Türkiye recipes
Recipes from Türkiye: home cooking with cultural background, ingredient substitutes and step-by-step instructions.
Arnavut Ciğeri: Turkish Fried Liver with Sumac Onions
Arnavut ciğeri is a Turkish meze of liver cubes lightly floured, briefly fried and served with sumac onions. Prep for beef liver, oil temperature, frying time, draining to tame the smell, potatoes on the side, eating it in flatbread, storage and reheating.
Aşure Recipe: Turkey's Noah's Pudding of Wheat and Beans
How to make aşure, the sweet pudding of wheat and beans shared in Turkey, kept clear for the home kitchen: parboiling wheat berries and beans, when to add fruit, adjusting thickness, substitutes outside Turkey, storage, and how to serve it.
Baklava: Turkey's Paper-Thin Layered Nut Pastry
Turkish baklava recreated in a home kitchen, guided by the thin layers and nut logic of Gaziantep-style baklava. Handling phyllo, the pistachio and walnut mix, clarified butter, cooled syrup, storage, what goes wrong, and how it differs from kunafa and basbousa, with step photos.
Cağ Kebabı: Erzurum-Style Horizontal Lamb Skewer
How to make cağ kebabı, the horizontally grilled lamb skewer of Erzurum in eastern Turkey: onion-marinated lamb, layering on a flat skewer, grill-pan heat, slicing off the cooked outside and re-grilling, sumac onions, and storage.
Çılbır: Turkish Poached Eggs on Garlic Yogurt with Red Butter
Çılbır is a Turkish dish of poached eggs over garlicky yogurt, finished with red-spiced butter. Learn how it is eaten in Turkey beyond breakfast, the Isparta version, paprika as a stand-in for chili flakes, and how to poach eggs without a watery plate. Serves 2, with heat adjustments, fixes, and storage and egg-safety notes.
How to Make Dolma: Turkish Stuffed Grape Leaves
An authentic recipe for Turkey's traditional dolma. Grape leaves wrapped around spiced rice, pine nuts, mint, and dill, then simmered in olive oil, the king of appetizers. From how to roll yaprak sarma to variations and where to find jarred grape leaves.
İmam Bayıldı: Turkish Eggplant Stuffed and Simmered in Olive Oil
A recipe for imam bayıldı, the Turkish eggplant dish whose name means 'the imam fainted,' made with globe eggplants. It covers peeling in stripes, salting to draw out moisture, the onion and tomato stuffing, simmering 45 to 50 minutes in olive oil, why it is eaten cool, and storage.
İrmik Helvası: Turkish Semolina Halva
İrmik helvası is a Turkish sweet made by roasting semolina in butter with pine nuts and letting it absorb a sweet milk liquid. The custom of sharing it on milestone days, regional differences in water and milk, how to keep it from scorching, choosing ingredients, storage, serving hot halva with cold ice cream, and how to fix mistakes.
Kağıt Kebabı: Turkish Paper-Wrapped Braise
How to make kağıt kebabı, the Turkish paper-wrapped braise, in a home oven with lamb or beef shoulder, tomato, potato, peppers and allspice. Covers wrapping, temperature, juiciness, regional differences, causes of failure and eating it the next day.
Kısır: Turkish Red Bulgur Salad with Herbs
A recipe for Turkish kısır, serves 4, made with fine bulgur, tomato paste and herbs. How to rehydrate the grains without stickiness, the order for sautéing the onion, the tang of pomegranate syrup, and how to eat it at the tea table. Also regional differences, fixes, storage and a wheat allergy caution.
Lahmacun: Turkey's Paper-Thin Spiced Meat Flatbread
A full recipe for lahmacun, the Turkish national favorite: a crisp, paper-thin dough spread with spiced lamb paste and baked hot. How to reproduce it in a home oven, from rolling the dough to the topping mix, with substitutions for lamb and Urfa chile.
Mercimek Köftesi: Turkish Red Lentil and Bulgur Meatless Köfte
Turkey's mercimek köftesi, shaped from red lentils and fine bulgur: no meat, no egg, served with lettuce and lemon, serves 4. How to cook the lentils down, rehydrate the grains, tell when the mixture is soft enough to shape, plus teatime tables, household differences, fixing crumbly mixtures, storage and wheat allergy.
Piyaz: Antalya-Style White Bean Salad with Tahini
How to make piyaz, sorted out through Antalya's geographical indication and regional differences across Turkey: small white beans, tahini tarator, sumac onions, choosing canned or dried beans, cooking, storage, what to serve it with, and how to fix problems.
Adana Kebab: Turkish Flat-Skewer Lamb Kebab Recipe
How to make Adana kebab (Adana kebabı), the hand-minced lamb and fat kebab pressed onto flat skewers and grilled hot in southern Turkey. Sumac onions, heat control, a mix that won't fall off the skewer, storage, and how it differs from Urfa kebab.
Köfte: Turkey's Spiced Meatballs, Made Step by Step
A recipe for köfte, Turkey's national meatball dish, using ingredients from an ordinary grocery store. Knead ground meat with cumin and paprika and sear it in a skillet. Includes İzmir-style and other variations.
Menemen: Turkish Breakfast Eggs with Tomatoes and Peppers
Menemen is the Turkish breakfast dish of tomatoes and peppers cooked down and eggs softly scrambled in. The story of the name, the onion debate, regional differences with white cheese and sucuk, a 15-minute method, substitutes for pepper flakes and heat control so it isn't watery.
Mercimek Çorbası: Turkish Red Lentil Soup with Mint Butter
How to make mercimek çorbası, Turkey's red lentil soup: rinsing the lentils, sautéing the aromatics, mint butter, a squeeze of lemon, adjusting thickness, storage and why it goes wrong. Includes a pul biber substitute and a method without an immersion blender.
Dondurma: How to Make Turkey's Stretchy Ice Cream at Home
A home version of Turkish dondurma made with a salep-based mix and mastic: the goat's-milk tradition of Kahramanmaraş, how it's sold in Istanbul, ingredient swaps, stretching it in the pot, churning in the freezer, fixing mistakes and storage, with cues for recognizing that sliceable texture.
Bulgur Pilavı: Turkish Tomato Bulgur Pilaf
A Turkish tomato bulgur pilaf (domatesli bulgur pilavı) for 4, made with coarse bulgur, onion and green pepper. How it is served in Turkey, coarse vs. fine bulgur, absorbing and resting in the pot, fixing hard or soggy grains, variations, storage and wheat-allergy notes.
Ezme: Spicy Turkish Chopped Tomato and Pepper Salad
Ezme (acılı ezme) is the spicy chopped salad of the Turkish meze table. Learn how to drain the tomatoes, how fine to chop by hand, how to balance pomegranate molasses, sumac and chili, which substitutes work, how to store it, and what to serve it with, from kebabs to lahmacun.
Turkish Kebabs at Home: Adana Kebab and Shish Kebab
Make Turkish kebabs at home with everyday ingredients: spicy ground-lamb Adana kebab and marinated shish kebab. Spice substitutes, how to keep the meat on the skewer, five variations and the background of Turkey's many kebabs.
Kebab Sauce: How to Make and Pair the White and Red Sauces
Five kebab sauces chosen by the job they do: yogurt garlic, tahini yogurt, tomato chili, toum and a miso-tomato twist. Learn how Turkish yogurt and tomato sauces differ from Lebanese garlic sauce, what to pair with pita, skewers or rice, how to tell when toum has emulsified, plus heat levels, storage and substitutes.
Revani: Turkish Semolina Cake Soaked in Lemon Syrup
A recipe for Turkish revani made with semolina and yogurt. Learn how it's served with tea in Turkey, how it differs from Greek ravani, which semolina grind to choose, and how to soak the warm cake with cooled lemon syrup, plus fixes for soggy or dry cake, storage and variations.