Turkish Food Terms
Please be guided with some of the many Turkish food terms that are used in this blog. The English translations are provided below:
Please be guided with some of the many Turkish food terms that are used in this blog. The English translations are provided below:
- acılı ezme - a hot and spicy finely mashed tomato with onions and green herbs
- arnavut ciğeri - fried liver chopped into small bite sizes and served with onions and parsley
- aşure - a traditional dessert (also known as Noah’s pudding) which is made of wheat, dried and fresh fruits, nuts, sugar, and several other ingredients.
- ayran - a healthy beverage made of yogurt, cold water and salt.
- baklava - a popular dessert made with layers of very thin dough and pistachios or walnuts
- beyaz peynir - a salted white cheese.
- börek - filled pastries of different shapes and sizes that are either baked, fried, or grilled.
- cacık - a dish made of seasoned, diluted yogurt, salt, finely chopped cucumbers, crushed garlic, dill, mint, and olive oil.
- ciğ köfte - patties made with a mixture of finely ground bulgur, parsley, and raw ingredients such as ground beef or lamb meat and several spices then served with lemon.
- dolma - a stuffed vegetable dish (most commonly filled or stuffed are peppers, tomatoes, zucchini and eggplants.
- erişte - homemade pasta used in soups and vegetable dishes
- helva - a specially densed sweet confection usually made with flour, semolina, butter, and nuts
- künefe - a dessert made of thin shreds of pastry filled with semi-soft cheese served with hot sweet syrup and topped with clotted cream called kaymak
- kavurma - lamb cut into small cubes used in stews.
- kısır - a side dish made with finely-ground bulgur, tomato paste, onions, garlic, parsley, and other spices.
- köfte - meatballs made with either ground meat or with other mixtures of bulgur and/or rice.
- leblebi - roasted chickpeas lokum a gummy candy made of sugar, cornstarch, gelatine, grape juice and other aromatic ingredients.
- mantı - a special pasta made with very small folds of dough filled with minced meat, onions and parsley.
- pastırma - heavily seasoned air-dried cured beef
- pekmez - molasses-like syrup made from condensed grape juices and other fruits pide a broad, round, and flattened bread usually served plain or garnished with meat and other spices
- pilaki - a bean dish cooked in thick sauce with olive oil, onions, garlic, peppers, carrots. It is usually served cold and garnished with lemon wedges.
- piyaz - dried bean salad with egg and other vegetables.
- saç - a specially designed curved griddle commonly used to cook yufka, phyllo, or börek.
- sarma - a dish made with seasoned leaves of grape or cabbage. These leaves are used to wrap fillings which are either minced meat or rice, rolled over and steamed.
- simit - a circular bread with sesame seeds
- sucuk - a raw sausage made with preserved meat of lamb and beef mixed with garlic and several spices.
- sumak - a purple-colored spice which adds a tangy, lemony taste to meats, salads, and other dishes.
- şiş köfte - meatballs grilled on skewers also known as shis kebabs
- tandır - a beehive-shaped oven on the wall or free standing where pide, lahmacun, and other Turkish breads are baked.
- tatlı - anything that’s sweet such as puddings and desserts.
- terbiye - a sauce used for meatballs, dolma and vegetable dishes.
- yufka - a very thin, round, unleavened Turkish flatbread baked on a heated iron plate called a sac.
