Hello Bookworms, if you didn’t already know, I am a Turkish Canadian. And a proud one at that. Both my parents were born in Turkey, and initially moved to Canada just to temporarily work, but BOOM then little miss Erin came into the picture. Now, I have always LOVED Turkish food. I do realize I may be a ~little~ biased in saying this, but Turkish food is the BEST FOOD. And nobody can convince me otherwise. The cuisine is SO vast and has something for everyone. This post is more of a “basics of Turkish Cuisine”, with recipes that are the most prevalent(ones I eat almost every week) and are DELICIOUS! It is ~very~ hard to control myself from making this post 10000000000000 words long, with 1000 recipes because there are SO MANY to choose from. But those reading, if interested(you should be!) can(and SHOULD!) easily make these at home.
I have made several posts in the past about my travel to Turkey, what to pack and most importantly…. THE FOOD!
What it’s actually like traveling to Turkey
Travel Diaries – What to Eat in Turkey
This post will have three simple recipes. I wanted this post to be about food that is a staple in any Turkish home, that’s eaten on a regular basis and is VERY easy to make.
Recipe # 1 : Spinach Pie
Ingredients:
- 1 pack phyllo pastry
- 2 lbs spinach
- 1-1.5 cup chopped onion
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup of oil
- 1 cup of milk
- 1 tbsp plain yogurt
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes (if you like spicy),
- Salt and black pepper
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
- Heat up 2 tbsp of oil in a large skillet. Add the chopped onions, saute until the onions are soft, almost caramelized.
- Add the spinach. Cook for 2 minutes and remove from the heat.
- While waiting for the spinach mix to cool down, mix the eggs, milk, yogurt and the remaining oil. (We will use this glaze for in between the sheets and the top layer.)
- Prepare the tray by adding a cookie sheet or some oil.
- The recipe will continue below!
- We will use 1/2 of the phyllo pack for the bottom of the pie and the remaining 1/2 for the top. Start by adding two sheets of phyllo pastry and brush with glaze. Do this for half of the phyllo sheets. Then add the spinach filling and distribute evenly.
- Add two more layers of phyllo pastry and brush with glaze. Repeat until no more phyllo sheets are left. Make sure you have some glaze left for the top layer.
- Feel free to add some black sesame seeds.
- Put it in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden-brown.
Recipe # 2 : Turkish Bulgur Salad (A.K.A Kisir)
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of fine bulgur wheat
- 3 cups of boiling water
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 tomatoes diced(use if in season, if not tomato paste will suffice)
- 1/2 bunch parsley chopped
- 1/2 bunch green onions chopped
- 1/2 bunch mint chopped
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses(optional)
- Romaine Lettuce leaves to serve
Instructions:
- In a bowl, soak the bulgur and tomato past with the boiling water for about 20 minutes, mixing once or twice. (Bulgur should be soft and all the water absorbed by 20 minutes).
- Meanwhile, dice the tomatoes and chop the greens.
- Wait about 10-15 minutes for bulgur to cool down and add in all the ingredients. Mix well.
- Serve immediately with romaine lettuce leaves, or. coll in the fridge to serve cold.
- It will stay fresh for 2-3 days.
Recipe # 3 : Cranberry Oat Cookies(A.K.A Dessert time!)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups oats
- 3 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 cups cranberries
- 1/4 cup crushed nuts(optional)
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
- Add in the butter and all the sugars. Mix well.
- Add the eggs and continue to mix.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix with your hands. (The batter may become dry, you may want to add in a little water)
- Using a spoon(or hands) place the preferred cookie size onto the baking tray.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes(depending on cookie size)
- Let cool for 5- 10 minutes and enjoy!
These are all the Turkish recipes for today’s post! I wanted this post to have the simplest ones that ANYONE could make! I could go on for days in my love for Turkish food, and I could make thousands of recipe posts!! Let me know if I should post recipes to more complicated dishes, or if you would like to see more desserts!
Reading On A Star 
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