The Turkish cuisine is one of the most famous and oldest international cuisines, various foods in turkey comes from mixed cultures to produce unique flavors that make it a place on the throne of global cooking.
Our recommendations to Istanbul’s visitors to enjoy the best Turkish dishes from Turkish cuisine in Istanbul and Turkey. Some of these dishes are found in certain local restaurants, and some are spread in all restaurants due to privacy of preparation.
Turkish omelets – Menemen
It is considered a main meal in the hearty Turkish breakfast in several regions, most cooked in Anatolia and the famous city of Van. The Kurds prefer it with hot and remnants, and the people of Anatolia prefer it with tomatoes and tomato water, and the Black Sea with hot and olives, and sometimes with spices and nationalities that were displaced from Central Asia after the First World War, its preferred with mushrooms, parsley and tomatoes, and in Thrace omelets is preferred with potatoes. Its placed is an essential part of the Turkish breakfast, so be sure to try it with any recipe.
Kebaps and meats
Iskender kebap
It is one of the most famous Turkish dishes, which is known to almost all visitors and tourists in Istanbul. It consists of well-cooked pieces of shawarma meat, placed on the famous Turkish pide bread, and on top of it tomato sauce and boiling butter, and next to it a heavy yogurt. It is mostly served with potatoes and Tomato and pepper.
Urfa kebap
It is mashed chopped meat added to it with hot spices grilled on charcoal. The origin of Urfa Kebab is from the Turkish city of Urfa in the Turkish south, where Arab and Kurdish nationalities live. We warn you, the orfa kebab may be delicious, but it is hot because of the spices.
Adana kepep
It is a little similar to the orfa kebab, but it differs in the way the meat and spices are prepared. 4- Tantoni kebab.
tantuni kebap
The origin of the tantuni kebab goes back to the Turkish city of Marcin, which is located on the Turkish-Syrian border. It is inhabited by an Arab majority who can speak Arabic and is distinguished by its food and sweets that it exports to surrounding cities and food similar to Arab food in terms of fat and taste, which is preferred by most of the Turks who live the South . The tantoni kebab is sliced meat fried in oil with vinegar and spices are added to it with constant stirring and eaten with lemon, hot and parsley.
Shish Tawook – tavuk şiş
The Turkish shish taouk does not differ from what is prepared in the Arab region except in what is served with it. It is always preferred in Turkey to serve grilled vegetables as well and bulgur rice – that is, the famous wheat rice with it and parsley or mint. We would like to point out to you that the Turkish shish taouk is seasoned immediately before it is served with hot spices, so it is preferable to drink ayran with it.
Shish kebab – Adana kebap şiş
The Turkish shish kebab does not differ from the prepared in the Arab region except in the way of seasoning, where the Turks prefer to season it with spices immediately before cooking and to serve nutritious vegetables with it such as tomatoes, salads, parsley, onions and pomegranate molasses.
Grilled liver. Or shish liver. – ciğer şiş
It is a Kurdish food, its origin goes back to the Diyarbakir region, which is inhabited by a Kurdish majority and some branches of some Arab tribes that are stationed in northern Iraq. And it can be found everywhere.
Betty Kebab – beyti kebap
One of the most delicious types of kebab, which tourists often do not know until after staying for months in Turkey. It is an Adana kebab wrapped in thin bread and passed quietly over the fire, then served with fresh yogurt to be eaten with splendor and calmness as small sandwiches with a fork. Betty Kebab prefers Western tourists, especially German and Russian tourists, because of its spread in their countries, but they always prefer to eat it in Turkey.
Sarma Kebab
It is similar in its way to homemade kebab, but it differs in the use of shawarma meat pieces instead of Adana kebab, and it is covered with tomato sauce and butter and served with potatoes.
Turkish Pizzas
Meat bread – etli ekmek
It is a Turkish food at the heart of Turkish cuisine, centered in Konya in the middle of Anatolia.
It dates back to hundreds of years and was mentioned by dozens of travelers in their books as described in the book “The Chef’s Masterpiece” nutritious and healthy, especially for patients who must eat types of food Like meat in a certain amount.
Like the name of the dish its a loaf of famous Anatolian bread or thin brown bread specially baked for this stew and then covered with chopped or minced meat and coated with butter, spices and cheese sometimes and placed in the oven Until the meat and bread are cooked. It is eaten by squeezing lemon on it, putting parsley and salad in it, then wrapping it up and eating it while it is hot.
Meat paste – or meat dough – lahmacun
The two pronunciations are correct and used by the Turks. The origin of this food goes back to Syria, specifically Aleppo. Its preparation in Aleppo and southern Turkey differs from most regions of Turkey, and it can be classified as one of the fast Turkish meals that Turkish citizens prefer over Western fast food, which they have not yet accepted. It is a strange thing that is coated with minced meat with spices and some pepper and placed in the oven until the meat is cooked, then it is eaten with lemon juice over it and then parsley and mint are wrapped in it.
Alpida – or Turkish pizza – pide
The origin and center of this delicious and famous Turkish food is the Black Sea, which is famous for two things in food: sardines, which they call “hummus” and delicious oven pastries. Pide is like Turkish pizza, a quick, delicious and nutritious meal that uses meat, eggs, cheese and butter on top of a special dough, and then put it in the oven to come out very tasty. We advise you to taste it in one of the restaurants that spread in Istanbul and offer it, as it is considered a quick and nutritious meal for practical working Turks.
Oven chicken covered with salt. tuz firin tavuk
One of the most delicious Turkish chicken recipes is not found in all restaurants. It is an uncommon recipe, even if it is delicious and famous. It consists of completely covering a chicken with salt and pushing it into the oven for about half an hour so that it is then ready to eat with thin bread. This delicious chicken in the oven melts in the mouth, we advise you to try it.
Borek
It is a very popular Turkish dish that Turks prefer to eat for breakfast. It is one of the baked pastries that may be stuffed with cheese, chicken, meat, spinach, or potatoes, or leave it plain to put sugar and honey on it.
Manti
A well-known Turkish dish, originally from Central Asia, is famous in Caucasian, Azerbaijani and Kazakh cuisine with completely different preparation recipes from the six different Turkish preparations. It consists of meat covered with dough that is boiled in water, then boiled butter, olive oil and spices such as mint, thyme, yogurt and parsley are placed on it. It is a famous and delicious Turkish food, we advise you to try it.
Fish sandwich – balik ekmek
Everyone who has visited Istanbul knows the historical ships that serve as restaurants to serve fish sandwiches in the historical Eminönü district, where fish is served with onions and vegetables, often watercress or parsley, lemon, vinegar and pickled. There are several recipes and other areas for serving fish sandwiches, the most famous of which are Eminönü and Karaköy on the other side of the road opposite to Eminönü from the Galata Bridge. They say whoever visited Istanbul and did not eat fish sandwiches did not eat fish. You will disagree with this saying when we move to eating creamy fish.
Carmaty fish in the oven with mushrooms – Balik mantar
The source of this famous Turkish food is the Aegean Sea, which is famous for its different fish dishes, which compete with other different Turkish cultures in cooking and preparing fish. Fish with mushrooms in the oven is a special tajine in which the famous leverk fish is placed with selected vegetables and covered with a special layer of mushrooms – mushrooms – or mantar (in Turkish) and left in the oven until the fish is completely cooked with vegetable water and most of the vegetables dissolve in its water and covers the surface of the tagine interaction Mushrooms with vegetable water to make a wonderful dish for a delicious meal.
Cig Kofte – Turkish raw kibbeh.
The origin of çığ köfte dates back to thousands of years. It did not differ much in the way it was prepared back in time, and its roots goes back to the south of Turkey, its a bit different from the Aleppo raw kibbeh and the Lebanese raw kibbeh.
The çığ köfte or Turkish kibbeh consists of: walnuts, wheat semolina, spices, pomegranate molasses and thyme. In the Turkish region of Urfa, it is also made with boiled meat, but the Turkish government for a long time prohibited selling it with boiled meat in anticipation of fraud and to protect consumers. It is now 100 percent vegetarian unless your Kurdish friend insisted that he invite you to it in his house then you might expect some meat in it.
The Kumpir
It is one of the practical Turkish dishes and it consists of roasted cracked potatoes, on which various types of salads and mayonnaise are placed. And one of the best areas offered in the Ortakoy the most