The national cuisine of Turkey is very versatile and original. Its formation was influenced by the fact that Turks, Armenians, Persians, Greeks, Assyrians and many other peoples lived on the territory of this country, each of which left its unique mark in the culinary history of the state. The list of national dishes of Turkey includes such popular delicacies as pilaf, kebab and baklava. You will find their recipes in today's article.
The main nuances
Indigenous Turks turn every meal into a kind of ritual. All meals are served in a specific sequence. Any meal begins with snacks, which include stuffed vegetables, olives and various pickles. After them, soups, fish or meat dishes and dessert appear on the table.
Vegetables are often used for cooking. Eggplants are especially popular. They are served marinated, stuffed, baked, stewed, steamed or fried. Also, the local population loves tomatoes. Tomatoes are generously added not only to side dishes, but also to various sauces.
In Turkey, meat is very appreciated. It is used in any form, but most often it is cooked on the grill or fried in a pan. A special place in the national cuisine of this state is milk. It is based on delicious cheeses, delicious desserts and incredibly healthy yogurts.
Turkish eggs
This interesting dish remotely resembles a traditional omelet. It has an extraordinary taste and is ideal for a family breakfast. Before preparing one of the many Turkish national dishes, check in advance if you have everything you need in your kitchen. In this case, you will need:
- 8 chicken eggs.
- 100 grams of butter.
- 100 milliliters of broth.
- 150 grams of chicken liver.
- A couple of tomatoes.
- Salt and spices.
Washed and dried chicken liver is fried in butter. As soon as it gets a golden hue, it is poured with broth, pre-mixed with chopped tomatoes. Beat salted eggs are added there. The future omelet is baked in the oven at standard temperature. Before serving, you can pour the finished dish in tomato sauce.
Lentil soup
This is one of the most popular Turkish national dishes. It is prepared from simple budget ingredients sold in any supermarket. To pamper your family with such a soup, stock up on everything you need in advance. This time you will need:
- 3 liters of drinking water.
- A couple of tablespoons of tomato paste.
- 1.5 cup red lentils.
- A tablespoon of flour and ground paprika.
- Salt, aromatic spices and vegetable oil.
The washed lentils are poured with cold water and sent to the stove. As soon as the liquid boils, the foam that has appeared is removed from its surface and left to boil over minimal heat.
Pour a little vegetable oil into a separate saucepan, heat it and fry wheat flour there. After a few minutes, tomato paste, some water, basil and oregano are added there. All mix well and leave on the stove. After a couple of minutes, they add a little more water there and send the resulting frying to a pan with lentils. All this is salted, seasoned with mint and almost immediately removed from the burner. Finished soup is ground through a sieve and poured into plates. A little lemon juice is squeezed into each serving.
Baklava
This dessert is very popular not only among the local population, but also among many tourists. Like all other recipes of Turkish national dishes, this option requires a certain set of components. Therefore, before you start working with the test, check whether you have at hand:
- 250 grams of butter.
- Egg.
- 300 grams of powdered sugar.
- A pound of wheat flour.
- 200 milliliters of milk.
- Cinnamon, salt and walnuts.
- A glass of water and sugar.
- A tablespoon of honey.
Like many other national Turkish dishes, photos of which can be seen in today's publication, baklava is prepared using the simplest technology possible. In a bowl filled with sifted wheat flour, a pinch of salt, melted butter and warmed milk are added alternately. All is well kneaded until a sufficiently steep but at the same time elastic mass is obtained. The finished dough is placed in a plastic bag and left for half an hour.
In the meantime, you can do the rest of the products. Chop nuts with a meat grinder and combine with cinnamon and icing sugar. The present dough is divided into twelve approximately the same balls. Each of them is rolled out in a thin layer, greased with butter, sprinkled with nut filling and twisted with a roll, tucking the edges inward. The resulting workpieces are laid out on a baking sheet. Their surface is smeared with yolk. Products are baked at two hundred degrees for about a quarter of an hour. Then the temperature is reduced to 160 0 C. The baklava is smeared with butter and returned to the oven. Fifty minutes later, it was transferred to a deep bowl, poured with a syrup consisting of water, sugar and honey, and left for six hours.
Pilaf
This is one of the simplest and most satisfying Turkish national dishes. It is prepared from inexpensive and readily available ingredients. To create it, you will need:
- 700 grams of chicken.
- 1.5 cups of long rice.
- A pair of tablespoons of pine nuts.
- A pound of tomatoes.
- 3 tablespoons of butter.
- Onion.
- A handful of parsley, basil and dried cranberries.
- Salt and spices.
In a thick-bottomed skillet, in which there is already butter, lay the washed and dried chicken. As soon as it is browned, half the onion rings are added to it and continue to fry. A few minutes later there are sent pine nuts and rubbed through a sieve tomatoes. Almost immediately, washed cranberries, chopped greens and rice are placed in the pan. All this is filled with water, covered with a lid and cooked until the liquid is completely absorbed. Before serving, pilaf is decorated with basil.
Kebab
This is one of the many culinary masterpieces that Turkish cuisine is famous for. National dishes of this country are known far beyond its borders. Therefore, to try kebab, it is not necessary to go to Turkey. You can cook it in your own kitchen. For this you will need:
- A kilo of low-fat mutton.
- 100 grams of bell pepper.
- 200 g fat tail fat.
- 25 grams of wheat flour.
- 75 g of garlic.
- 100 grams of parsley.
- 150 g of tomatoes.
- 0.25 kg of onions.
Flour is soaked in a small volume of hot water and squeezed. Lamb, pepper and fat tail fat are ground in a meat grinder and sent to the refrigerator. After an hour, the minced meat is salted, seasoned with spices and carefully strung on skewers. Fry kebab on smoldering coals, not forgetting to periodically turn it over. Serve it in a sauce made from chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic and parsley.
Turkish coffee
This aromatic invigorating drink leaves a pleasant aftertaste. It is prepared according to several different recipes (photos of Turkish national dishes can be found in the process of reading this article). To make real strong coffee, you will need:
- A couple teaspoons of sugar.
- Ground coffee.
- A teaspoon of cinnamon and vanilla.
- Cardamom pod.
- Cloves.
- 200 milliliters of water.
Ground coffee is poured into a preheated cezve. Cold water is poured there and the dish is placed on the stove. The drink is kept on low heat for half an hour, not allowing it to boil. In the process of cooking sugar, spices and spices are added to the cezve. Ready coffee is poured into cups and served to the table.
Revani
This delicious dessert also belongs to Turkish national dishes. It is a delicate cake soaked in lemon syrup. To prepare it you will need:
- 3 eggs.
- A glass of flour, semolina and sugar.
- 200 milliliters of vegetable oil and yogurt.
- Bag of baking powder.
In order to cook the syrup, prepare in advance:
- 3 glasses of water.
- Juice of half a lemon.
- 3 cups of sugar.
The eggs are combined with yogurt and sugar, and then beat, gradually adding semolina, flour, baking powder and vegetable oil. The finished dough is poured into a mold with high sides and sent to the oven. Bake dessert at one hundred and fifty degrees for at least forty minutes. The cooled pie is cut into portions and poured with hot syrup, consisting of water, sugar and lemon juice.
Istanbul eggplant
This savory snack also belongs to the national dishes of Turkish cuisine. It is prepared so simply that even a novice cook will make it without any problems. The composition includes:
- 3 large eggplant.
- The middle head of onion.
- 3 fresh tomatoes.
- Medium carrot.
- 150 grams of celery root.
- Sweet bell pepper.
- Clove of garlic.
- A bunch of parsley.
- A pinch of ground dried thyme.
- Salt, spices and vegetable oil.
Eggplant is cut lengthwise and soaked in cold salt water. After half an hour, they are washed, dried and fried on the inside with vegetable oil. The browned flesh is separated from the skin and crushed.
Peeled carrots and celery are boiled until half cooked and cut into small cubes. Pepper is baked in the oven, separated from the peel and seed and chopped. All this is combined in one vessel. Fried onions, chopped tomatoes, salt, aromatic herbs and chopped garlic are added there. The resulting mass is laid out in eggplant boats and baked at standard temperature.