Ironically we haven't tried any dish made from the turkey bird, but the people here probably don't realize the link between the English word for turkey and the name of their country.
So we've learned that each city has their own special dish or dessert, so we'll share the ones we've been introduced to by the many friends we've met. The name of the dishes will include the city's name in italic.
Mardin Lokum
Lokum is the name for Turkish delights. It is so much better than the ones we had back home (in those Cadbury Rose boxes). They come in all sorts of flavour: rose, chocolate, milk or fruit. The fillings can include fruit pieces, nuts and chocolate cream. Forget about your bad experience eating those awful Cadbury Turkish delights and come to Turkey to try the real thing![caption width="640"]
Pink on the left is rose water flavour coated in rose petals[/caption]
Diyarbakir Menengic Coffee
Turkish drink coffee in cute tiny cups, or espresso cups as they're more commonly known. The traditional coffee are served with a cup of water and some sweets. Our favourite coffee was Menengic which was milky and sweet. Similar as the Turkish coffee, the drink contain the coffee ground so you can't drink it all. It takes getting used to avoiding the grounds.
Şanlıurfa Turkish Breakfast
Our first time having a full out Turkish breakfast. It was a lot of food and difficult to try everything. We ended up eating the remaining scraps to show our appreciation (and because we were hungry cyclists). Although the name include "breakfast" we had it for brunch and in some places you could even have it after lunch. Items include but not limited to:
- Honey
- Roasted eggplant (with spices) and tomatoes
- Börek (baked filled pastries)
- Sliced olives
- Persian egg & tomato
- Omelette with Turkish Sucuk (like salami)
- Clotted cream, or "kaymak"
- Plaited cheese, or "Urfa peyniri"
Gaziantep Baklava
The city of Gaziantep is the birthplace of Baklava. It is a very sweet dessert pastry, made with filo, nuts and syrup. If you're not a sweet tooth you'll only want 2 and no more! This sweet is popular in the Middle East and Central Asia. Delicious, but very very sweet. When you take a bite into the baklava, it is soft and "wet" with syrup. By all means it's delicious, but some people might be put off by how drenched in syrup this sweet is.
Adana Kebap
Adana kebap is country famous, it was a dish highly recommended by everyone we met on our travel and we were lucky to try it in the originating city of Adana. The kebap is a plateful of grilled mutton, chicken and liver sitting on oiled pieces of fresh warm bread. The area is also known for eating spicy food, so on the side is grilled tomatoes and hot green peppers.
[caption width="800"]
For a 35 Liras dish, all the side salads were complimentary[/caption]That's all for now. We promise to keep eating and write about more food we come across.
