Turkish Pilaki - Delicious bean starters and side dish

Pilaki, a kind of Turkish starter or side dish (known in Turkey as meze) is usually cooked in thick sauce made mainly with olive oil, carrots, potatoes, garlic, tomatoes, green peppers, and onions.

Pilaki dishes made with white beans (fasulye pilaki) and borlotti beans (barbunya pilaki) are the most commonly cooked in Turkish kitchens.  Pilaki dishes may be served warm or cold - depending on individual preferences and are usually garnished with parsley or drizzled with fresh lemon juice.

Hamsi Tava

Pan-fried anchovies, also known as hamsi tava in Turkish is just one of the many delicious ways that anchovies are being prepared and cooked in Turkey.  Hence, it's also the most popular and best enjoyed among the Turkish locals especially in Istanbul.

Bulgur Pilavi - Nutritious Bulgur Pilaf Recipe

Bulgur pilaf, also called bulgur pilavi in Turkish is a very nutritious pilaf made from wheat and is one of the many pilaf varieties in Turkish cuisine.  It is usually served with meat dishes such as kofte (meat balls), kebap (kebab), izgara (grilled meats) and casserole dishes. Usually, red tomatoes, onions, green peppers, olive oil, and other spices are usually added in making bulgur pilaf to make delicious and healthy side dish.

Barrels of Turkish olives.

Ispanakli börek for a healthy breakfast.

Come winter and every kind of freshly baked börek is a welcome sight in every Turkish breakfast table.  Obviously,  we are in the month of December where one can easily feel the winter chill not only in Istanbul but also in the other towns and cities as well as other regions of Turkey.  This also means, its time to have something deliciously hot in the kitchen table to snack on.  Yes, I mean cold winters would go well with steamy or sizzling hot foods.

Baklava, a world-renowned dessert of the Turkish Cuisine.

Baklava is not just any dessert.  It's almost like a symbol of the Turks' love for sweets.

This layered flaky delicacy is usually made of extremely thin sheets of pastry and brushed with melted butter. As the layers of thin pastry are stacked, it is then filled with either chopped pistachios (called antep fıstıklığı baklava in Turkish) or with chopped walnuts (cevizliği baklava) - also sometimes referred to as ev baklavası, meaning homemade baklava. Its then baked in the oven and soaked in warm lemony and sweet syrup.

Throughout the years, many variations of making baklava has been made. There are baklavas made with very thin phyllo sheets usually available in the markets so people can easily prepare baklava at home. Some baklavas are filled with hazelnuts or a combination of pistachios and walnuts and or filled with heavy cream.



No matter which way baklava is made or what it consist of, its mouth-watering sweetness and its gentle slight crunch to every bite has long become not just a favorite to the Turkish people but also a common favorite to most of the tourists visiting Turkey.

In Turkey, the city of Gaziantep is popularly known to be the native home of baklava. This is where the Turkish patent office registered a geographical indication certificate for Antep Baklava in 2008.