This week’s sponsored post brings us more tantalizing Turkish fare as we dig deeper into Turkey’s culinary world. From aromatic spices to tender meat kebabs to bizarre eats, Turkish foods have gained quite a reputation for themselves and it’s easy to see why, when you’re reveling in its sprawling markets and street bazaars. We’ve taken a look at where to find authentic Turkish food, now let’s check out these quintessential dishes that make up Turkey’s vibrant gastronomy.
The varied and delicious cuisine of Turkey is a major draw for tourists from all over the world. Thanks to the richness of Turkey’s cultural heritage, including Ottoman, Balkan and Turkic influences, a huge variety of exciting dishes are available for travelers to sample.
Cheap flights to Turkey are readily available at the moment, and food prices there are also very reasonable, making it the perfect destination for a culinary adventure on a budget! Below are classic Turkish dishes that are well worth the trip:
Mezes
Turkish Mezes, or appetizers, are a good way to get the taste buds firing, and restaurants will serve a huge variety of hot and cold small dishes.
Cold Mezes include stuffed vine leaves, aubergine salad and stuffed mussels. Vine leaves have got vegetable mash wrapped within them, giving a succulent flavor when eaten together.
Hot Mezes will usually involve borek – delicious flaky pastry stuffed with meat, spinach or cheese. The nationally celebrated dish is eaten through out the day, and can be found everywhere – from simple pastry shops to fine-dining restaurants.
Main Dishes
Main courses in Turkey often involve meat kebabs, with sauces and flavorings varying according to the region. Casseroles and goulash dishes are also popular. There is a myriad of meat dishes to choose from, most of them are eaten with pilau rice and a cucumber-tomato-onion salad.
Fish is also a common main course option, and you will find extremely fresh swordfish, turbot, lobster and many other varieties on offer. Popular cafes in Turkey will also serve homely stews known as ‘ev yemek’.
Lahmacun, or Turkish Pizza, is a tasty and cheap lunchtime option. Barbecued bread is spread with minced lamb, coriander and other flavorings, then rolled with salad and lemon juice for a mouth-watering snack.
Desserts
Seasonal fruits form the core of Turkish desserts, including almonds, plums, strawberries, cherries, melons and more, depending on the time of year. There are plenty of dessert options in Turkey, ranging from baklavas to sweets.
Tulumba is a tasty fried dough dessert, served here with buffalo cream (‘Kaymak’) and pistachio powder.
Delicious Baklava desserts come in many shapes, but all involve flaky pastry sweetened with syrup or honey. The cakes are flavored with nuts and fruit and are sometimes served with cream and pistachios.
Asure is a rich pudding which forms part of the history of the area. Legend has it the dish was created by Noah’s wife to celebrate the Ark coming to rest on Mount Ararat (in Turkey). The dish can contain up to forty ingredients, signifying everything that was left in the Ark’s kitchens!
Photo credit: Flickr images 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Information Source: Turizm
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YUM! You have my mouth watering! I grew to love Turkish food when I was living in Istanbul last year and was lucky enough to have an old Turkish "nanny" to teach me how to cook. Here's one of her recipes that I posted on my blog: http://connvoyage.blogspot.com/2009/05/cooking-wi…
But I'm disappointed that you didn't mention my all-time favorite Turkish dish, manti. It's basically stuffed ravioli with yogurt sauce. Delicious!
Manti! Yes, I had the ravioli with yogurt sauce, but it wasn\’t exactly my cup of tea. :X Next time I\’ll include it in!
I love manti, kefta, borek, imam bayaldi (?) and all sorts of Turkish food. We have a Middle Eastern market near our house where I can get authentic Turkish foodstuffs like dried apricots, sumac, etc. Great post!
Lucky you, a Middle Eastern near you! I\’m not big on cooking, so I\’m just happy to have lots of Turkish and Moroccan restaurants here in town.
I’ve had delicious Turkish main courses, but I still need to find some Turkish pizza! They look incredible!
Oh yeh I had some at the entrance of the Spice Bazaar and they were outrageous!
Turkish pizza looks like so much fun. But I still can’t get over the amount of species on the first picture.