Turkish recipes for home cooks
Home versions of the dishes you will meet all over Istanbul, written for regular kitchens with US measurements. If you want the easiest wins first, start with menemen, red lentil soup, and şakşuka.
Soups
Soup opens most Turkish meals, and Istanbul has whole shops that serve nothing else. If you learn one, learn red lentil.
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Turkish red lentil soup smooth, gently spiced, the everyday default -
Ezogelin soup the heartier cousin of lentil soup -
Tarhana soup built on a fermented yogurt and grain base -
Turkish tomato soup the Turkish take on a bowl you already know -
Chicken and vermicelli soup light, brothy, the sick-day standard -
Ayran aşı soup a cold yogurt soup for hot weather -
Tripe soup (işkembe çorbası) the late-night bowl, finished with garlic vinegar
Meat mains
The center-of-the-table dishes, mostly lamb and beef, plus one swordfish skewer that earns its spot here.
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Lahmacun thin flatbread with a spiced meat topping -
Stuffed peppers with meat (dolma) peppers filled with a meat and rice stuffing -
Lamb with white beans (etli kuru fasulye) slow-simmered, the great Turkish lunch dish -
Pasha's kofta (Hasan Paşa köftesi) meatballs baked under mashed potato -
Hünkar beğendi braised meat over smoky eggplant purée -
Char-grilled swordfish shish kebab the one fish on this list, straight off a skewer
Vegetable and olive-oil dishes
The zeytinyağlı tradition: vegetables cooked in olive oil, served cool.
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Şakşuka fried eggplant in garlicky tomato sauce -
Fried eggplant and green peppers summer frying, with a yogurt-garlic sauce -
Okra with olive oil a classic zeytinyağlı, served cool -
Stuffed dried eggplant sun-dried shells, refilled and simmered -
Stuffed zucchini flowers fiddly, seasonal, worth it -
Hot ezme salad the spicy chopped salad from kebab houses -
Muhammara a red pepper and walnut dip -
Radish salad (turp salatası) sharp and crunchy, good next to fish -
Onion relish (soğan piyazı) the onion pile that belongs beside kebab -
Turkish pickles (turşu) brine your own jar at home -
Turkish rice (pilav) the buttery pilaf under every stew - Rice pilaf with chickpeas the street-cart pilav, home edition
Breakfast and breads
Two recipes that cover the morning table's two moods, the savory skillet and the sweet jar.
Desserts and drinks
Syrup, milk puddings, halva, the famously stretchy ice cream, and a cold cherry drink to wash it all down.
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Baklava layered, syruped, and doable at home -
Almond pudding (keşkül) a silky milk-and-almond pudding -
Chicken breast pudding (tavuk göğsü) yes, chicken, and yes, it works -
Semolina halva (irmik helvası) toasted, buttery pan halva -
Turkish ice cream (dondurma) the famously stretchy one -
Sour cherry drink (vişne) the ruby-red cooler sold across Turkey