Turkish Recipes
20 recipes from Turkish cuisine, including Iskender Kebab, Turkish Manti and Pide with Minced Meat. 13 are vegetarian and 4 take less than 30 minutes.
Şekerpare
Soft Turkish semolina cookies, each pressed with an almond, baked golden and soaked in lemon syrup until tender right through — a sweet for Turkish holiday tables. Cold syrup poured over hot cookies is what lets them drink it without breaking.
Künefe
The hot cheese pastry of Hatay in southern Turkey — buttered shredded kadaif pastry pressed around a layer of mild melting cheese, cooked in a small pan until crisp, drenched in cold syrup and eaten at once, while the cheese still stretches.
Turkish Red Lentil Soup
Mercimek çorbası, the soup of every Turkish lokanta — red lentils simmered with onion, carrot and potato, blended smooth and finished with a sizzling drizzle of butter, paprika and dried mint, with lemon squeezed over at the table.
Ekmek Kadaif
A Turkish dessert from Afyon — a dry, porous bread round simmered in clove syrup until it turns dark amber and spongy, then cut into wedges and topped with thick clotted cream and pistachios. The bread must be bone-dry to drink the syrup.
Acılı Ezme
The fiery Turkish kebab-house relish — tomato, peppers, onion and parsley chopped with a knife almost to a paste and sharpened with pomegranate molasses, sumac and pul biber, served with grilled meat and warm flatbread.
Trileche (Three-Milk Cake)
The Balkan and Turkish take on Latin America's tres leches — a light sponge soaked in milk, condensed milk and cream, covered with whipped cream and a thin pour of soft caramel. A cold sponge and patient soaking let it drink everything without collapsing.
Simit (Turkish Sesame Bread Rings)
Istanbul's street-cart bread — twisted rings of yeast dough dipped in grape molasses and rolled thickly in sesame seeds, baked until crisp and dark gold outside and soft and chewy within.
Çiğ Köfte (Meat-Free Spicy Bulgur Rolls)
The modern meat-free çiğ köfte of south-eastern Turkey — fine bulgur kneaded at length with pepper paste, chilli and herbs until it binds like dough, squeezed into finger shapes and eaten wrapped in lettuce with lemon.
Lahmacun (Turkish Minced-Meat Flatbread)
Turkey's paper-thin flatbread, spread with raw spiced minced lamb, tomato, pepper and parsley and baked in minutes in a very hot oven, then rolled up around lemon, parsley and onion.
Hünkar Beğendi (Lamb on Smoky Aubergine Cream)
The “sultan's delight” of Ottoman palace cooking — tender lamb stewed with tomato and peppers, spooned over a silky purée of flame-charred aubergine whisked into a cheesy béchamel.
Pide with Minced Meat
The boat-shaped flatbread of Turkey's Black Sea coast — soft yeast dough folded around minced beef cooked with onion, peppers and tomato, baked hot until the rim is crisp and brushed with butter as it leaves the oven.
Gözleme (Spinach and Cheese Flatbread)
Turkish village flatbread — paper-thin unleavened dough folded around spinach, white cheese and spring onion, cooked on a dry griddle until blistered and brushed with butter while still hot.
Turkish Manti
Kayseri's tiny Turkish dumplings — thimble-sized parcels of spiced minced lamb, boiled and buried under garlic yoghurt and a sizzling red pepper butter, finished with dried mint and sumac.
Home-Style Döner Kebab
The Turkish rotisserie classic made in a home oven — spiced, marinated slices of lamb and beef stacked tightly on a skewer and roasted upright, then shaved thin and crisped, served in bread with salad and garlic yoghurt.
Adana Kebab
The fiery hand-minced lamb kebab of Adana in southern Turkey — lamb and its fat chopped with red pepper and chilli, pressed onto wide flat skewers and grilled over charcoal, served on lavash with sumac onions.
Menemen (Turkish Eggs with Peppers and Tomato)
Turkey's breakfast pan — green peppers and ripe tomatoes softened in olive oil and butter until jammy, with eggs stirred through just until they set into soft curds, eaten straight from the pan with bread.
Gavurdağı Salad
A chopped salad from Gaziantep in south-east Turkey — tomato, pepper, onion and parsley cut small and tossed with toasted walnuts in a sweet-sour dressing of pomegranate molasses, sumac and olive oil.
Iskender Kebab
Bursa's famous plate — thin slices of seared lamb over cubes of pide bread, soaked in a buttery tomato sauce, with cool yoghurt alongside and sizzling brown butter poured over at the table.
Imam Bayildi
A Turkish olive-oil classic whose name means “the imam fainted” — whole aubergines split and stuffed with onion, tomato and garlic, slow-braised in olive oil and served cool, once the flavours have settled.
Kisir
Turkish bulgur salad with pepper paste, pomegranate molasses and a great deal of parsley.
Frequently asked questions
How many recipes from Turkish cuisine are on svcs.bg?
20: 17 cooking recipes, 2 salads and 1 sauce.
What are the classic dishes from Turkish cuisine?
Among the recipes here: Iskender Kebab, Turkish Manti and Pide with Minced Meat.
What is the quickest recipe from Turkish cuisine?
Acılı Ezme, in about 25 minutes. Gavurdağı Salad (25 min) and Kisir (25 min) are quick too.
Are there vegetarian recipes from Turkish cuisine?
Yes, 13 of the 20 are vegetarian, for example Şekerpare, Künefe and Turkish Red Lentil Soup.
How is a recipe's cuisine decided?
By its tag: this page lists every recipe tagged "turkish". A recipe can belong to more than one cuisine.