All recipes

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ŞalgamFermented purple carrot drink

Order an Adana kebab in its home city and a tall glass of şalgam arrives with it, deep purple, salty, sour and often fiery. It is made by fermenting black carrots with a little bulgur and salt for a week or more, and the sharpness clears the palate between bites of lamb and grilled onion. Street carts in Adana sell it by the glass in summer. This home version skips the separate bulgur-sour-dough stage the big producers use. Use non-iodised salt: iodised salt can stall the ferment. Chef's tip: taste from day 5; when it is sour enough to make you blink, strain and chill it, because it keeps fermenting at room temperature.

20 min

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MırraBitter cardamom coffee

In the courtyard houses of Mardin and the guest rooms of Şanlıurfa, mırra is poured from a long-spouted pot into tiny handleless cups, just a mouthful each, as a sign of welcome. It is made by boiling dark-roasted coffee for a long time until it becomes thick, bitter and concentrated, then boiling it again and again. Tradition says you never put the cup down empty unless you mean to marry the host's family, so hand it back with a small shake. It is never sweetened: serve it with dates or a sweet. Common mistake: using finely ground Turkish coffee; it turns muddy, so use medium-ground dark roast. Chef's tip: the second boil is where the flavour comes from, so don't rush it.

65 min

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ŞambaliSemolina yoghurt cake in syrup

Walk through İzmir's Kemeraltı bazaar and you'll see huge copper trays of şambali, cut into diamonds, each topped with a blanched almond and glistening with syrup. It is a dense, moist semolina cake made with yoghurt, sold by street vendors and old pastry shops, sometimes with a spoon of kaymak on top. Plainer than it looks and dangerously easy to eat. Chef's tip: rest the batter for a few hours, or overnight, so the semolina softens fully; otherwise the cake is gritty.

55 min

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Sardalya sarmaSardines grilled in vine leaves

In Ayvalık and on Cunda island, early autumn sardines are wrapped in salted vine leaves and grilled over charcoal, a trick that keeps the oily little fish moist and lets the leaves char and crackle. You peel back the leaf, or eat it too, and finish each with lemon and a drop of olive oil. Serve with a tomato and onion salad and bread. Chef's tip: rinse brined vine leaves well; they already carry salt, so the sardines need only a pinch.

28 min

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ŞekerpareSemolina almond cookies in syrup

Şekerpare is the cookie that every Turkish household bakes for bayram visits, when trays are passed to relatives and neighbours along with coffee and cologne for the hands. Soft, buttery rounds of semolina dough are each topped with an almond, baked until golden and then soaked in syrup until they are tender all the way through but still hold their shape. They keep for days and taste better on the second. Common mistake: cold syrup on cold cookies, which never soaks in; one of them must be hot. Chef's tip: bake until the bases are properly golden; pale cookies turn mushy when they meet the syrup.

50 min

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Türk kahvesiTurkish coffee

A cup of Türk kahvesi is how Turks welcome guests, end a long meal and, in the old custom, test a suitor: the prospective bride makes his cup and may slip salt into it. Powder-fine coffee is brewed slowly with cold water and sugar to taste in a small long-handled pot (cezve), until a thick foam rises, then poured unfiltered so the grounds settle in the cup. Serve with a glass of water first and a piece of lokum. Order it sade (plain), orta (medium) or şekerli (sweet) and add the sugar before brewing, never after. The usual mistake is letting it boil, which collapses the foam and makes it bitter. Chef's tip: use cold water and a low heat; the slower it rises, the thicker the foam.

7 min

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BoyozFlaky layered breakfast pastry

İzmir mornings begin at a boyoz stand in Alsancak or Kemeraltı: a small round pastry of paper-thin, oil-stretched dough, coiled into a snail and baked until the layers shatter, eaten beside a halved hard-boiled egg and a glass of tea. Sephardic Jews brought it to the city centuries ago, and İzmir has guarded it ever since. The dough itself is plain; the magic is in the long rest in oil and the stretching. Chef's tip: let the dough balls sit submerged in oil for a full two hours; they relax so completely that you can stretch them almost transparent without tearing.

65 min

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Balık ekmekGrilled mackerel sandwich

At Eminönü, by the Galata Bridge, boats rocking at the quay grill mackerel fillets over charcoal and pass them up in half a loaf with raw onion, lettuce and a squeeze of lemon; you eat it on a low stool with a cup of pickle juice. It is the simplest fish sandwich imaginable and depends entirely on fresh, oily fish and a hot pan. Serve with turşu (pickles) and a salgam or ayran. Chef's tip: grill the fillets skin side down for most of the cooking time; the skin crisps and protects the soft flesh so it doesn't stick and tear.

20 min

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Biber salçasıRed pepper paste

Late every summer, rooftops in Gaziantep, Kilis and Hatay turn red with trays of puréed peppers drying in the sun, and families fill jars that will season soups, köfte, bulgur and lahmacun through the winter. This oven method makes a smaller batch with the same deep, sweet and slightly smoky flavour; use some hot peppers if you like it acı (spicy). Store it under a film of oil in the fridge. The common mistake is a too-hot oven: the edges scorch and turn bitter before the middle thickens. Chef's tip: stir every 20 minutes and scrape the dried rim back in; the paste is ready when a spoon drawn through it leaves a clean trench.

240 min

Turkish Basics

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Hamsi tavaFried anchovies

When the first winter storms push shoals of anchovy along the coast, fish markets from Samsun to Hopa are heaped with silver hamsi and the whole region seems to smell of frying. Hamsi tava is the simplest way to eat them: heads off, butterflied, dusted in cornmeal and laid in a hot pan in a neat circle, then flipped like a cake. They come out crisp outside and soft and sweet within, with red onion, rocket, lemon and cornbread alongside. Common mistake: crowding the pan, which steams the fish and leaves the coating soggy. Cook until the flesh is opaque and flakes from the backbone. Chef's tip: shake off every bit of loose cornmeal; a thin coat is what stays crunchy.

30 min

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Hamsili pilavAnchovy-wrapped rice bake

Hamsili pilav is the showpiece of a Trabzon or Rize winter table: a dome of rice cooked with currants, pine nuts, allspice and dill, packed into a tin lined with butterflied anchovies, more fish laid over the top, and baked until the skins turn crisp. Turned out and cut like a cake, it shows silver fish outside and fragrant rice within, and families make it for guests and New Year gatherings. Serve with a sharp salad and lemon. Common mistake: fully cooking the rice before baking, which turns it mushy; it should still have a bite when it goes into the tin. Bake until the fish is opaque and flakes. Chef's tip: lay the anchovies skin side down against the tin, overlapping like roof tiles, so no rice escapes.

100 min

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Kalamar tavaFried squid with walnut sauce

On the waterfront in Bodrum and in every Aegean fish meyhane, a plate of kalamar tava arrives hot among the cold meze: tender rings of squid in a light, crisp coat, with a bowl of tarator, a thick sauce of walnuts, bread, garlic and lemon, for dipping. The trick is speed; squid is tender after a minute or two in the oil and rubbery after five. Chef's tip: soak the rings in milk or fizzy mineral water for half an hour in the fridge; it tenderises them and helps the coating cling.

50 min

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Karışık turşuMixed vegetable pickle

Every autumn Turkish kitchens line up jars of karışık turşu, and in Istanbul pickle shops (turşucu) sell it by the glass with its sour juice to drink. Crunchy cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, green peppers and cauliflower are packed with garlic and chickpeas in a salted, vinegar-spiked brine and left to sour for a couple of weeks. It sits beside bean stews, pilaf and kebab at almost every home meal. Common mistake: iodised table salt, which clouds the brine and softens the vegetables; use rock or pickling salt. Chef's tip: a few dried chickpeas in the jar help the fermentation get going, as Turkish grandmothers swear.

35 min

Turkish Basics

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KeteToasted flour butter rolls

Bakeries in Erzurum and Kars sell kete by the dozen for breakfast and long bus journeys: soft yeasted rolls coiled around a filling of flour toasted in butter until it smells of biscuits. Inside, the layers turn flaky and tender, and the crust is glazed with egg and sesame. They are eaten with strong tea, white cheese and olives, and keep well for a few days. Common mistake: under-toasting the flour for the filling; it should go a pale sandy gold and smell nutty, or the centre tastes raw. Chef's tip: roll the dough thin before spreading the filling and coiling it; thin layers bake into the flaky swirl that makes kete special.

70 min

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Levrek buğulamaSteamed sea bass with tomatoes

Buğulama means 'steamed', and in the fish restaurants of Urla and Foça it is how gentle white fish like sea bass are cooked when the cook wants them to taste of themselves: laid over onions, tomatoes and peppers, covered and left to steam in their own juices with a little lemon and bay. The result is soft, moist fish in a light, fragrant broth to mop up with bread. Serve with a green salad and boiled potatoes. Chef's tip: keep the heat low once the lid goes on; the fish should barely tremble, not boil.

40 min

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Midye dolmaRice-stuffed mussels

Late at night along Istanbul's Beşiktaş and Kadıköy streets, vendors walk with trays of shiny black mussels stuffed with fragrant rice, cracking one open, squeezing lemon on it and handing it over until you say stop. The rice is cooked with onion, tomato paste, cinnamon, allspice, currants and pine nuts, then steamed back inside the shells. Make them at home for a meze table and they are safer and fresher than any street tray. Chef's tip: soak the closed mussels in cold salted water first; the shells relax slightly and are much easier to prise open with a small knife.

105 min

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AyranSalted yogurt drink

Ayran is what Turks drink with lunch: a chilled, foamy blend of yogurt, water and a pinch of salt, poured from copper jugs alongside cheese pide, börek, lentil soup and bean stews. In the Susurluk area of Balıkesir it is whisked so hard that it arrives under a thick head of foam, and roadside cafés all over Anatolia serve it in tin cups on hot summer days. It is tangy, refreshing and cooling with spicy food. Make it just before you sit down and drink it ice-cold. Chef's tip: whisk the yogurt alone with the salt until smooth before adding any water, and you'll get a silky drink with no lumps.

5 min

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Turkish tea (çay)Strong black tea

Nowhere in Turkey is far from a glass of çay. Tea from the slopes of Rize on the Black Sea coast is brewed in a stacked double teapot, the çaydanlık, and poured into small tulip-shaped glasses all day long: at breakfast with simit and cheese, in shops when you haggle, after every meal. The strong brew sits in the top pot and each glass is diluted to taste with hot water from the bottom, so one person drinks it dark (koyu) and another light (açık). It should be clear, the colour of a ruby or rabbit's blood (tavşan kanı), never cloudy. Serve it with sugar cubes on the side, not milk. Chef's tip: steam the dry leaves in the top pot for a few minutes before adding any water; the warm leaves open up and give a rounder, deeper colour.

17 min

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RevaniSemolina cake in lemon syrup

Revani is the syrup cake you meet in Turkish pastry shops and on home tea tables, especially at bayram visits, when trays of it are cut into diamonds and handed round with çay. Unlike a dense eggless semolina bake, it is a light, airy sponge of whisked eggs, semolina and a little flour, which drinks in cold lemon syrup straight from the oven until it is moist right through yet still holds a clean cut. It sweetens with sugar syrup rather than icing and is often finished with desiccated coconut or crushed pistachios. Serve it at room temperature or chilled, with tea or a spoon of kaymak or thick cream. Chef's tip: pour cool syrup over the hot cake (or hot over cool), never hot on hot; that contrast lets the sponge soak up syrup without collapsing into mush.

60 min

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Kuru fasulyeWhite bean stew

Kuru fasulye is close to a national dish in Turkey: a pot of white beans stewed in a red, paprika-scented sauce, eaten with rice pilaf, pickles (turşu) and raw onion at home and in the bean restaurants of Istanbul's Süleymaniye district. Many versions start with lamb or sucuk; this one leans on good olive oil, sweet and hot pepper paste and slow cooking, so the beans become creamy inside and the sauce silky and rich. It is a winter Friday-night staple for lots of families and tastes even better reheated the next day. Serve with domatesli bulgur pilavı or plain rice, a wedge of onion and crusty bread. Chef's tip: add the salt only once the beans are almost tender; salting at the start keeps the skins tough however long you cook them.

90 min

Turkish Curries

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SimitSesame bread rings

Stacked high on wooden trays and pushed through Istanbul on red carts, simit is the city's breakfast on the move: commuters tear one apart on the ferry across the Bosphorus, throwing the odd piece to the gulls. The ring is twisted, dipped in diluted grape molasses (pekmez) and pressed into sesame, so it bakes up with a crackly, nutty, deep brown crust and a chewy, close crumb. Unlike a bagel it is never boiled. At home, serve warm with tea, white cheese, olives and tomatoes. Chef's tip: toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan before coating; raw seeds stay pale and taste of very little.

120 min

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Su böreğiLayered boiled pastry with cheese

Of all Turkish böreks, su böreği is the one cooks are proudest of. Thin sheets of egg dough are boiled for a moment, then layered with butter and white cheese and baked until the top is crisp and the inside is soft and almost silky, a little like a cheesy lasagne made of pastry. Bakeries in Istanbul and Ankara sell it by weight from huge trays in the morning, and at home it appears at holidays and when guests are expected. It takes time and patience but nothing is difficult. Make it the day before and reheat it. Chef's tip: have a big bowl of iced water ready next to the pan; plunging each sheet straight into it stops it cooking and keeps the layers from sticking together.

115 min