Recipes

For years that I lived in Turkey, simit was my everyday breakfast when I was running to school or to work. Street vendors sell it in every corner of the cities or they walk through street by yelling “simiiiiit, sicak taze simiiit, gevrek simiit” meaning freshly baked,...

Legumes are a staple in Turkish cuisine; lentils, chickpeas, all kind of dried beans are on everyday menus for home cooks to feed their families well even with a tight budget. They are a significant source of protein, fiber and more, and they are delicious! Legumes...

Did you know that I use about 40kg (90lb) yogurt per week in two restaurants? Yogurt is a Turkish word! It’s one of the rare contributions of Turkish language to the world. Yogurt is quintessential food in my life as in millions of Turkish people! In Turkey, natural...

Two years ago, my husband, my daughter and I traveled to the southeast of Turkey! This region is the birthplace of kebabs (heaven for carnivores) and flat breads, capital of pistachio, baklava, pomegranate and apricot. I wanted to write about this trip for a while and...

I cook lamb almost everyday in my restaurants. We receive the whole lamb and do our butchering. For me, it’s the normal and natural way to do it because I grew up watching or helping my mother butchering a lamb or chicken slaughtered by my father in our yard (no, it...

I admit it; I’m a cake lover. Luckily, I’m not a pâtissière, because I would eat a whole cake everyday! But not those made out of “mousse”. I’m quite traditional when it comes to the cakes. At this point, I don’t even care if there is any frosting or cream on it, I...

What is a “börek”? Everybody asks me this question whenever we have it on the menu. So I decided to write about it and make a recipe. I know that will make my husband happy too. I think Turkish men are made out of dough. They love everything made with flour; they eat...

Who doesn’t love pomegranate? The juicy, tangy, sweet seeds are addictive. It can be challenging to open and to seed them if you’re not familiar with the technique, but the result is definitely worth the effort. I don’t even remember how and when I learned to open...

We call this kaşık salata, which means spoon salad in Turkish. It’s more of a salsa than salad and it’s eaten with a spoon! The difference is that ingredients are chopped more coarsely in kaşık salata, and it has more texture and crunchiness than salsa. Chopped tomato...

It’s been a while I wasn’t here because of long hours of restaurant life. When I started to have a little time at home for few mornings a week, I came right back to give more love to my blog. I wanted to post Muhammara recipe since quite a while, because, it’s the...