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Kalamar tava is a traditional Turkish dish that's usually served as a meze. The dish consists of cleaned squid that's cut into thick rings, soaked in milk, then dipped in a batter of flour, baking soda, and salt before it's fried in hot oil. The squid rings can be flavored with herbs or pepper flakes, if desired.
Once fried, the rings are typically served with a Turkish tartar-like sauce on the side for dipping, along with a few lemon wedges.
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Cantık pidesi is a traditional Turkish flatbread from Bursa. The dough for cantık pidesi is similar to other pide doughs, made from flour, water, yeast, and salt, but what sets it apart is the filling and the method of preparation.
The traditional filling for Bursa cantık pidesi includes minced meat (often beef or lamb), onions, tomatoes, green peppers, and spices such as paprika and black pepper. This mixture is spread onto the rolled-out dough, which is then folded over to encase the filling, sometimes in a half-moon shape or other times leaving a portion of the filling exposed.
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Kokoreç is a traditional Turkish dish that's also popular in other countries, especially in Greece, where it's known as kokoretsi. However, there are some differences between the Turkish and Greek versions. In Greek cuisine, people use lamb offal such as lungs, kidneys, hearts, and liver, and in Türkiye, they use small and large intestine and sweetbreads without any additional ingredients.
For the Turkish version, kokoreç, the ingredients are rinsed and cleaned, then wrapped onto iron skewers to be grilled over charcoal. Once done, the dish is usually served with bread or tucked inside the bread with various spices such as oregano, cumin, and chili flakes.
MOST ICONIC Kokoreç
View moreOriginating from Türkiye’s Aegean region, çöp şis is a kebab variety which, in modern Turkish, could be translated as trash shish or garbage shish. Despite the indecent connotations, this delicious dish is made with roasted lamb scraps and fat, the leftovers from trimming the meat for the classic shish kebab.
The meat is traditionally flavored with garlic and tomatoes, marinated in a combination of olive oil, oregano, and black pepper, then placed on split wood skewers and quickly roasted. And that translated name mentioned earlier, garbage shish, is believed to refer either to the small wooden skewers or the fact that the dish is made with scraps and leftovers.
MOST ICONIC Çöp şiş
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Paçanga böreği is a Turkish börek variety that's especially popular in the region of Anatolia and in Istanbul, where it's regarded as a traditional Sephardic Jewish specialty of the city. It's made by stuffing yufka or phyllo pastry with pastirma (salted, aged, dried beef) and kasar cheese.
Apart from the basic ingredients, some people also like to add peppers and tomatoes to the filling. The dough is rolled, cut into rectangles, then fried. This börek can also be baked, but frying is the traditional method. Paçanga böreği is served hot and it's typically eaten as an appetizer.
MAIN INGREDIENTS
This internationally popular, beige-colored spread is traditionally made with mashed chickpeas, tahini sesame paste, lemon juice, and garlic. People across the world love hummus for its tangy flavor and the fact that it is filled with nutrients.
When served, it is typically dressed with a drizzle of olive oil, and is then used as a dip for vegetables or a flavorful filling for flatbreads such as pita. Even today, not much is known about its origins, although the earliest mention of hummus dates back to 13th-century Egypt.
VARIATIONS OF Hummus
Haydari is a Turkish meze dip that is usually made with thickened yogurt, garlic, and fresh herbs such as dill, paprika, mint, and basil. The dip has a thick texture and a tangy flavor. It is recommended to serve it chilled with pita bread, vegetables, or meat kebabs.
Pane e olio is an Italian phrase meaning bread and oil, referring to a simple yet classic Italian dish that highlights the quality of its basic ingredients: bread and olive oil. Traditional Italian bread such as ciabatta, focaccia, or a rustic country loaf is typically used, while extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is the oil of choice due to its superior flavor and health benefits.
High-quality, cold-pressed olive oil from regions like Tuscany or Puglia is ideal. The bread is usually sliced and may be served fresh or lightly toasted, with toasting enhancing its texture and providing a warm base for the olive oil. The olive oil is typically poured into a small dish or bowl for dipping, though some variations may include a drizzle of olive oil directly on the bread slices.
Kısır is a classic Turkish salad made with thin bulgur wheat, tomatoes, mint, garlic, parsley, and either lemon juice or sour pomegranate molasses. Red pepper flakes are often added to the salad to make it spicier. Lemon juice is typically used in northwestern Türkiye, while pomegranate molasses is more commonly used in the southeast of the country.
The salad is ideal for buffets and meze, but it is also often used as a side dish for a variety of barbecued meat dishes. It is traditionally served cold or at room temperature.
Çiğ köfte is the Turkish version of steak tartare, traditionally made with high-quality ground raw beef (or lamb) that is combined with tomatoes, onions, garlic, pepper, and a selection of Turkish spices. The dish is consumed as a meze, and it is typically served almost cold.
Nowadays, due to food safety regulations and health concerns, the meat is almost always replaced with bulgur and ground walnuts, but these vegetarian versions are so good that people mostly can’t tell them from the real thing.
MOST ICONIC Çiğ köfte
View moreTasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “Top 28 Turkish Appetizers” list until December 15, 2024, 5,909 ratings were recorded, of which 2,900 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.