes
and Garlic
Black Olive-encrusted Pulled Lamb
Charred Sumac and Oregano
Chicken Wings
Tavuk kanat, or chicken wings, are barbecued and
served all over Turkey, expertly marinated in fragrant
herbs and spices. I have used a traditional Turkish
marinade made with Turkish pepper flakes, sumac,
cumin, oregano and yogurt. The yogurt helps to
tenderise the meat and bind all the flavours together.
These charred chicken wings are ideal served with the
Orange and Celeriac Salad and plenty of bread to mop
up all the juices.
1kg chicken wings, each wing
cut into 2 pieces and trimmed
1 teaspoon sumac
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Put the chicken wings into a mixing bowl and add the
Turkish pepper flakes, sumac, cumin, oregano and a good
pinch of salt. Add the yogurt and pour in the olive oil. Mix
well, cover and leave to marinate overnight in the fridge.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6 and take the chicken
wings out of the fridge to come to room temperature. Oil a
griddle pan with a little vegetable oil and set over a high heat
until smoking hot. Cook the chicken wings for 3–4 minutes on
each side until charred and then transfer to a roasting tin.
Roast for 12–15 minutes until cooked through. Serve
immediately.
Chicken and Orzo Soup
Originating from the town of Manisa on the west coast,
this is the Turkish version of the elixir-like Jewish
chicken soup, and is a typical winter dish. A whole bird
is cooked slowly until tender and shredded into a
simple lemony broth. The recipe calls for orzo, small,
rice-shaped pieces of pasta that cook really quickly. In
Turkey, orzo is used in soups, stews and salads. It is
also the base for a simple pilav, fried in butter until it
turns dark brown, then combined with rice and cooked
until both are tender. It gives a really nutty flavour and
soft texture to the dish.
1 whole chicken, skinned
½ lemon, plus the juice of 1½
1 onion, peeled and halved
1 garlic bulb, cut in half horizontally
a handful of flat-leaf parsley
leaves and stalks
100g butter
300g orzo
sea salt
Serves 6–8
1. Place the chicken in a large saucepan. Add the ½ lemon,
onion, garlic and parsley. Cover with 3.5 litres of cold water
and bring to the boil over a high heat. Cover, reduce the heat
to low and cook gently for 1½ hours, or until the chicken is
cooked through. Reserving the cooking water (stock), remove
the chicken and set aside to cool. Pull off the breasts – you
won’t need them for the soup, so save them for a sandwich.
Pick off the rest of the meat, discarding any bones, and set
aside.
2. Heat the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add
the red pepper paste and tomato purée. Whisk in a little stock
to loosen, then slowly pour in all but 500ml of the stock (you
can discard the rest, or keep it for another recipe) and whisk
together. Add the lemon juice and a large pinch of salt. Bring
to the boil and add the orzo. Cover, reduce the heat to low and
cook for 10–12 minutes until the orzo is tender.
3. Tip the shredded chicken into the soup and mix well. Cook,
stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until the chicken has
reheated. Remove from the heat, cover and leave for 5 minutes
for the flavours to develop, then serve immediately.
Konya Chicken Sandwich
Konya, in the Central Anatolian region, has some of the
best street food in Turkey. On every corner there is
something delicious to be found: a crispy syrup-soaked
doughnut here, a tandir kebab there. My favourite type
of Konya street food, though, has to be the chicken
sandwich that can be bought from a hole-in-the-wall
called Merisin Tantuni: beautifully cooked, spiced
chicken, served in a chicken-juice-soaked bap, stuffed
with filling. The version I’ve recreated below may be a
little more refined, but the essence is still very much
there.
1 large baguette
400g roast chicken, shredded
juice of ½ lemon
sea salt
To serve
8 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tomatoes, sliced
1 red onion, finely sliced
1 baby lettuce, sliced
Serves 4
1. Preheat the oven to 180°/gas mark 4. Slice the baguette
open and put in the oven for 4–5 minutes until warmed
through.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan over a high heat.
Add the chicken and leave for 1 minute so that it starts to
colour. Mix the red pepper paste with 100ml of cold water and
pour it over the chicken. Add the black pepper, cumin and a
good pinch of salt. Mix together thoroughly and fry for 2–3
minutes until heated through. Add the parsley and lemon juice
and mix well.
3. To serve, spread the mayonnaise over the baguette. Layer
over the tomatoes, onion and lettuce. Top generously with the
chicken, close the baguette and slice it into four pieces. Serve
immediately with a cold beer.
Spiced Chicken and Bulgur Pilav
with a Crunchy Walnut Topping
A few years ago my friend Fatma taught me to make
this pilav at her apartment in Adana, using a recipe her
mother had taught her. It’s an impressive dish: nutty
bulgur pilav, tender stripes of chicken and a spicy
walnut topping, with a slight hint of sweetness from the
cinnamon.
1 tablespoon butter
2 Turkish green peppers, deseeded and finely sliced
2 tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped
275g bulgur wheat
550ml boiling water
sea salt
For the walnut topping
1 tablespoon butter
100g walnuts, finely crushed
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For the chicken
500g chicken breasts, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon tomato purée
Serves 4
1. Heat the oil and butter in a pan over a medium heat. Add the
onion and green peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5–
6 minutes until soft. Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring
occasionally, for 1–2 minutes until they start to break down.
Add the tomato purée, red pepper paste, black pepper and a
good pinch of salt. Mix well and add the bulgur and the
boiling water. Stir, cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer
for 20 minutes, or until the bulgur is tender and all the water
absorbed.
2. Meanwhile, make the walnut topping. Heat the butter and
olive oil in a small saucepan. Add the walnuts and fry for 2–3
minutes until they smell really nutty. Stir in the Turkish pepper
flakes, cumin, black pepper and a pinch of salt. Remove from
the heat, then transfer to a cold plate to cool down before
using.
3. For the chicken, heat the oil in a large, non-stick frying pan
over a high heat. Add the chicken and fry for 5–6 minutes until
just cooked through. Add the tomato purée, Turkish pepper
flakes, black pepper and mint. Stir and continue to fry for 1–2
minutes until everything is coated.
4. To serve, tip the bulgur onto a large serving plate. Spoon
over the chicken and sprinkle over the walnuts. Serve
immediately.
Balli Mahmudiye – Lemon and
Apricot Cinnamon Chicken
During the 15th and 16th centuries, a dish called Balli
Mahmudiye was served at opulent dinner parties in the
Ottoman capital of Bursa. Originally named after
Sultan Mahmud, it was a lavish mix of chicken cooked
with apples, raisins, currants, apricots, almonds and
pine nuts – it was a real celebration of ingredients and
wealth. Still cooked in Turkish restaurants today, Balli
mahmudiye is often toned down with a shorter list of
fruit and nuts, but retains the same light, lemony sauce.
My recipe uses orzo, which is somewhat lighter than
rice and complements the sweet flavours of the
cinnamon and apricots beautifully.
300g orzo
a handful of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
600g skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
55g blanched almonds
100g dried apricots, roughly sliced
juice of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon runny honey
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2–3 tablespoons boiling water
1 teaspoon cornflour sea salt
Serves 4
1. Cook the orzo in a pan of boiling water according to the
packet instructions. Drain and return to the pan. Add the butter
and a generous pinch of salt. Stir in the herbs and Turkish
pepper flakes.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan over a high heat and add the
chicken. Fry for 2–3 minutes to seal the meat. Add the onion
and almonds and fry for a further 3–4 minutes until golden.
3. Reduce the heat to medium and add the apricots, lemon
juice, honey, cinnamon, black pepper and a generous pinch of
salt. Add the boiling water and continue to cook for 1–2
minutes. Add the cornflour and mix together until thickened.
Serve immediately with the orzo.
Chicken Stuffed with Spinach and
Cheese
This is a modern Turkish recipe that is rather
reminiscent of Cordon Bleu Chicken. The stuffed
chicken breasts are cooked slowly in spiced milk,
which keeps the chicken beautifully tender and imparts
the flavours of the garlic, black pepper and dried mint.
The classic recipe would use a soft, stringy Turkish
cheese such as lor peyniri, which oozes out of the
chicken and thickens the sauce. In this recipe I have
used mozzarella – it is easier to come by, has the same
milkiness and melts beautifully into the sauce.
250g spinach
200g grated mozzarella cheese
30g pine nuts
4 chicken breasts, flattened with a rolling pin
For the sauce
250ml full-fat milk
Serves 4
1. Heat half the oil in a large frying pan over a high heat and
add the spinach. Fry for 1–2 minutes until wilted. Transfer to a
mixing bowl and use the back of a spoon to squeeze out any
excess moisture and pour away. Add the mozzarella, garlic,
pine nuts and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix together
thoroughly.
2. Lay the chicken on a chopping board. Place a quarter of the
spinach in a line down the centre of each chicken breast. Pull
up one side of the meat and roll over. Fasten with cocktail
sticks and place into a shallow ovenproof dish.
3. To make the sauce, whisk all the ingredients together in a
mixing bowl. Pour over the chicken. Cover and marinate in the
fridge for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Drizzle the
remaining oil over the chicken and roast for 30–35 minutes, or
until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce really thick.
Serve immediately.
Granny’s Pilav
My lovely Turkish mum, Tülay, introduced me to the
joys of içli pilav several years ago. It is a hearty rice
dish made with shredded chicken, chicken hearts, livers
and lots of nuts and dried fruit. Originally from Mardin
in eastern Turkey, the dish is decadent and rooted in
meyhane culture – içli pilav was served in taverns to the
men of the town, along with glasses of chilled raki. The
recipe uses lots of allspice and black pepper, which
gives the dish its distinctive taste and strong smell, but
I’ve left out the chicken hearts.
175g chicken livers
1 chicken breast (about 125g)
25g pine nuts
40g raisins
2½ teaspoons dried mint
1½ teaspoons allspice
300g basmati rice
700ml hot chicken stock
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Put the chicken livers and breast in a pan of water and bring
to the boil over a high heat. Remove any scum and add a
generous pinch of salt. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for
10–15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Drain
and leave to cool. Once cool, finely slice the livers and shred
the chicken. Set to one side.
2. Heat the butter and oil in a large pan over a medium heat.
Add the onion and pine nuts and cook, stirring occasionally,
for 6–7 minutes, or until the pine nuts are golden. Add the
raisins, mint, allspice, black pepper, sugar and cooked chicken
liver and breast. Add a generous pinch of salt and mix
everything thoroughly.
3. Tip the rice into the pan and mix for a minute until the rice
turns translucent. Pour in the stock and stir gently. Cover,
reduce the heat to low and cook for 20–25 minutes, or until the
rice is really full and tender. Remove from the heat and cover
with a clean tea towel. Put the lid back on and leave for 10
minutes. This will help the rice fluff up. Fork onto a serving
dish and serve immediately.
Arnavut Cigeri – Liver, Onions and
Sumac
I first tasted arnavut cigeri at Karaköy lokantasι in
Istanbul, a stunning art deco restaurant near the
Bosphorus. This luscious liver recipe is a favourite
across Turkey. The liver is cooked gently until it is
meltingly tender, and seasoned with sumac, Turkish
pepper flakes and a very subtle dusting of cumin. This
dish is always served with lemon, parsley and sweet red
onions.
2 red onions, finely sliced
juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon sumac
600g calves’ liver, cut into 10–12cm strips
small handful of finely chopped
flat-leaf parsley leaves, sea salt and freshly ground black
pepper
Serves 4
1. Put the onions into a mixing bowl. Add half the lemon juice,
the sumac and a good pinch of salt. Mix together thoroughly
and set aside.
2. Put the liver in a mixing bowl and season with a generous
pinch of salt and black pepper and mix well.
3. Heat the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat until
bubbling. Add the liver and cook gently, shaking the pan
occasionally, for 1½–2 minutes. Turn the liver, reduce the heat
to low and cook for another 1½–2 minutes, or until golden and
still a little pink in the centre.
4. Add the Turkish pepper flakes, cumin and the remaining
lemon juice. Give the pan a really good shake. Remove from
the heat and scatter over the parsley. Serve immediately with
the onions and lemon wedges for squeezing.
Beef, Okra and Lemon Stew
This recipe is inspired by bamya çorbasι, a sour
Anatolian soup made with lemon and okra.
Traditionally prepared for weddings, the tangy flavour
of this soup meant it was served as a palate cleanser in
between the main course and dessert. I have used a
traditional recipe but left out most of the liquid, so that
you have a thick sauce rather than a broth. The recipe
uses lots of lemon juice and dried mint, classic Turkish
flavours that work beautifully with beef and really
lighten up what would otherwise be quite a heavy dish.
500g stewing beef, cut into bite-sized pieces
juice of 2 lemons and grated
zest of ½ lemon
300ml boiling water
350g okra, topped and halved lengthways
Serves 4
1. Heat the oil in a large pan over a high heat. Add the beef
and cook for 5–6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until browned.
Reduce the heat to medium and add the onions. Mix well and
cook, stirring occasionally, for 3–4 minutes until soft.
2. Add the tomato purée, red pepper paste, the juice of ½
lemon and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Pour in the boiling
water and stir together. Cover, reduce the heat to low and cook
for 1 hour until the beef is just tender.
3. Meanwhile, add the juice of 1 lemon to a small pan of
boiling water. Add the okra and cook for 3–4 minutes to stop
them going sticky. Drain and refresh under cold running water
and set aside.
4. Tip the okra into the beef stew and mix together. Cover and
cook for 20–25 minutes, or until the okra is lovely and tender.
5. Heat the butter in a small pan over a medium heat until
bubbling. Add the mint and lemon zest. Swirl together, then
pour over the cooked stew. Add the remaining lemon juice,
mix everything together and serve immediately.
Café Lala Lamb Güveç
As I travelled across the plains of Anatolia, on my way
from Konya to the Aegean coast, I passed through the
sleepy village of Ilgιn. Here, in her little restaurant,
Saliha taught me how to cook a few local dishes. It was
freezing and we huddled around her stove as we
cooked. I loved this simple stew, cooked to perfection
with only a few ingredients in an old earthenware pot.
Everything cooks separately in layers, which are then
mixed together right at the end. If you don’t have an
earthenware pot, use a heavy-based casserole dish
instead.
500g lamb neck fillets
8 aubergines, half skinned so that they are stripy, and cut into
2.5cm rounds
4 Turkish green peppers, deseeded and sliced
1 garlic bulb, cloves separated, peeled and roughly chopped
Serves 4
1. Put the lamb in a saucepan and pour over 1 litre of cold
water. Cover and cook over a medium heat for 1 hour, or until
cooked through. Drain, reserving the stock, and place the lamb
in the bottom of an oiled casserole dish. Heat over a medium–
high heat, stirring occasionally, for 3–4 minutes, or until
golden.
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6 and mix
100ml of the stock with the red pepper paste and tomato purée,
then whisk in 750ml of the stock.
3. Put the aubergines on top of the lamb and then add the
green peppers, garlic and finally the tomatoes. Pour over the
mixed stock. Cover and cook in the oven for 1½–2 hours until
the tomatoes have formed a thick sauce and the lamb is
beautifully tender. When you take the stew out of the oven, it
can look quite dry, but mix it together and it will turn into a
wonderfully thick stew. Serve immediately.
Güveçte Kuzu Incik – Ottoman Lamb
Shank Stew
In the Ottoman kitchens, Güveçte Kuzu Incik would
have been cooked in huge pots until tender and served
with pilav bejewelled with fruit. This opulent stew is
light and herby and the meat falls off the bone. It is
delicious served with a crisp green salad and bread.
4 lamb shanks, about 400–500g each
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 rosemary sprigs
3 bay leaves
juice of ½ lemon
500ml boiling water
Serves 4
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Heat the oil in large
casserole dish over a medium–high heat and add the lamb
shanks, two at a time. Cook for 6–8 minutes, turning the
shanks so that they brown on all sides. Remove from the pan
and set aside.
2. Reheat the pan over a low–medium heat and add the onion,
carrot and celery. Mix well and cook, stirring occasionally, for
7–8 minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic, mix well and cook
for 10 seconds until fragrant.
3. Tip the tomatoes into the pan and add the tomato purée,
sugar, rosemary, bay leaves, lemon juice and a good pinch of
salt and black pepper. Pour in the boiling water and mix
everything together thoroughly. Return the lamb shanks to the
pan, making sure the meat is three-quarters covered in the
sauce. Cover and cook in the oven for 2–2½ hours (check
every 15 minutes after 2 hours), or until the lamb falls off the
bone at the touch of a fork. Serve immediately.
Denizli Aubergine Dolma
Denizli is an industrial town in western Anatolia,
surrounded by huge mountains. My partner and I
stopped at a café there, where we dined on stuffed
aubergine dolma and fresh salads. The original recipe
used dried aubergines. These are hollowed out, dried in
the summer sun and threaded onto string. They hang
like beautiful necklaces ready for the winter. Dried
aubergines are hard to find outside of Turkey so I use
fresh aubergines when I can’t get them. Sadly, this
means that the flesh is scooped out and not used. Rather
than throw it away, I suggest mixing the cooked
aubergine flesh with a little lemon juice, olive oil and
salt and pepper to serve as a side dish to the dolma.
3 aubergines, cut in half lengthways and flat sides scored into
a criss-cross pattern
250g lamb mince
160g basmati rice
1½ teaspoons Turkish
pepper flakes
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
350ml boiling water
sea salt
Greek yogurt, to serve
Serves 6
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Drizzle ½ teaspoon
of the oil over each halved aubergine and place on a roasting
tray. Cook in the oven for 30–35 minutes, or until soft and a
little golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. When
cool to the touch, carefully scoop out most of the flesh and
keep to one side in a bowl to use as you like. Put the aubergine
shells back into the roasting tray.
2. Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a pan over a
medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally,
for 3–4 minutes until a little golden. Add the lamb and fry for
2–3 minutes until cooked through.
3. Add the rice, red pepper paste, tomato purée, Turkish
pepper flakes, black pepper and boiling water. Mix together,
cover and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 12–15 minutes
until the rice is tender. Remove from the heat and leave for 5
minutes to fluff up. Season with a good pinch of salt and fork
in the parsley.
4. Carefully spoon the rice into the cooked aubergines. Scatter
over the garlic and drizzle the remaining oil over the top. Pop
the stuffed aubergines into the oven for 5–6 minutes to allow
the rice to take on some of the aubergine flavour. Serve
immediately with yogurt.
Mevlana Pilav
Mevlana pilavi was created in the kitchens of the 13th
century philosopher Mevlana. It was a celebratory dish
that was a real showstopper. Traditionally, the recipe
called for lamb, black pepper, carrots, onion and
chestnuts, all cooked until tender and then forked apart.
The chestnuts were boiled until soft, then peeled,
roughly chopped and added to the rice. I find that they
are too bitter, so I have left them out. But if you want to
be a purist, you can add the prepared chestnuts to the
cooked pilav as they did all those years ago.
750g shoulder of lamb on the bone, cut into 7.5–10cm pieces
½ onion, finely sliced
1 carrot, cut in half and finely sliced
300g basmati rice
30g raisins
25g pine nuts
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Put the lamb in a pan and cover with 2 litres of cold water.
Bring to the boil over a high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to
low and cook for 1–1½ hours, or until tender. Remove the
lamb from the pan and leave to cool. Reserve the stock. When
cool enough to handle, discard the bones and fat and shred the
meat.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat and add the
onion and carrot. Mix well and fry, stirring occasionally, for 5–
6 minutes until soft.
3. Add the shredded lamb and cook, stirring occasionally, for
3–4 minutes to take on a little colour. Add the rice, raisins,
pine nuts, cinnamon, black pepper and a pinch of salt.
4. Pour in 700ml of the reserved stock and stir together. Cover,
reduce the heat to low and cook for 15 minutes until the stock
has been absorbed and the rice is tender. Remove from the
heat and cover with a clean tea towel. Cover with the lid and
leave for 10 minutes. This will help the rice fluff up. Fork onto
a serving dish. Scatter over the parsley and serve immediately.
Sac Kavurma – Smoky Fried Lamb
with Peppers, Tomatoes and Garlic
In Turkish this is Sac Kavurma – ‘sac’ meaning ‘iron
plate’, which is the basis of this dish and what gives it
its intense, smoky flavour. Lamb is cooked with onions
and green peppers on a searing hot iron plate and
served in the same pan at the table. This dish is made in
huge quantities for weddings in the villages that are
strewn across the mountains of eastern Turkey. To
achieve a similar flavour at home, I use a wok that is
heated until smoking before adding the lamb.
600g lamb topside or fillet steak, thinly sliced
2 onions, roughly chopped
2 Turkish green peppers, roughly sliced
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, skinned and chopped
½ teaspoon dried thyme
100ml boiling water
1 tablespoon butter
small handful of finely chopped
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Heat a large wok over a high heat until smoking hot. Add
the oil and lamb and stir-fry for 2–3 minutes to sear the meat.
Add the onions and stir-fry for a further 2–3 minutes until
golden.
2. Add the green peppers and garlic and continue to stir-fry for
2–3 minutes until the peppers are soft. Tip in the tomatoes and
stir-fry for 1–2 minutes more so that they start to break down.
3. Add the tomato purée, Turkish pepper flakes, black pepper,
thyme, a good pinch of salt and the boiling water. Mix
everything together thoroughly and remove from the heat. Add
the butter and parsley, mix together and serve immediately.
Black Olive-encrusted Pulled Lamb
Turkish people take great pride in procuring the very
best lamb and cooking it to perfection so that it’s tender
and juicy. One of the classic celebratory dishes in
Turkey is a roasted shoulder of lamb called tandιr.
Roasted slowly in a clay oven, the lamb is incredibly
moist and flavoured with a few spices once cooked.
Living in London, I have fallen for the pulled meat
craze, so I decided to introduce this element to the
classic tandιr, along with a black olive crust to bring in
the flavours of the Mediterranean. This Anglo-Turkish
dish is a real dinner party centrepiece and, with a few
added sides, makes the perfect feast.
200g pitted black olives, drained
a large handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves
4 anchovies, drained
1 teaspoon sumac
4 tablespoons olive oil, plus a little extra for brushing
juice of 1 lemon
2kg shoulder of lamb, on the bone
black pepper
Serves 4–6
1. Put the olives, parsley, anchovies, garlic, sumac, Turkish
pepper flakes, oregano and oil into a food processor or
blender. Add the lemon juice and season with salt and black
pepper. Blend into a coarse paste.
2. Put the lamb in a roasting tray. Scoop out the paste and rub
it all over the lamb. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or
overnight.
3. Preheat the oven to 230°C/gas mark 8 and get the meat out
of the fridge to come to room temperature. Brush the lamb
with a little oil. Pour in 150ml of cold water and cover with
wet baking paper. Cover the lamb in foil and place into the
oven. Reduce the heat to 170°C/gas mark 3 and roast for 3–3
½ hours, or until tender. You should be able to stick two forks
into the deepest part of the meat and it should pull apart really
easily.
4. To serve, scrape off the paste from the surface of the meat
and set aside. Discard any fat and fork apart the lamb. Pour off
any excess fat from the roasting tray and return the lamb. Add
the set aside paste, mix together and serve immediately.
chapter
7
seafood
Turkey is surrounded by four seas:
the Black Sea in the north, the Aegean sea in west, the
crystal clear Mediterranean Sea in the south and the
busy waters of the Sea of Marmara surrounding
Istanbul. Seafood is abundant: juicy prawns, levrek (sea
bass), huge lüfer (bluefish), mackerel, turbot,
swordfish, large mussels, sardines, hamsi (anchovies),
octopus and clams.
Balik (fish) restaurants are a fixture on the Turkish
dining scene, from small local eateries serving the catch
of the day with seasonal vegetables, to the high-end,
glamorous lokantas of Istanbul, where the jet-setters go
for meze, fish and chilled raki. Seafood is even a key
part of Turkish street food – one of the most popular
street food snacks are stuffed mussels, which are sold
from little carts in every Turkish city.
In most cases, fish is prepared simply in Turkey,
often pan-fried with lots of butter or peppery olive oil,
and served with fresh rocket, lemon juice and seasonal
vegetables. Garlic, bay leaves, black pepper and fresh
herbs are used to add extra flavour.
In the north, on the Black Sea, hamsi are a talking
point. These silvery anchovies have an intense flavour
and are cooked in many different ways, from crispy
pancakes for breakfast to the intricate hamsi pilav for
dinner, where the little fish are cleaned, boned and
butterflied to line a roasting dish that is filled with pilav
and baked.
Even away from the coastal areas, seafood forms an
important part of the Turkish diet. The huge lakes in the
central and eastern regions of Turkey are teeming with
fish and in the capital, Ankara, which sits many miles
from the coast in Central Anatolia, fresh seafood is
brought in daily.
The dishes in this chapter attempt to explore the very
best of Turkish seafood: Calamari with Tarator Sauce
will bring the flavours of the Mediterranean coast to
your table, Fisherman’s Stew provides a rustic taste of
the seaside town of Marmaris, and Salt-baked Sea
Bream makes the ultimate dinner party piece.
Calamari with Tarator Sauce
Karides – Prawns with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Butter
Scallops with Black Pepper and Thyme
Trabzon-baked Cod
Fried Mackerel with Red Cabbage
Baked Sea Bass with Raki
Swordfish, Tomatoes, Lemon and Oregano
Salt-baked Sea Bream
Fisherman’s Stew
Mussel Pilav
Calamari with Tarator Sauce
The coastal town of Mersin lies near the borders of
Syria and Iraq on the south coast of Turkey. On a recent
trip there, I stopped o for lunch in the most stunning
spot: a little restaurant with ancient ruins crumbling
into the hills that surrounded it and a small terrace that
looked out to sea. We feasted on the catch of the day
and huge plates of crispy calamari with a rich tarator
sauce, made from bread, garlic, pine nuts and olive oil.
The fresh flavours of this dish evoke the
Mediterranean.
vegetable oil, for deep-frying
500g squid, washed and cut into 5mm rings
4 tablespoons durum flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
For the tarator sauce
2 slices of white bread, crusts removed
juice of ½ lemon
225g Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon tahini paste
Serves 4
1. First, make the sauce. Blend the bread to fine breadcrumbs
in a food processor or blender and then tip into a mixing bowl.
Add the garlic, lemon juice, oil and 100ml of cold water. Mix
together into a paste. Add the yogurt, tahini and a good pinch
of salt. Mix everything together really well. Cover and set
aside for the flavours to develop.
2. Heat the oil for frying in a deep pan over a medium–high
heat. Put the squid into a mixing bowl and add the flour,
bicarbonate of soda, Turkish pepper flakes and a good pinch of
salt and black pepper. Mix together thoroughly so that the
flour forms a paste that sticks to the squid rings.
3. Carefully drop the squid into the oil in batches of 10–12
pieces and fry for 2–3 minutes until golden and crispy.
Remove with a slotted spoon and place onto kitchen paper to
drain while you fry the rest of the squid. Serve immediately
with the tarator sauce.
Karides – Prawns with Sun-dried
Tomatoes and Butter
Karides are served all over the Aegean and
Mediterranean coast of Turkey as an appetiser to grilled
fish. This is one of my dad’s favourite Turkish dishes.
He loves the smoky flavour of the scorched sun-dried
tomatoes, and the buttery sauce. I like my prawns really
spicy, but if you are not a fan, only add 1 teaspoon of
Turkish pepper flakes for a milder flavour. There are
many variations of karides served across Turkey, some
with vegetables and some with a waxy cheese melted
over the top.
55g sun-dried tomatoes (not in oil)
3 garlic cloves, sliced
500g king prawns, shelled
juice of ½ lemon
a handful of roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
sea salt
crusty bread, to serve
Serves 4
1. Heat a frying pan over a high heat and add the sun-dried
tomatoes, skin-side down. Cook for 2–3 minutes until
blistered. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Once
cool enough to touch, finely slice.
2. Allow the pan to cool and then reheat over a medium heat
and melt the butter and oil together. Add the garlic and cook
for 1 minute, then add the prawns and fry for 1–2 minutes until
half cooked. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, Turkish pepper
flakes, black pepper and a tiny pinch of salt. Fry for a further
1–2 minutes, or until the prawns are coral-coloured and
cooked through.
3. Add the lemon juice and parsley, mix together and serve
immediately with masses of crusty bread for mopping up the
juices.
Scallops with Black Pepper and
Thyme
Bozcaada is a small island o the west coast of Turkey
that is famous for the tastiest scallops in the country.
They pluck them out of the water during the summer
months and cook them with a few herbs, black pepper
and garlic. Keeping it simple like this is the best
approach with scallops, as they are already so full of
the fresh flavours of the sea. Get the best scallops that
you can, and serve them with a large handful of
chopped parsley and plenty of lemon juice to freshen
them up at the end.
500g scallops
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
juice of ½ lemon
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Put the scallops into a mixing bowl and add 1 tablespoon of
the oil, along with the thyme, Turkish pepper flakes, black
pepper and a pinch of salt. Mix well.
2. Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan over a high heat. Sear
the scallops for 1–2 minutes on each side, or until golden and
just cooked through.
3. Squeeze over the lemon and add the parsley. Give the pan a
good shake and serve immediately.
Trabzon-baked Cod
On a cold, blustery evening in Trabzon on the Black
Sea coast, over lots of cold beer and raki, my friend
İshan made this incredible baked fish for me. In a clay
pot, he layered up white fish, onions and a tomato
sauce, then simply baked it in the oven – it was
effortless. This rustic style of cooking is typical of the
Black Sea region. I have taken this simple dish a step
further and added olives and slivers of salty preserved
lemons. These are not typically Turkish, but I love the
way that the flavour of the preserved lemon melts
through the finished dish.
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
2 Turkish green peppers, deseeded and sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tomato, finely chopped
100ml hot water
4 cod steaks (about 150g each)
55g pitted black olives
1 preserved lemon, pith removed, finely sliced
Serves 4
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Heat the oil in a
frying pan over a high heat and add the onion, green peppers
and garlic. Fry for 2–3 minutes until golden. Add the tomato,
passata, red pepper paste and hot water. Season with salt and
black pepper and mix well. Fry for 3–4 minutes until the sauce
is nice and thick.
2. Oil a baking dish and arrange the fish over the bottom. Pour
over the sauce and scatter over the olives and preserved lemon.
Drizzle over a little oil and roast for 15 minutes until the fish is
just cooked through. Scatter with the parsley and serve
immediately.
Fried Mackerel with Red Cabbage
This simple dish is based on the classic Turkish balik
ekmek, or fish sandwich, that is served to hungry
fishermen along the Bosphorus. Stalls serving balik
ekmek, with grated salad and plenty of lemon juice, can
be found dotted throughout Istanbul. For my version, I
keep all the fresh elements of this vibrant street food,
minus the bread, and serve the crispy fish with a tangy
onion and cabbage salad.
vegetable oil, for shallow-frying
4 mackerel fillets (about 80–100g each)
3 tablespoons yellow cornflour or fine polenta
1 onion, finely sliced
juice of 1 lemon
½ teaspoon sumac
½ red cabbage, finely sliced
Serves 4
1. Heat about 1cm of oil in a frying pan over a medium heat.
Put the mackerel into a dish and add the cornflour or polenta.
Season with salt and black pepper and mix well so that the
fillets are well coated. Carefully drop the fish into the oil, skin-
side down, and cook for 4–5 minutes until golden. Flip and
cook for a further 2–3 minutes, or until just cooked through
and wondrously crispy.
2. Meanwhile, put the onion into a mixing bowl and add half
the lemon juice. Add the sumac and a good pinch of salt. Mix
well and leave for a few minutes to take out the rawness. Put
the red cabbage on a serving dish and squeeze over the
remaining lemon. Season with salt and black pepper and mix
together.
3. To serve, scatter the onion over the cabbage and top with
the golden fish. Serve immediately.
Baked Sea Bass with Raki
Baked sea bass is a typically Turkish food. It is served
with peppery wild rocket, lemon wedges and plenty of
ice-cold raki, and makes a great dinner party dish. For
this recipe, I have incorporated all these flavours into
one dish. The herbs, lemon, peppery seasoning and raki
all gently flavour the fish without overpowering it –
now all you need is good company.
2 onions, finely sliced
2 handfuls of roughly chopped
2 handfuls of roughly chopped mint leaves
a handful of roughly chopped dill
2 teaspoons sumac
2 lemons, finely sliced
4 sea bass, gutted and cleaned (about 180g each)
50ml Turkish raki or ouzo
2 tablespoons olive oil sea salt
Serves 4
2. Mix the onions, herbs, sumac, Turkish pepper flakes, black
pepper, lemons and a good pinch of salt together in a mixing
bowl.
3. Place two of the sea bass on a large sheet of baking paper
and stuff the cavities of the fish with a good handful of the
herb mixture. Arrange the remainder of the herbs over the top.
4. Pour over the raki and dollop the butter over the fish.
Drizzle with the oil, then fold up the sides of the baking paper
over the fish and wrap tightly. Repeat with the other two fish.
5. Carefully place the parcels on a baking tray and roast for
25–30 minutes, or until just cooked through and beautifully
tender and juicy. Serve immediately.
Swordfish, Tomatoes, Lemon and
Oregano
Swordfish has such a great flavour and texture: when
cooked properly, the tough flesh turns soft and buttery.
It is caught in the deep, warm waters that surround
much of south-west Turkey, where it is eaten simply
grilled or cut into chunks for a kebab. I like to prepare
swordfish with lots of garlic and tomatoes and a big
herbal hit from a handful of fresh oregano, which
smells of the hills that roll down into the sea all over
this part of Turkey.
2 bay leaves
4 swordfish steaks (about 120g each)
150g cherry tomatoes, halved
juice of ½ lemon
a handful of fresh oregano
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Put the oil, bay leaves and garlic in a large frying pan over a
medium heat. Add the swordfish and cook for 3–4 minutes on
each side until golden and cooked through. Remove the fish
from the pan and place in a serving dish. Cover with foil and
set aside.
2. Reheat the pan over a high heat and melt the butter. Add the
spring onions, tomatoes, Turkish pepper flakes and a good
pinch of salt. Fry for 3–4 minutes until the tomatoes soften a
little. Add the lemon juice and oregano and mix together. Pour
over the fish and serve immediately.
Salt-baked Sea Bream
This eccentric fish dish is served all along the Aegean
coast of Turkey. After plenty of meze and raki, the sea
bream is brought to the table still enrobed in salt. A
very strong alcohol is poured over the top and set on
fire, before the casing is cracked open and the fish is
served. The salt acts as a blanket from the heat of the
oven, protecting the fish so that it steams gently in the
local flavours of garlic, dill and lemon. Make sure that
you use good-quality rock salt for this and buy plenty
so that the fish is completely covered. It’s really
important to leave the fish to stand for a few minutes
when you take it out of the oven. This resting time will
allow the fish to relax and retain more flavour.
1kg good-quality rock salt
½ tablespoon dried oregano
½ tablespoon dried mint
1 sea bream (about 600g), cleaned and gutted
1 garlic bulb, sliced in half widthways
a large bunch of dill
1 lemon, finely sliced
freshly ground black pepper
rocket and lemon wedges, to serve
Serves 4
1. Preheat the oven to 230°C/gas mark 8. Put the salt in a
mixing bowl and add the oregano and mint. Mix well. Pour in
150ml of cold water and mix into a paste.
2. Spread a large handful of salt onto a baking tray lined with
baking paper and place the fish on top. Season the fish with
black pepper and stuff with the garlic, dill and lemon. Cover
with the rest of the salt and pack it tightly all over the fish so
that it is sealed in a dome of salt. Cook in the oven for 20–25
minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out
hot. Leave for 10 minutes to rest.
3. To serve, crack the salt and pull it away from the fish.
Remove the filling from the cavity and discard. Pull the skin
away and carefully pick off the juicy flesh. Serve immediately
with handfuls of rocket and lemon wedges.
Fisherman’s Stew
Served in the little villages surrounding the beautiful
seaside town of Marmaris on the western coast of
Turkey, this sumptuous stew is made as a hearty meal
for the local fishermen after a long day at sea. A base of
tomatoes, onions and lemon is cooked with a few spices
and the catch of the day. I use a mixture of seafood –
whole red mullet, huge prawns and soft cod cheeks,
which you can replace with any white fish you like.
The stew cooks quickly, so this is great for a midweek
dinner party.
2 tablespoons olive oil 1 onion, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
2 bay leaves
250ml boiling water
a pinch of saffron
1 cinnamon stick (about 5cm)
juice of ½ a lemon
2 red mullet (about 150g each), washed and cleaned 8 large
king prawns, shells on 175g cod cheeks (or any white fish), cut
into bite-sized pieces a handful of finely chopped flat-leaf
parsley leaves
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and
add the onion and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 7–8
minutes until really golden and soft. Add the garlic, bay
leaves, Turkish pepper and black pepper and mix well. Cook
for 10 seconds until fragrant.
2. Meanwhile, mix the red pepper paste with the boiling water.
Add the saffron, stir and then leave for a few minutes for the
saffron to infuse. Pour into the pan with the onion and add the
sugar, cinnamon, tomatoes, lemon juice and a good pinch of
salt. Mix well. Cover, reduce the heat to low and cook for 20
minutes so that the flavours develop.
3. Place the red mullet into the stew. Cover and cook for 8–10
minutes until the fish is half cooked. Flip the fish over, cover
and cook for another 8–10 minutes. Scatter over the prawns
and cod cheeks, cover and cook for 8–10 minutes more until
the prawns are coral pink and the cod cooked through.
Sprinkle over the parsley and serve immediately.
Mussel Pilav
Throughout coastal towns in Turkey, you will find little
carts selling midye dolmasi. This classic street food is
made from huge mussels that are stuffed with pilav and
served with a slice of lemon to squeeze over the top –
rather like a food version of a tequila shot. Although
they taste divine, stuffing mussels is a very time-
consuming pursuit, so I created this dish as an
alternative. The mussels are cooked and the liquor used
as a stock for a simple pilav. The mussels are then
returned to the finished rice and served with lemon
wedges.
700g mussels, picked and cleaned
350ml boiling water
25g pine nuts 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
40g raisins
300g basmati rice
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1½ teaspoons allspice
sea salt lemon wedges, to serve
Serves 4
1. Put the mussels in a saucepan, add the boiling water and
bring to the boil over a high heat. Cover and leave for 1–2
minutes, until the mussels have opened. Drain into a mixing
bowl, reserving the liquor. Top up the stock with boiling water
so that you have 700ml of liquid for the rice. Discard any
mussels that have not opened.
2. Heat the oil in the same pan over a medium heat and add the
onion and pine nuts. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 4–5
minutes until the nuts are golden and the onion translucent.
Add the garlic and cook for 10 seconds until fragrant. Add the
raisins and cook for 30 seconds more. Add the rice, black
pepper, cinnamon and allspice. Pour in the hot stock and stir
gently. Cover, reduce the heat to low and cook for 12–15
minutes until all the liquid has been absorbed. Season with salt
and add the parsley. Mix with a fork.
3. Tip the mussels onto the rice in the pan and cover with a
clean tea towel. Put the lid back on and leave for 10 minutes.
This will help the rice fluff up and the mussels warm through.
Serve immediately with masses of lemon wedges for
squeezing over the top.
chapter
8
vegetarian
The vegetables used in Turkish cooking are
fresh, seasonal and local.
Head to any local market and you will see piles of
shiny purple aubergines, bright red peppers, juicy
tomatoes, long, gnarled Turkish green peppers,
sunshine-orange pumpkins, courgettes and much more.
Turkey may be better known for its meaty kebabs and
köfte, but the vegetables used in Turkish cooking are
always fresh, seasonal and local, and prepared in a
simple yet effective way, making the country’s
vegetable dishes something very special.
The most basic Turkish vegetable dish is a hearty
stew made from onions, garlic, green peppers, tomatoes
and whatever seasonal vegetables are available. This
would be a simple dinner served hot, with rice and cold
yogurt on the side. But this is just the start. There is so
much more to discover; fluffy Herby Courgette Fritters,
barley stews perfumed with dried mint, or fresh peppers
cooked in olive oil with a little tomato and a hell of a
lot of garlic. In this chapter you will find a selection of
beautiful dishes to bring the humble vegetable to your
table in true Turkish style.
Kabak Mücver – Herby Courgette Fritters
Kale, Spinach, Pomegranate and Walnuts
Taze Fasulye – Green Beans with Tomatoes and Olive Oil
Stewed Kale, Chickpeas and Bulgur
Tarhana Soup
Yogurt Soup
Sebze Güveç – Vegetable Stew
Blackened Cauliflower
Garlicky Okra
Aegean Aubergine Pilav
Pepper Dolma
Cevizli Erişte – Walnut Pasta
Freekeh Pilav
Kabak Mücver – Herby Courgette
Fritters
Kabak mücver are served as a meze dish throughout
Turkey. The seasonings change a little from region to
region – extra chilli pepper in the east and more fresh
herbs in the west – but they are always cooked in the
summer when the courgettes are ripe and plentiful. To
get them perfect every time, make sure that you wring
all the excess moisture out of the courgettes before you
put them in the batter. This will stop the fritters
breaking apart when you cook them and give them a
more intense flavour. In Turkey, they would use a
crumbly cheese like beyaz peynir for this recipe. It has
a salty flavour similar to feta cheese, which I find
works just as well.
500g courgettes, finely grated
140g plain flour
2 eggs, separated
120g feta cheese
Serves 4
1. Put the grated courgettes in a sieve and squeeze them
between your hands to get out all the moisture. Give them a
really good going over so they look a bit battered. Put them
into a mixing bowl and add the spring onions, parsley, dill,
mint, Turkish pepper flakes and a good pinch of salt and black
pepper. Sift over the flour and add the egg yolks. Crumble
over the feta and mix well.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites into soft peaks.
Fold them into the batter so that they are completely
incorporated.
3. Heat a little of the oil in a non-stick frying pan over a
medium heat. Spoon in 2–3 tablespoons of the mixture. Shake
the pan so that the mixture settles, then fry gently for 2–2 ½
minutes on each side, or until golden and cooked through. Top
the pancakes with any leftover spring onions, feta and herbs,
and serve immediately with lemon wedges.
Kale, Spinach, Pomegranate and
Walnuts
Originally from Aleppo and recreated in eastern
Turkey, this simple combination of greens, spices,
softened onions and pomegranate is a classic. I have
slightly modernised my version with a mixture of kale
and spinach, and added fresh pomegranate seeds to add
colour and a lovely sweet-sour hit. When you fry the
onions, let them cook long and slow so that they turn
into a sweet, sticky mess. It’s this flavour and crispy
texture that makes the finished dish so delicious.
200g kale
520g spinach
a handful of chopped dill
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
juice of ½ lemon
¼ teaspoon caster sugar
Serves 4
1. Blanch the kale in a pan of boiling water for 3–4 minutes
until soft. Blanch the spinach for 1–2 minutes. Drain both and
refresh under cold running water. Drain thoroughly, wringing
any excess moisture out with your hands.
2. Meanwhile, heat the butter in a pan over a medium heat and
add the onions. Stir well and reduce the heat to low. Cook,
shaking the pan occasionally, for 20–25 minutes until the
onions are crispy. Remove from the pan and drain on kitchen
paper.
3. Put the kale and spinach into a mixing bowl and add the
walnuts, dill, Turkish pepper flakes and cinnamon.
4. Whisk the pomegranate molasses, oil, lemon juice, sugar
and a good pinch of salt and black pepper together in a small
mixing bowl. Pour over the kale and mix everything together.
Tip the salad onto a serving dish. Top with the pomegranate
seeds and fried onions and serve immediately.
Taze Fasulye – Green Beans with
Tomatoes and Olive Oil
Cooked in homes and restaurants across Turkey, taze
fasulye is a staple dish that is served as a side to a main
meal or as part of a meze. The beans are cooked slowly
in a mix of onions, garlic, tomatoes, red pepper paste
and plenty of olive oil. They are then left to cool and
served at room temperature, a typical way to prepare
and serve many basic vegetable dishes in Turkey. This
dish works well as a side to salads and grilled fish. Add
a drizzle of good-quality extra virgin olive oil just
before serving for a great finish.
350g green beans, topped and tailed and cut in half
sea salt
extra virgin olive oil, to serve
Serves 4
1. Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat and add the
onions. Fry for 5–6 minutes until golden and soft.
2. Add the green beans, red pepper paste, tomatoes, garlic,
Turkish pepper flakes and sugar, and mix everything together
thoroughly. Cover, reduce the heat to low and cook for 35–40
minutes, or until the beans are soft. Remove from the heat and
leave to cool to room temperature before serving drizzled with
extra virgin olive oil.
Stewed Kale, Chickpeas and Bulgur
I first ate this hearty stew in Adana, in the
Mediterranean region. It was made using purslane, a
wonderful green that looks like lamb’s leaf lettuce but
has a firmer texture. Sadly, you can’t get hold of it in
the UK, so I adapted the recipe to be a bit more
supermarket-friendly and opted for kale, which has a
firm texture and irony taste. This stew is rich and
healthy and very filling. I love it served piping hot with
an extra squeeze of lemon. It also works really well
served at room temperature. It mellows a little and the
bulgur wheat’s nutty taste develops still further.
4½ tablespoons olive oil
1 Turkish green pepper, finely sliced
150g chickpeas, drained and rinsed
150g green lentils, drained and rinsed
500ml hot vegetable stock (made from 1 stock cube)
50g bulgur wheat
200g kale
juice of ½ lemon
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large pan over a medium
heat and add the onion, green pepper and garlic. Fry for 4–5
minutes until translucent.
2. Add the chickpeas, lentils, tomato purée, red pepper paste,
stock, bulgur, kale and a good pinch of salt. Mix together.
Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 18–20 minutes,
or until the bulgur has swelled and the sauce thickened.
3. Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a small frying pan
over a medium heat. Add the mint and Turkish pepper flakes.
Remove from the heat, mix and leave to infuse for 30 seconds.
Pour the flavoured oil into the cooked stew and add the lemon
juice. Mix well and serve immediately.
Tarhana Soup
Made in villages high up in the mountains across
Turkey, tarhana çorbasi is a silky and creamy winter
soup. Summer vegetables, including peppers, tomatoes
and garlic, are blended together with thick yogurt. This
is then wrapped in muslin and hung to dry out over
several weeks. The dry ball is then broken up into a
powder that is stored for use during the harsh winter
months. The flavourful mix is rehydrated and served
hot with lots of lemon juice, butter and mint. I decided
to simplify the process and developed a creamy roasted
vegetable soup inspired by traditional tarhana, with
yogurt, butter and dried mint. The essence is there and I
can’t get enough of it.
3 red peppers, deseeded and quartered
4 red onions, halved and each
half cut into quarters
6 garlic cloves
6 tomatoes, halved
3 teaspoons dried mint
100g Greek yogurt
250ml boiling water
25g butter
Serves 4
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Put the red peppers,
onions, garlic and tomatoes in a roasting tray. Pour over 4
tablespoons of the oil and add 1 teaspoon of the dried mint, the
oregano and ½ teaspoon of the Turkish pepper flakes. Season
with salt and black pepper and mix together thoroughly.
2. Arrange the vegetables so that the tomatoes are sitting at the
top, cut side-up, and drizzle over the remaining oil. Roast for
35–40 minutes until soft and a little golden. Leave to cool.
3. Tip the roasted vegetables into a food processor or blender
and make sure to scrape out all the lovely oil and juices. Blend
for 4–5 minutes until completely smooth. Pour into a saucepan
and stir in the yogurt and a good pinch of salt. Add the boiling
water and mix together. Cover and heat over a low heat for
15–20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lovely and hot.
4. Heat the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat until
bubbling. Add the remaining dried mint and Turkish pepper
flakes. Ladle the soup into warmed bowls and drizzle the
infused butter over the top. Serve immediately.
Yogurt Soup
In Turkey, during the festival of Kurban Bayramι or
Eid Mubarek, a lamb is slaughtered and given away to
friends, family and the poor. The meat you receive is
then used to make a family meal. Like many Turkish
meals it begins with a soup, and along the Black Sea
this simple yogurt soup is served as a starter. The
creamy blandness is what makes it so special. Yogurt is
enriched with egg yolk and then mixed with hot water
and rice. It has to be stirred, like a risotto, for 20–25
minutes so that the rice cooks really slowly and over-
swells, making the soup really thick and comforting.
400g Greek yogurt
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon plain flour
150g basmati rice, washed
1 litre boiling water
1 tablespoon dried mint
sea salt
Serves 4–6
1. Scoop the yogurt into a large saucepan. Add the egg yolk,
flour and 120ml of cold water and whisk together. Pour in
another 280ml of cold water and whisk again.
2. Add the rice and the boiling water. Cook over a medium
heat, stirring continuously, for 20–25 minutes until thick. You
will know when the soup is ready because the second you stop
stirring it will start bubbling.
3. Add the mint, olive oil and a generous pinch of salt. Mix
well. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally,
for 5 minutes so that the flavours infuse. Serve immediately
with lemon wedges.
Sebze Güveç – Vegetable Stew
Sebze güveç is served in different guises across Turkey,
using fresh vegetables during the summer or intense
dried aubergines, courgettes and peppers in the winter.
Flavours change across the country: they are lighter in
the west and spicier and rich in the east. This version
uses the wonderful flavours of western Turkey – sa ron,
olives, and garlic. The new potatoes in the stew cook
slowly and soak up all the flavours, while masses of
chopped parsley freshens it all up at the end.
500g new potatoes, halved and quartered
2 courgettes, halved and roughly chopped
1 red pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1½ teaspoon dried oregano
a pinch of saffron
300ml boiling water
a large handful of finely
chopped flat-leaf parsley
Serves 4
1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add
the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3–4 minutes until
soft.
2. Add the potatoes, courgettes, red pepper, garlic, tomatoes,
chickpeas, olives, red pepper paste, Turkish pepper flakes,
cumin, oregano, saffron and a good pinch of salt and black
pepper. Pour in the boiling water and mix everything together
thoroughly. Cover, reduce the heat to low and cook for 45
minutes.
3. Remove the lid, mix well and cook for 15 minutes so that
the sauce thickens. Stir in the parsley, mix together and serve
immediately.
Blackened Cauliflower
Although not classically Turkish, this blackened
cauliflower has all the big flavours of eastern Turkey.
The cauliflower softens in the oven and takes on a
smoky flavour, while the garlicky yogurt and spicy
butter add different tastes, textures and temperatures. I
love the mix of hot and cold in this recipe; it’s what
makes it so unique. Serve it as a starter or meze dish, or,
my favourite, with flatbread and plenty of finely sliced
onions and chopped parsley.
1 cauliflower, cut into florets
150g Greek yogurt
juice of ½ lemon
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon tomato purée
Serves 4
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Put the cauliflower
florets into a mixing bowl and add the oil, half the Turkish
pepper flakes and a good pinch of salt and black pepper. Mix
well and tip onto a baking dish. Roast for 40–45 minutes until
charred and tender. Set to one side to cool.
2. Meanwhile, put the yogurt into a mixing bowl and add the
lemon juice and a good pinch of salt. Mix well.
3. Put the butter, tomato purée, the remaining Turkish pepper
flakes and a pinch of salt into a small saucepan. Mix together
and heat over a low heat until melted.
4. To serve, spread the yogurt onto a serving dish. Place the
cauliflower over the top and drizzle over the hot butter. Serve
immediately.
Garlicky Okra
This simple dish is a classic side to delicious dinners all
over Turkey. I love how simple it is and how
beautifully the flavours marry: rich, garlicky okra,
smothered in a sticky sauce that has a very light lemony
fragrance. Traditionally, this would be served at room
temperature, but I prefer it hot from the pan. Sometimes
I add a handful of chopped mint to freshen it up. I find
this works particularly well during the hot summer
barbecue months.
350g okra, halved
75ml boiling water
juice of ½ a lemon
Serves 4
1. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the
onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5–6 minutes until
golden. Add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds until fragrant.
2. Tip in the tomatoes. Season with salt and black pepper, add
the sugar and mix well. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3–4
minutes so that the tomatoes start to break down.
3. Add the okra and pour in the boiling water. Add the lemon
juice and mix well. Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer,
stirring occasionally, for 10–12 minutes, or until the okra is
tender and the sauce really thick. Serve immediately.
Aegean Aubergine Pilav
Sitting outside an old stone house on a warm summer’s
evening in the sleepy village of Alaçati, with
honeysuckle and bougainvillea spilling down from the
roof, we tucked into an incredible meal cooked by
Gökçen Adar, one of Turkey’s finest chefs. He made a
selection of beautiful meze dishes, a delicate lamb stew
with white beans and a fabulous aubergine pilav:
classic Aegean food. This pilav is really light and
peppery, and perfect as a side dish for a big meal, but it
is also great as a simple weeknight supper.
1 aubergine, cut into
7.5cm pieces
4 tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped
300g long-grain rice
700ml boiling water
30g pine nuts
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Pour the oil into a saucepan and add the aubergines. Mix
well and heat over a medium heat. Cook, stirring regularly, for
8–10 minutes, or until the aubergines start turning golden.
2. Add the spring onions, mix well and cook for another 1–2
minutes to soften. Add the tomatoes, mix well and cook for 4–
5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they start to break down.
3. Tip the rice into the pan and add the olives and black
pepper. Mix everything together carefully. Pour in the boiling
water and give a quick stir. Cover, reduce the heat to low and
cook for 10–12 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed all the
water.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and cover with a clean tea
towel. Put the lid back on and leave to stand for 10 minutes.
This will help the rice fluff up.
5. Season the pilav with salt and add half the parsley and pine
nuts. Gently mix together using a fork. Tip the pilav onto a
serving dish, top with the remaining parsley and pine nuts, and
serve immediately.
Pepper Dolma
Dolma is loved across Turkey. Peppers, courgettes,
aubergines and cabbage can all be dolma’ d. The
process involves stuffing the vegetables with a rice, nut
and herb mix, then cooking them slowly until the rice is
tender and the vegetables soft. For this pepper dolma I
have used a classic, slightly sweet Ottoman recipe for
the filling, and stuffed it into British-style red peppers.
In Turkey, they would use small green peppers that
have a sweet flavour, not like the bitter green version
we get here. Fill the peppers halfway to leave plenty of
room for the rice to expand.
20g pine nuts
35g raisins
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
a small handful of finely
chopped mint leaves
a small handful of finely
chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
a small handful of finely chopped dill
120g basmati rice
4 red peppers
500ml boiling water
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and
add the onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 8–10 minutes
until really golden. Add the tomato purée, red pepper paste,
pine nuts, raisins, sugar, cinnamon and a good pinch of salt.
Mix together thoroughly. Add the herbs and rice and mix
together. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 2–3 minutes so
that the rice can absorb any moisture.
2. Meanwhile, slice three-quarters of the way around the top of
the peppers. Carefully pull open the tops and remove the
seeds. Stuff a few spoons of the rice into each pepper and sit
them upright in a saucepan. Pour the boiling water into the
pan, cover and cook over a low heat for 1–1 ½ hours, or until
the rice is tender. You should be able push a skewer through
the side of the pepper and into the centre really easily. Serve
immediately.
Cevizli Erişte – Walnut Pasta
During the cold winter months in Anatolia, homemade
noodles that look like short tagliatelle are served with
walnuts, butter and cheese. In this region of Turkey,
agriculture is based on wheat, and fresh noodles are
made in the summer and stored for the winter. This
simple dish is hearty and warming, and perfect to keep
energy levels up. So popular is cevizli erişte that it is
cooked across Turkey for a quick midweek family
meal. A light, stringy cheese is stirred into the pasta –
the type used changes regionally, but for this recipe I
have used mozzarella, as it is easy to find and has the
perfect texture and mild flavour for this recipe.
400g tagliatelle
75g butter
200g grated mozzarella
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Cook the pasta in a large pan of salted boiling water
according to packet instructions. Drain and return to the pan.
2. Add the butter, cheese, walnuts, black pepper, Turkish
pepper flakes, mint and a good pinch of salt. Mix everything
together thoroughly and serve immediately.
Freekeh Pilav
Freekeh is an ancient grain that has been used in
kitchens across the Middle East for centuries. It is
actually wheat that is picked young and sun dried. The
stalks are then set on fire so that the grains smoke. The
resulting freekeh has a firm texture and a smoky, nutty
flavour. It works fantastically in soups, stews and
salads, and in place of rice in a pilav it is both
comforting and wholesome. Freekeh pilav is often
served in Turkey with grilled köfte and vegetables. I
particularly love it with my Aubergine köfte and a crisp
green salad.
700ml hot vegetable stock
200g freekeh, washed and drained
sea salt
Serves 4
1. Heat the oil in a non-stick saucepan over a medium heat.
Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4–5 minutes
until a little golden. Add the garlic and cook for 10 seconds
until fragrant.
2. Meanwhile, whisk the red pepper paste and tomato purée
into the stock.
3. Tip the freekeh into the onions and mix well. Pour over the
stock and add the black pepper. Mix well, cover, reduce the
heat to low and cook gently for 35–40 minutes. If it looks a
little too wet, cook for a few minutes with the lid off.
4. Season with salt and stir in the parsley. Scatter over the pine
nuts and serve immediately.
chapter
9
desserts
Turkish people have a real sweet tooth.
They love eating something sweet after every meal,
even breakfast, and, in Istanbul, one of the most
popular things to do after a night out is to have a late-
night dessert on the way home. Many Turks will say a
meal is not complete until you have eaten something
sweet. There are so many incredible tatli (desserts) in
Turkish cuisine, in addition to the little sweet treats and
pastries that are enjoyed with tea and coffee throughout
the day.
Baklava, a sticky, sweet, crispy pastry that is stuffed
with nuts, is served in shops all over the country. Some
of the best baklava comes from Gazientep in eastern
Turkey, and I have had the pleasure of meeting one of
the owners of Güllüogˇlu, the biggest baklava chain in
the country. Not only did he show me around his
massive factory, he also told me about his new
helicopter – apparently baklava is worth its weight in
gold (or helicopters).
Another popular treat is an old Ottoman dessert
called muhallebi, a custard that is flavoured in many
different ways or served as a creamy rice pudding.
Chocolate is also adored and is eaten as a chocolate
supangle, which is like a mousse, as well as in lots of
chocolate cakes and pastries. At home, simple desserts
like rice pudding and a chocolate biscuit dessert (like
Tülay’s Chocolate Pudding) are more likely to be
served. The Turkish also love helva, a stunning Middle
Eastern sweet that is made in two ways; hard helva is
tahini based, while soft helva is made with flour and
sugar and is served at funerals.
In this chapter I have handpicked some of my
favourite Turkish desserts that are simple to make at
home. They include a wonderfully easy Honey Baklava
that only takes a few minutes to prepare and Mosaic
Cake, which is just about the best chocolate dessert in
the world.
Honey Baklava
Tülay’s Chocolate Pudding
Hazelnut Biscuits
Revani – Semolina Lemon Cake
Sac Arasι – Filo Twirls with Walnuts and Cinnamon
Pomegranate and Walnut Rice Pudding
Mosaic Cake
Katmer Pastry
Honey Baklava
Like many of the oldest dishes in Turkey, the origins of
baklava are slightly blurred. Records from the Turks,
Ottomans, Byzantines, Greeks and Romans all make
claims to this sticky sweet treat. In Turkey today,
baklava is made in shops using thin layers of pastry that
are stuffed with nuts. The tins of baklava are doused in
melted butter and cooked in wood-fired ovens until
crispy. Finally, boiling hot sugar syrup is poured over
the top and the tins are left to cool. In Gaziantep they
grow the best pistachios in Turkey, and different
varieties of bright green baklava are made. Along the
Black Sea, hazelnut baklava is sold instead. Baklava is
served with coffee or tea for a mid-afternoon snack, and
if you are ever invited to dinner with a Turkish family,
take freshly made baklava and you will be an instant
hit. The traditional recipe is too time-consuming to
recreate at home, so I was inspired to make a version
more suitable for the home kitchen, using shop-bought
filo pastry that is rolled up and baked. The end result
looks great and the flavour is just as good.
125g extra-thick double cream
75g unsalted butter, plus extra for brushing
55g blanched almonds, lightly crushed
40g soft light brown sugar
5 tablespoons runny honey
Serves 6–8
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Put the cream, butter
and oil in a small saucepan and heat over a low heat, stirring
occasionally, for 5–6 minutes or until completely melted.
Remove from the heat and set aside.
2. Mix the walnuts, almonds and sugar in a mixing bowl.
3. Take a sheet of pastry and brush it with the melted butter
mixture. Fold the bottom edge up so that it reaches about
three-quarters of the way up towards the centre. Scatter a line
of nuts and sugar about 2.5cm in from the bottom. Fold in the
sides and roll up from the bottom into a cigar shape. Slice on
an angle and place the cut slices in rows in a buttered
ovenproof dish. Repeat with the remaining pastry and filling.
Brush the top with melted butter and bake for 30–35 minutes,
or until golden and crispy.
4. Drizzle with the honey and sprinkle over the cinnamon.
Leave to absorb for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Tülay’s Chocolate Pudding
Like all the best cuisines, Turkish cooking has evolved
and modern recipes have been developed. This simple
chocolate pudding is the perfect example. It is modern
home cooking that has been adopted across Turkey, and
something I will insist is in the fridge when I visit
family on the Black Sea. Shop-bought cookies are
blended to a fine rubble and mixed with cream. Like a
cheesecake, this base is ‘set’ in the fridge and then
covered in a thick chocolate sauce. It is heavenly and a
perfect treat for the Turkish sweet tooth.
350g chocolate chip cookies
55g walnut pieces, plus a few extra for topping
675ml double cream
4 tablespoons icing sugar
100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped
50g unsalted butter
Serves 6
1. Tip the cookies into a food processor and blend until fine.
Pour into a mixing bowl and add the walnuts.
2. Pour 500ml of the cream into a separate mixing bowl and
add the icing sugar. Whip into soft peaks using an electric
whisk, then fold into the biscuit mix. Tip everything into a
shallow dish. Spoon it in gently so it stays light. Cover with
clingfilm and refrigerate for 2 hours.
3. Meanwhile, put the chocolate, remaining cream, butter and
honey in a small sauce pan over over a medium heat. Stir
occasionally, until the chocolate melts and it forms a velvety
sauce.
4. To serve, put a generous portion of the cookie mixture into a
bowl and pour over the warm chocolate sauce. Serve
immediately.
Hazelnut Biscuits
Some of the best hazelnuts in the world come from the
Black Sea region of Turkey, where they grow in
abundance and are used to flavour a variety of different
desserts, including sticky baklava and these crunchy
biscuits. The base is made from a mixture of flour and
ground almonds. This is topped with crushed hazelnuts
that turn golden in the oven. As in Turkey, serve these
delicious biscuits with hot çay for the perfect afternoon
snack.
250g unsalted butter
350g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
300g plain flour
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
50g ground almonds
2 tablespoons hazelnuts, finely ground
sea salt
Makes 20 biscuits
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and line a baking tray
with baking paper.
2. Put the butter and sugar into a food processor or blender and
blend until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and blend until
fluffy and light in colour. Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda,
almonds and a pinch of salt. Mix together into a firm paste.
3. Put 2–3 tablespoons of the mixture onto the prepared baking
tray. Leave plenty of space around the first biscuit for it to
spread out in the oven and repeat with more of the mix. Top
each one with a sprinkling of hazelnuts and bake for 10–12
minutes until slightly golden. Remove from the oven and set
aside to cool before serving.
Revani – Semolina Lemon Cake
Revani is a victory cake that was named when the
Ottomans conquered the Armenian city of Yerevan. It is
a classic dessert that is now served all over Turkey and
the Middle East. A baked semolina cake is soaked in a
thick sugar syrup until it turns into a moist, soft, sticky
sponge. To get the revani just right, make sure that you
pour the hot sugar syrup over the top of the cooled cake
in batches, so that all the syrup can be absorbed. I have
seen revani served with whole almonds, ground
pistachios and even grated coconut on top. This recipe
is for the classic version without any kind of topping, as
I think it needs nothing else.
160g semolina flour
160g plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
120g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
150g caster sugar
3 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon orange extract
For the sugar syrup
125g caster sugar
juice of 1 orange
juice of 1 lemon
Serves 6–8
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and butter a 15cm
square baking dish or tin.
2. Put the semolina, flour and baking powder into a mixing
bowl.
3. Put the butter and sugar into a food processor or blender and
blend to a light consistency. Add the egg yolks, one at a time,
and the vanilla and orange extracts. Continue to blitz until you
have a really light mixture. Add the flour mixture and blend
until smooth.
4. Whisk the egg whites into soft peaks and fold into the cake
mixture. Pour into the prepared dish or tin and bake for 25–30
minutes until the cake is light brown on top and you can
remove a skewer cleanly from the centre. Set aside to cool.
5. Meanwhile make the sugar syrup. Put the sugar in a pan
with 125ml of cold water. Add the orange and lemon juices
and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Once bubbling,
reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 5 minutes.
6. Poke lots of holes into the top of the baked cake using a
skewer and pour over half the syrup. Leave for 10 minutes and
then pour over the remaining syrup. Leave to cool for at least
30 minutes before serving.
Sac Arasι – Filo Twirls with Walnuts
and Cinnamon
This is my version of the sac arasi puddings – a
swirled, thin pastry filled with walnuts and sugar and
doused in a sweet syrup – that I tasted one very cold
day in Konya. It was great, but a bit teeth tingling for
me, so I decided to make my own with less sugar and a
slightly more substantial filling. When you wrap up the
sac arasi, it is best to be as random as you can with the
filling – no neat lines here. The gaps will help stop too
much of the filling from bursting as it cooks.
35g unsalted butter, plus
1 tablespoon for brushing
65g walnuts
70g caster sugar
flour, for dusting
zest of ½ orange
Serves 4 - 6
with buttered baking paper.
2. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a small saucepan and set
aside for brushing. Put the walnuts, 40g of the sugar and the
rest of the butter into a food processor or blender and blend to
a rough paste.
3. Take two filo pastry sheets and lay them on top of each
other on a floured board. Spread half the filling in a broken
line about 2cm in from the bottom. Roll the bottom of the
pastry up over the filling and roll everything over once. Push
all the remaining pastry down so it concertinas towards the roll
of filling. With the filling in the middle, shape it into a very
loose twirl or coil. Carefully transfer onto the prepared baking
tray. Repeat with the rest of the pastry and filling. Brush the
tops of the twirls with a little melted butter. Bake for 20
minutes until golden and crispy.
4. Meanwhile, heat the remaining sugar with 30ml water in a
small saucepan over a medium heat. Once the sugar has
dissolved, reduce the heat to low and bubble for 10 minutes, or
until there is only about 2 tablespoons of liquid left. Spoon the
sugar syrup over the cooked pastries. Sprinkle a pinch of
cinnamon and a little orange zest over each twirl. Leave to
cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Pomegranate and Walnut Rice
Pudding
This is Turkish comfort food, tarted up thanks to a
wonderful lady I bumped into one day in the stunning
stone village of Alaçati. It was a religious holiday and
she was taking dessert to her neighbours. Instead of
putting the rice pudding under the grill to give it an
almost crème brûlée finish as others do, she had put a
vibrant array of fruit and nuts over the top. She very
kindly offered me some of the pudding, and since then I
have always made mine the same way.
120g basmati rice
3 tablespoons cornflour
750ml full-fat milk
250ml double cream
180g caster sugar
60g dried apricots, finely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Serves 4
1. Put the rice into a pan with 350ml of cold water and bring to
the boil over a medium heat. Cover, reduce the heat to low and
cook for 15 minutes until all the water has been absorbed.
2. Whisk the cornflour with a few tablespoons of the milk.
Pour the rest of the milk and the cream into the cooked rice.
Add the cornflour paste, the vanilla and sugar. Mix well and
cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes until thick and
creamy.
3. To serve, spoon the rice pudding into serving bowls or
glasses and top each one with pomegranate seeds, apricots,
walnuts and a good pinch of cinnamon. Serve immediately.
Mosaic Cake
Turkish people love eating chocolate and you can find a
huge variety of chocolate desserts served in restaurants,
pâtisseries and homes across the country. This simple
chocolate torte, known as mosaic cake, is a homemade
classic; biscuits are crushed up and folded into melted
chocolate, giving the finished dish a tiled or mosaic-
like appearance. Walnuts, hazelnuts and dry cherries
lend more texture and a wonderful variety of flavours
that work so well with dark chocolate. The mosaic cake
sets really hard in the fridge, so make sure you take it
out at least 30 minutes before serving to come to room
temperature.
150g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
300g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped
300g Rich Tea biscuits
50g walnuts, finely crushed
50g hazelnuts, finely crushed
100g dried cherries, roughly chopped
cocoa powder, to dust
Serves 8–10
1. Put the butter, chocolate and honey into a saucepan and heat
over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until everything has
melted together.
2. Tip the biscuits into a food processor or blender and blend
until fine. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the walnuts,
hazelnuts and dried cherries. Pour over the velvety smooth
melted chocolate and fold everything together into a coarse
mixture.
3. Spoon the mixture into a buttered 450g loaf tin and push
everything down with the back of a spoon. Cover and
refrigerate for 2 hours.
4. Remove from the fridge and leave for at least 30 minutes
before serving. To serve, run a knife around the edge of the
loaf tin to dislodge the cake. Place onto a wooden board and
tip the torte out. Dust with cocoa powder and serve in thin
slices.
Katmer Pastry
This sweet pastry is a typical breakfast dish served in
Gaziantep, in the south east of Turkey, and is
traditionally given as a gift the morning after a wedding
from the groom’s family to the bride’s as a thank you
for the festivities. The dough is made with flour, water
and lots of oil and is very technical to prepare. It is
kneaded and spun around, a little like a pizza, until
wafer thin. I have used filo pastry to make it quicker to
prepare at home. Traditional katmer is very sweet, but
this version goes easy on the sugar and uses a little
drizzle of honey at the end instead to give extra
sweetness and help the final shower of pistachios stick
to the sweet pastry.
4 squares of filo pastry
20g unsalted butter, melted
100g ground pistachios
8 teaspoons caster sugar
4 tablespoons thick clotted cream
runny honey, to serve
Makes 4 individual pastries
with baking paper.
2. Take a square of filo pasty and lay it on a chopping board.
Brush it lightly with butter. Sprinkle about 25g of the
pistachios in a square in the centre of the filo pastry, leaving a
2cm gap around the edges. Scatter over 2 teaspoons of the
sugar and dollop 1 tablespoon of the clotted cream over the
nuts.
3. Fold the corners of the filo pastry into the centre to make a
smaller square. Brush the top with a little more butter, then
place onto the baking tray. Repeat with the remaining three
pieces of pastry.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lovely and golden. Remove
from the oven and drizzle a little honey over each katmer.
Scatter over the remaining pistachios and serve immediately.
index
Aa
acιlι ezme (chilli salad)
Aegean aubergine pilav
Aegean Sea 1, 2
Akçaabat beef köfte
alaçati borek
ali nazik (minced lamb and smoked aubergine)
allspice
almonds
hazelnut biscuits
honey baklava
lemon and apricot cinnamon chicken
Anatolia
Central Anatolia
East Anatolia
South-eastern Anatolia
apples
orange and celeriac salad
pomegranate jam
apricots, dried
pomegranate and walnut rice pudding
artichoke hearts
chicken, artichoke and olive pide
aubergines
aubergine and lamb köfte
aubergine salad
Café Lala lamb güveç
chargrilled squid with smoked aubergine
Denizli aubergine dolma
griddled aubergines with saffron yogurt
kürdan kebabs
lamb meatball kebab
minced lamb and smoked aubergine
smoked aubergine yogurt
tray kebab
avocados
poached eggs, yogurt and avocado
Bb
baby octopus, tomato, olive and oregano salad
baklava, honey
balik kroket (sardine croquettes)
barley
herby chicken and pearl barley salad
basil
M’s basil tabbouleh
beans
butter beans with sujuk
fava bean dip
haricot, egg, spring onion and tahini salad
beef
beef, okra and lemon stew
cheesy beef köfte
my Iskender kebab
pomegranate beef skewers
beetroot dip
Beyaz Peynir cheese
biscuits
hazelnut biscuits
mosaic cake
black olive-encrusted pulled lamb
black pepper
Black Sea 1, 2
Black Sea pancake
Black Sea pide
blackened cauliflower
borek
alaçati borek
cheese and pastrami borek
bread
Konya chicken sandwich
tahin Pekmez toast
tarator sauce
Turkish-style French toast
breakfast
bulgur wheat
simit kebab with lamb and pistachios
spiced chicken and bulgur pilav
stewed kale, chickpeas and bulgur
stuffed meatball köfte
Cc
cabbage
cabbage dolma
fried mackerel with red cabbage
cakes
mosaic cake
semolina lemon cake
calamari with tarator sauce
calves liver
liver, onions and sumac
capers
seared tuna, orange and caper salad
cauliflower, blackened
celeriac
Central Anatolia
cheese
alaçati borek
cheesy beef köfte
chicken stuffed with spinach and cheese
courgettes, feta, dill and walnuts
fried halloumi with herby salsa
herby courgette fritters
lemon, garlic and herb yogurt
pastrami and egg pide
sardine croquettes
spinach pide
sujuk pide
walnut pasta
cherries, dried
mosaic cake
chicken
charred sumac and oregano chicken wings
chicken and orzo soup
chicken şiş
granny’s pilav
chicken livers
granny’s pilav
chickpeas
vegetable stew
chillies
chilli salad
wild rice, kale, chilli and pomegranate salad
chocolate
mosaic cake
Tülay’s chocolate pudding
cinnamon
filo twirls with walnuts and cinnamon
classic spoon salad
clotted cream
katmer pastry
village pancakes with honey and clotted cream
cod
fisherman’s stew
Trabzon-baked cod
coffee
courgettes
vegetable stew
cream
honey baklava
katmer pastry
croquettes, sardine
cucumber
classic spoon salad
cumin
cured meats
Dd
dates, dried
desserts
dill
dips
beetroot dip
fava bean dip
red pepper dip
dolma
cabbage dolma
pepper dolma
dough, pide
dried fruit
Ee
East Anatolia
eggs
baked eggs with spinach
mince menemen
Erzurum Tulum peyniri cheese
Ff
Fava bean dip
feta cheese
figs, dried
filo pastry
alaçati borek
honey baklava
katmer pastry
fisherman’s stew
freekeh
freekeh pilav
freekeh, pomegranate and black olive salad
freekeh, yogurt and spinach salad
French toast, Turkish-style
fritters, herby courgette
fruit
Gg
Garlic
garlicky okra
Gaziantep lamb cutlets
grains
granny’s pilav
green beans with tomatoes and olive oil
güveç, Café Lala lamb
Hh
Halloumi cheese
Hasan Pasha köfte (cheesy beef köfte)
haydari (lemon, garlic and herb yogurt)
hazelnuts
hazelnut biscuits
mosaic cake
herbs
herby salsa
honey
honey baklava
mosaic cake
Ii
Iiçli köfte (stuffed meatball köfte)
ingredients
Iskender kebab
Jj
Jam, pomegranate
Kk
Kale
kale, spinach, pomegranate and walnuts
kaşar cheese
katmer pastry
Kayseri pide (pastrami and egg pide)
kebabs
chicken şiş
kürdan kebabs
lamb kebabs in a smoky tomato sauce
lamb meatball kebab
monkfish kebabs
my Iskender kebab
spicy Adana kebabs
tray kebab
vegetable kebabs
kilis kebab
king prawns
fisherman’s stew
prawns with sun-dried tomatoes and butter
kιymalι pide (Black Sea pide)
kiz güzeli (beetroot dip)
köfte
cheesy beef köfte
sea bass köfte with smoked pepper sauce
Konya pide
kürdan kebabs
Ll
Lamb
alaçati borek
Black Sea pide
cabbage dolma
Konya pide
kürdan kebabs
lamb meatball kebab
Mevlana pilav
mince menemen
Ottoman lamb shank stew
smoky fried lamb with peppers, tomatoes and garlic
spicy Adana kebabs
tray kebab
lemon
baked sea bass with raki
charred samphire with lemon
semolina lemon cake
swordfish, tomatoes, lemon and oregano
lentils
liver
granny’s pilav
Lor peyniri cheese
Mm
mackerel
Marmara
Marmara, Sea of 1, 2
meat
cured meats
see also beef, lamb etc
meatballs see köfte
Mediterranean 1, 2
menemen, mince
Mevlana pilav
meze
milk
mince menemen
mint
monkfish kebabs
mosaic cake
mozzarella cheese
cheesy beef köfte
sardine croquettes
walnut pasta
mussel pilav
my Iskender kebab
Nn
Nuts
see also almonds, walnuts etc
Oo
octopus
okra
garlicky okra
olive oil
olives
olive and herb salad
Trabzon-baked cod
vegetable stew
onions
classic spoon salad
mince menemen
tarhana soup
tray kebab
vegetable kebabs
oranges
oregano
orzo
Pp
paçanga böregi (cheese and pastrami borek)
pancakes
Black Sea pancake
parsley
pasta
walnut pasta
pastrami
pastries
alaçati borek
Black Sea pide
honey baklava
katmer pastry
Konya pide
pide dough
spinach pide
sujuk pide
pearl barley
pekmez (sweet tahini toast)
pepper, black
pepper flakes
peppers (green)
chilli salad
lamb meatball kebab
mince menemen
Trabzon-baked cod
vegetable kebabs
peppers (red)
aubergine salad
classic spoon salad
pepper dolma
red pepper dip
red pepper paste
sea bass köfte with smoked
pepper sauce
spicy Adana kebabs
tarhana soup
vegetable stew
pickles
pide
Black Sea pide
Konya pide
pide dough
spinach pide
sujuk pide
pilav
freekeh pilav
granny’s pilav
Mevlana pilav
mussel pilav
pine nuts
freekeh pilav
granny’s pilav
Mevlana pilav
mussel pilav
pepper dolma
pistachios
katmer pastry
pomegranate molasses
pomegranates
pomegranate jam
potatoes
sardine croquettes
vegetable stew
prawns
fisherman’s stew
pul biber (Turkish pepper flakes)
Rr
raisins
Mevlana pilav
mussel pilav
pepper dolma
raki, baked sea bass with
red cabbage
red mullet
fisherman’s stew
red peppers see peppers (red) rice
cabbage dolma
granny’s pilav
Mevlana pilav
mussel pilav
pepper dolma
yogurt soup
ricotta cheese
alaçati borek
Ss
saffron
salads
aubergine salad
chilli salad
classic spoon salad
salsa, herby
salt-baked sea bream
samphire
charred samphire with lemon
sandwich, Konya chicken
sardine croquettes
sausages
sujuk pide
scallops with black pepper and thyme
sea bass
sea bass köfte with smoked pepper sauce
sea bream, salt-baked
seafood
semolina lemon cake
şiş tavuk (chicken şiş)
soups
tarhana soup
yogurt soup
South-eastern Anatolia
spices
spinach
baked eggs with spinach
spinach pide
spoon salad
spring greens
Black Sea pancake
spring onions
squid
calamari with tarator sauce
stews
fisherman’s stew
vegetable stew
sujuk (cured Turkish sausage)
sujuk pide
sumac
Tt
tabbouleh, M’s basil
tagliatelli
walnut pasta
tahini paste
tahin Pekmez toast
tarator sauce, calamari with
tarhana soup
tea
tepsi kebab (tray kebab)
thyme
scallops with black pepper and thyme
toast
tahin Pekmez toast
tomatoes
cheesy beef köfte
chilli salad
classic spoon salad
fisherman’s stew
garlicky okra
kürdan kebabs
lamb meatball kebab
mince menemen
tarhana soup
tomato purée
Trabzon-baked cod
tray kebab
vegetable kebabs
vegetable stew
tortilla wraps
my Iskender kebab
Trabzon-baked cod
tray kebab
tuna
Vv
vegetables
vegetable kebabs
vegetable stew
see also aubergines, tomatoes etc
vegetarian recipes
Ww
walnuts
classic spoon salad
honey baklava
mosaic cake
red pepper dip
walnut pasta
Yy
yogurt
beetroot dip
blackened cauliflower
my Iskender kebab
red pepper dip
smoked aubergine yogurt
tarator sauce
tarhana soup
yogurt soup
yoğurtlu közlenmiş biber (red pepper dip)
yumurtali ekmek (Turkish-style French roast)
acknowledgements
Thanks to everyone in Turkey who has helped make
this book happen: Saliha and Ishan, Tülay and all of the
Aktas family, Göckçen Adar, Osman and Sebahat at
ncirliev and everyone at Cafe LaLa. Thanks also to
Hulya at Redmint Communications, Go Turkey and
Pegasus Airlines for being so supportive.
Thanks to all of my family – Gregory-Smiths, Orringes
and, of course, my M, Murat.
Also huge thanks to everyone at Kyle Books: Kyle and
Judith for thinking this would work and Tara for
holding my hand every step of the way.
Martin Poole, Rosie Reynolds, Wei Tang and Ruth
Tyson, thank you for bringing my book to life and
making it look so utterly beautiful.
And to my agent, Elly James, the ultimate voice of
reason: hats off – you are wicked!
Murat bey, I love you very much
First published in Great Britain
in 2015 by Kyle Books, an
imprint of Kyle Cathie Ltd
192–198 Vauxhall Bridge Road
London SW1V 1DX
[email protected]
www.kylebooks.com
eISBN 9780857835963
Text © 2015 John Gregory-Smith
Design © 2015 Kyle Books
Food photography © 2015 Martin Poole
Calligraphy © 2015 Josh Berer
Map © 2015 Clare Nicholas
Location photography as follows: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 © 2015 Jan
McGready 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 © John Gregory Smith Endpapers ©
Shutterstock/Seval Ozgel; 1 © Shutterstock/Olga Gavrilova; 1 ©
Shutterstock/Cucumber; 1 © Shutterstock/Steve Estavnik; 1 ©
Shutterstock/Nexus7; 1 © Shutterstock/David Hanlon; 1 and 2 ©
Shutterstock/Muratart; 1 © Shutterstock/Fedor Selivanov; 1 © Shutterstock/Leyla
Ismet; 1 © Shutterstock/Tansel Atasagun; 1 © Shutterstock/Ricardo Perna; 1 ©
Shutterstock/Dave M Hunt Photography; 1 © Shutterstock/Yavuz Sariyildiz; 1 ©
Shutterstock/Guroldinneden; 1 © Shutterstock/Yarygin
John Gregory-Smith is hereby identified as the author

of this work in accordance with Section 77 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved.
No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced,
copied or transmitted save with written permission or in
accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act
1956 (as amended). Any person who does any
unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be
liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for
damages.
Project Editor: Tara O’Sullivan
Copy Editor: Abi Waters
Designer: Ruth Tyson
Food Photographer: Martin Poole
Food Stylist: Rosie Reynolds
Prop Stylist: Wei Tang
Production: Nic Jones and Gemma John

Turkish Delights Stunning Regional Recipes From The Bosphorus To The Black Sea

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Turkish Delights Stunning Regional Recipes From The Bosphorus To The Black Sea

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Turkish

The Konya pide is really special. It is larger than the pide

South-eastern Anatolia and East Anatolia

Aegean and Mediterranean

BREAD, RICE AND GRAINS

TEA AND COFFEE

OLIVES AND OLIVE OIL

John Gregory-Smith is hereby identified as the author

You might also like