I was back home, Istanbul, recently and as always it felt so good. As I get older, I find every opportunity to reconnect with my homeland is precious; seeing family and friends and soaking up the fascinating Istanbul.
Food of course, took the central stage and we gathered with family and friends over Turkish breakfast, sipping our Turkish coffee mid morning with my mother and my sister, and nice long dinners indulging in the delicious Turkish cuisine, especially the mezze feast.
I love our mezzes and I can just live on them for my dinner happily. Beautifully flavored with olive oil, lemon juice, spices, pomegranate molasses and nuts, they are not only delicious but very wholesome and easy to make. Below are some of my favorite mezzes; they are refreshing, delicious and you would be surprised to see how easy they are. I hope they inspire you to recreate some scrumptious mezzes at home.
Kisir is a specialty in the southeast of Turkey, from where the country’s spicier dishes hail. It is offered as a welcome to the guests in the homes of Antakya, where my roots are from, and in Gaziantep. Kisir is generally made with nar eksisi (sour pomegranate molasses) instead of lemon juice – though it is common to use lemon juice for Kisir at northwest Turkey. It can be rolled into balls and served nestling in crunchy lettuce leaves. This dish is perfect for buffets or as part of a barbecue spread. It really is a “bowl of health and goodness” with fresh vegetables, bulgur – packed with fiber and pomegranate sauce, full of antioxidants.
This wonderful, refreshing can be prepared a couple of days in advance and can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days. As a matter of fact, it tastes even better a day or two later it’s made! Here’s my Kisir recipe, hope you enjoy it.
This is a wonderful, refreshing salad from southern Turkey, Antakya, and one of my favorites, featuring Turkey’s beloved eggplant, aubergine or “patlican”. Traditionally, the eggplant here is cooked over an open fire, which gives a delicious, smoky flavor. This dish can be served as part of a “mezze” – appetizer- or can accompany grilled meats. The dried mint really adds a wonderful flavor to this salad, most refreshing.
This lovely, refreshing salad is very easy and quick to make and makes a wonderful appetizer, meze or a side dish served with grilled meats, poultry and pasta. At home in the restaurants, this salad is served as part of a meze spread with warm pita bread, lovely feta cheese, hummus and olives. This combination also makes a wonderful and healthy lunch alternative. Watercress can replace the lamb lettuce well.
Oruk, or (Sam Orugu as they are also referred) the baked oval bulgur balls with delicious ground meat and walnuts filling, is a very popular dish at my hometown, Antakya (Antioch). It is a very special mezze that turns up at my mother’s table at every festive event and family gatherings. Antakya’s Oruk is a version of the delicious Kibbeh, which is considered to be the national dish of Lebanon. If you are an oruk, icli kofte or kibbeh fan, I hope you would give it a go and make these delicious treats at home. Yes, it does take a bit of a time & effort, but it is totally worth it; a very rewarding, satisfying experience and makes any day special. The leftovers also freeze beautifully.
Bread, ekmek is a major staple in Turkish cuisine and appears generously at breakfast, lunch and dinner and no mezze is complete without flat breads. Pide bread, Turkish flat bread is easy to cook at home; this version of pide has a crispy crust but soft in texture, great to serve with mezzes. Here’s my Pide bread recipe, hope you enjoy it.
I do hope these delicious mezzes inspire you to enjoy with family and friends, Afiyet Olsun!
Merhaba and greetings from Turkey; it has been wonderful to be back home, catching up with family, friends and enjoying this fascinating land. I wanted to share with you some photos from our trip with a special highlight on Turkish street food and breakfast we have been enjoying. I hope it inspires and you can give it a go at this delici0us, wholesome recipes. I embraced Turkish breakfast as soon as we arrived Istanbul. Eggs done different ways, Simit, sesame encrusted bread rings, flavorful olives, Turkish white cheese, specialty white cheese with herbs, Van’s Otlu Peynir, ripe juicy sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and savory pastry are all a part of our wonderful Turkish breakfast. This plate is from the wonderful Van Kahvalti Evi in Cihangir, Istanbul. The herbed cheese, Otlu Peynir is a special favorite. Here’s some ideas for you to recreate your own Turkish breakfast.
I love Cihangir area in Istanbul and thanks to dear Senior Dogs Abroad, I made a visit to the Cukurcuma antique and flea market to wander amongst beautiful old, antique furnishings; plates, cutlery being a special focus, I fell in love with this wonderful, ancient door, how I wished to take it back home.
This heavenly tray of baklava was the next thing attracted my attention. The real thing is much lighter and flaky than its versions abroad, hope you can enjoy baklava in Turkey. You can also make baklava at home; here’s my home made baklava with walnuts recipe, hope you enjoy it.
We were lucky to enjoy a beautiful full moon by the Bosphorus. We celebrated dear Mehmet’s, my brother-in-law’s birthday over delicious Turkish mezzes.
And now back to Bodrum; my parents have a time share home here that we and children long to come back. Life evolves around simple pleasures; an early morning swim, followed by a leisurely, long Turkish breakfast. Dad and the children pick up the fresh produce – tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers from Gulsum Baci’s garden and we make a lovely Cokelek Salata; crumbled feta salad with tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, flavored with cumin and red pepper flakes. I am also in charge of making the Menemen; Turkish style scrambled eggs with tomato, onion, peppers and cheese. Sitting at the terrace, we all tuck in with flavorful, olives, more cheese and glasses of cay, Turkish tea to wash it all with the family – my idea of heaven, my favorite meal of the day.
Mid day snack would be either this delicious, national favorite pogaca; savory pastry with cheese and herbs or Turkish sesame encrusted bread rings, Simit; children and we all love them and they dissappear quickly. Simit and pogaca are both widely available at bakeries, street stalls and pastanes, patisseries in Turkey.
And then comes Midye Dolma; these delicious stuffed mussels with aromatic rice, pine nuts and currants are a delightful street food in Turkey. You can find them in street stalls or at vendors selling by the beach side. Ali Usta, our regular midye dolma vendor turns up every afternoon near our beach at Turgut Reis, Bodrum with delicious midye dolmas. All you need is a squeeze of lemon over them, delicious! I did make stuffed mussels at home, they turned out really well. Cleaning the mussels can be a bit of a labor of love but well worth all the effort, here is my Stuffed mussels with aromatic rice, Midye Dolma recipe, if you’d like to give it a go.
Turkish oval flat breads with various toppings, Pide, is another favorite street food in Turkey. Our favorite is Pide with cheese and vegetables as well as the Flat breads with ground meat and vegetable topping; Kiymali Pide. A favorite snack and street food both at the sea side and in the towns and cities.
Lahmacun, thin, small Turkish style pizza with ground meat, onions, tomato and parsley topping is also a hugely popular Turkish snack, street food. You can enjoy them at street vendors, kebab houses or lahmacun houses that would only sell this delicious treat. We would wrap lahmacun with slices of tomato, onions and parsley with a healthy squeeze of lemon juice over. Here’s my Lahmacun recipe if you’d like to make this delicious treat.
We Turks love these stuffed flat breads, gozleme. Turks were originated from Central Asia, where they drifted towards Anatolia gradually and made their home. They have been making these stuffed flat breads since then. Gozleme is a much loved Turkish street food and a special part of the delicious Turkish breakfast. These popular snacks are cooked quickly on a hot griddle and can be filled with various fillings. Some of my favorite fillings are mashed potatoes, cheese and parsley; spinach and cheese, and ground meat and onions. Here’s my Gozleme with spinach and cheese recipe, hope you enjoy it, afiyet olsun.
Have you ever tried the deliciously frothy Turkish coffee? It is one of the most popular traditional drinks at home in Turkey and I love the whole ritual, the experience of it. As it is so widely available it is a part of Turkish street food for me. In Turkish, we have a saying “Bir fincan kahvenin kirk yil hatiri vardir” which means “The memory of a good cup of Turkish coffee lasts 40 years”. Turkish coffee is a drink of friendship; you are offered this traditional, aromatic drink wherever you go in Turkey; when visiting friends and family, in the shops, while waiting in the bank, in hairdressers.. We take time to pause and enjoy this special drink with a friend or family or sometimes simply reflect with every precious sip. A glass of water and Turkish Delights, Lokum by the side complete the Turkish coffee ritual. I shared this special cup with my mother while in Bodrum, it was very memorable. Here’s how to make Turkish coffee properly and its rituals, hope you enjoy yours.
I hope this post inspires you to create delicious, wholesome Turkish treats and visit this fascinating land sometime.
We Turks love our koftes, Turkish homemade meatballs. A childhood favorite, they get ready in almost no time and the delicious aroma greets you as soon as you are in the kitchen.
I recently made these baked mini koftes, meatballs for a friend, who follows a gluten free diet. They were delicious and moist in pepper and tomato sauce, also healthy, as being baked. You can serve them as a mezze, starter or bigger portions can make a lovely main course over some rice, pasta and steamed vegetables aside. Cacik dip of cucumber and yoghurt would complement these mini koftes very well too.
We recently had these lovely mini meatballs over pasta. As a variation, I combined 150gr spinach leaves to the tomato and pepper sauce at the last 3 minutes of cooking the sauce. We served the finished Baked meatballs with vegetables over pasta, it was delicious.
This lovely meatballs in peppery sauce recipe and many others are included at my Turkish cookery book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table, Recipes from My Homeland, Signed hardback copies at this link, delivered worldwide.
If you live in the USA , Mexico and Canada, you can order a hardback copy with lower shipping rates here.
And what is almost just as embarrassing is the fact that I made this Mezze Party Platter in November, when my mom and brother requested something “Mediterranean or Middle Eastern” for our annual family Not-Thanksgiving Dinner (because I do Thanksgiving with James family these days). You might remember that the tradition started a year before, when I made a bunch of tropical island-inspired dishes like Jamaican Jerk Chicken Chili and Rum-Caramelized Banana Nut Crumble.
… when I suddenly throw my hands up in the air, almost toppling the table in the process, and shout, “I dont think I ever posted that Mezze Platter!” And I kid you not, every single person in that little restaurant stops eating and talking and looks at me as James is trying his best to steady the table and hold the water pitcher that was just wobbling back and forth.
My favorite thing about the platter is obviously that every single part of it tastes amazing. But my second favorite part is that it doesnt require that you serve anything warm– you can easily make everything 2 days in advance and just assemble the day of. You can also easily scale it up or down for different sized parties. Personally, I always make sure there will be plenty for leftovers because all of the components make for great meal prep lunches as well. Two birds with one stone, as they say.
Anyway. So were at the the Turkish place and were trying, with every ounce of self-control that we can muster, to pace ourselves with the pita as we wait for the cold appetizer platter to come out with all of the spreads and salads. And were talking about how we are so excited for the baba ghanoush (his favorite) and the hummus (my favorite), and we wish they served muhammara, because we havent had it since I made it that one time…
James suggested that we do a date-night dinner this past weekend at our favorite little Turkish hole-in-the-wall and I was all about it. Partially because I am absolutely obsessed with the food there– the creamy hummus, the crispy falafel, the warm pita bread, the butter-soft grilled meats, the syrupy baklava…
SEBZE, Vegetarian Recipes From My Turkish Kitchen On Pre-Order Worldwide
Subscribe to Ozlems Turkish Table and receive new blog posts by email. Leave this field empty if youre human: Or, grab the
Turkish Platter Fast Easy and Presentable Iftar Idea for Ramadan 2023 Recipe in Urdu Hindi – RKK
FAQ
What do you get in a Turkish meze?
What is a typical Turkish meal?
What is the difference between mezze and meze?
What is a Turkish meze platter?
The tradition of the Turkish meze platter is an essential part of Turkish culture. Turkish mezes are perfect for social gatherings and are designed to promote talking through their casual, shared eating. Meze, or Turkish tapas, are small quantities of food served at the start of a meal.
What to eat at a Turkish Mezze party?
There’s usually a variety of creamy Turkish dips, tasty fried treats, fresh salads, and lots of bread for scooping. Hosting a Turkish mezze party is as simple as making the mezedes recipes (most of which can be made in advance), setting them out on a big table, and pouring some glasses of wine.
What to eat at a Turkish restaurant?
Türk mezeleri (or Turkish meze) is shared among everyone at the table so make sure you don’t eat all of the delicious patlican şakşuka (eggplant, tomato, peppers, and onion dish) which happens to be one of my favorite mezes. They are put in the middle of the table and are typically served with bread of some sort.
What is a Turkish appetizer?
Around the world, you will find various appetizers unique to a certain group of people and culture. While sometimes you’ll find similar ones, they are often made from foods that are easily found in that environment and beloved by the local people. A meze, a Turkish appetizer, is no different.