Herbs and Spices

Herbs and spices have been used by mankind since ancient times for a variety of purposes. Sometimes a wild flower, the bark of a great tree or the fruit of a bush, spices show infinite variety in their form, characteristics and function.

The use of spices and herbs are very important in Turkish cooking. Turkish cuisine is healthy and nutritious. And spices are added due to increase  the dishes taste. Therefore spicing becomes crucial to add flavor to a Turkish dish.

The most famous place that it comes to your mind when someone talk about spice in Turkey is “Mısır Çarşısı” “Spice Bazaar” in İstanbul.

But you don't have to be in Istanbul to enjoy the best spices. Fresh spices are found everywhere from the local bazaars and markets to the largest supermarkets.

In fact, most spices used in Turkish cuisine are easy to find wherever you are. Just look in the spice section of your favorite market.

Here Yaren Çakır and Aleyna Coşkun visited for you some spice bazaar in Samsun.And took some photos to show our traditional spice markets.

A Delicious Recipe

In Turkey recipes are given differently if we compare it with the other countries'.

Units of measurement are used  such as glass , spoon, or handful.

Here is a recipe like this. But this one is a special flavor. If you want to test delicious cake , you should try this one. By using our traditional measurement units.

"Alman Pastası”  Special Flavor For Special Day

For inner Cream: one packet dr oetker banana pudding

Is cooked by milk according to the recipe on the packet.

It  is waited for cooking the cake it  mixed  3or 4 tours every 5 minutes.

For Cake:

Respectively

3 eggs

1 glass (250 ml volumetric) of sugar

are mixed (one way)

1 mini glass(125 ml volumetric) of sunflower oil

2 spoon (full) yogurt

Grated peel of 1 orange

1 +1/2 glass (250 ml volumetric) flour

1 packet baking powder

Are mixed and

Is discharged into oiled and floured cake mold

Is cooked  in 180 degree celcius oven  for 45-50 min. Checked it by using a knife when it is in the oven.

After cooling it is separated as two pieces.

Put into parts 1 or 2 banabas and

Cream is spread into the cake on the bananas.

Put the other part of cake.

Is sprinkled powdered sugar on it.

You can spice up with kiwi, banana and orange…

Enjoy your meal….

A SHORT HISTORY OF LOKUM

     A traditional Turkish flavor, Lokum appears before us alongside mint
liquor or a strong Turkish coffee at festive celebrations… Varieties of
Turkish Delight are lined side by side in special gifts boxes and then
presented to guests like a jewel in special glass bowls that are as
elegant and fine as lace. Rose, mint, peanut, walnut, gum, and double
roasted – the heartwarming varieties are countless.

Developing with a culture that’s as deep-rooted and as old as

Anatolian history, lokum is a unique flavor that has been

maintained through to present day and known throughout the

world as Turkish Delight. It’s name in Ottoman is "Rahatü’lHulkum"

 meaning contentment of the throat. It gradually

became “latilokum” and finally “lokum”. Lokum has been made

in Anatolia for roughly 15 centuries. Its fame became

widespread within the borders of the Ottoman Empire in the

17th century and was taken beyond borders to Europe by a

traveler in the 18th century as ‘Turkish Delight’. Lokum was

firstly made with honey or molasses and flour but always with

the secrets of its maker. When refined sugar and starch

were discovered, its production technique changed but more

delicious with the magic of makers. And inevitably, lokum

started becoming associated with the maker.

The lokum of today is not very different. Varieties increase as it

becomes more popular and each lokum maker creates his own

followers. Lokum is an unequalled flavor in Turkey and around

the world. Lokum-making today is being preserved by

generations of families in Turkey’s east and west combined with

modern technology. Lokum is registered under the name of the

first person in the family to make it whether it’s the grandfather

or father. Its traditional flavor is maintained and developed for

future generations. Many in these families are each a famous

brand unto themselves. “Turk Lokumu”, known by the name of

the country, is an unrivalled brand around the world.

WHERE YOU CAN EAT IN SAMSUN

OSKAR Restaurant

Fevzi's- Fevzi'nin Yeri

http://www.samsunmidilli.com/

http://www.samsunbeyazev.com/

http://www.pamukkardesler.com/

http://www.candalbaliktesisleri.com.tr/

http://www.lezzetduragi.net/gulhan-restoran-pide-r123.html

FRUITS AND DESSERTS

Now you've eaten a big meal and want some dessert. If you want to emulate your Turkish hosts, eat fruit. Sweet desserts are saved for a snack or for teatime. Melons are wonderful, peaches especially white ones are to die for (legend has it that it was the peach, not the golden apple that figures in the story of Paris and Helen of Troy), grapes of course and don't forget apricots. Sour cherries are very special in Turkey. Try some of the sour cherry preserves. Also the honey is very very good. Especially honey coming from the Eastern Turkish region of Kars.

Honey of Kars

 melon

fruits' salads

Pastry in Turkey. Don't think only of baklava, there are sultans , a sausage shaped pastry with coconut in citrus flavors, yummy, chestnut chocolates from Kafka in Istanbul. And then there is Turkish Delight (lokum) known all over the world. There are also puddings (thanks here to Villa Rhapsody who told about them in a recent post). Noah's Ark pudding has a startling variety of ingredients including white beans, chick peas and pomegranates. Also kunefe, a fried dessert with cheese. Turkish ice cream is fabulous. Often homemade and in a variety of flavors it is good tasty treat for tired travelers. Why not have some pistachio ice cream in the home of pistachios.

baklava

Kunefe

Noah's Ark pudding- Aşure

DRINKS-İÇECEKLER

Now a word about drinks. Tea (cay) is the national drink. Everyone drinks tea at all hours of the day and night. You can see tea sellers with their brass trays, scurrying about bringing tea to thirsty people. Turkey has some special teas. Apple tea is delicious, true apple flavor and very refreshing as is lemon tea and sour cherry tea. Turkish coffee is good and you can read your fortune in the grounds. (khave), a word here about coffee. Ayran is a drink that is made by yogurt. And special  fruit juice... Beers are very fine. (bira). There are  good brands. In the past wines were not very drinkable.  But now things have vastly improved and there is an array of moderately priced white and red wines that are good. Turkey is a Muslim country so alcoholic beverages are not served in some restaurants but it is available in most places in Turkey. Raki is like anisette only better, licorice flavored and very tasty, diluted with water it assumes a milky color. (sometimes raki is called "lion's milk ) maybe because too much can make you roar like a lion?) Raki is especially good with mezze. Stay away from violently colored juice drinks served in some hotels and opt for real juice (cherry, peach). Also in Turkey drink bottled water, (su), everyone does.

tea-çay

Turkish coffee-kahve

ayran -yogurt with water

special fruit juice

KEBABS-KEBAPLAR

Now suppose you get hungry and want to eat a somewhat larger meal. Then you can have kebobs, grilled anything. There are fish kebabs, meat kebabs, chicken kebabs, vegetable kebabs, and the national snack doner kebab which is lamb kept warm on a vertical spit and sliced to order. There are minced versions of kebabs the Urfa kebab and the very popular Adana kebab. You can get your kebab with rice, or potatoes, often you will find it served with both and a roasted hot pepper. The fish in Turkey is wonderful as is the seafood. A word of caution, a lot of places don't debone the fish so be careful. Oops almost forgot meatballs, available in may varieties, such as manti which is like Turkish ravioli, lamb meat in dough with yogurt.

Iskender Kebabs

Cağ Kebabs

Adana Kebabs

Tokat Kebabs

Akçaabat Meat Ball

MEZELER-MEZZE

Now onto mezze, what people in the west call hors d'oeuvres. There are many different kinds of mezze: hummus, baba ganoush, (chickpea and eggplant dips), stuffed grape leaves, cigars (fried dough filled with cheese), fried eggplant, cacik which is yoghurt with cucumber and garlic and most anything else you can think of. Another is fried mussels on a stick, great with a beer. Some restaurants such as the Marmara Terrace in Istanbul have special mezze. Gozleme, that is Turkish crepes, are wonderful pancakes which you can top with stuff.  Also salad, (salat)  shepherd's salad, now known world-wide is cucumber, tomato, onion, sometimes green pepper, sometimes topped with feta cheese, a squeeze of lemon and you are in salad heaven. There are a variety of cheeses in Turkey (peynir), hard cheeses, and feta cheeses. A word here about pide, often called Turkish pizza it is flat bread topped with yummy stuff of your choice. Folded over and cut up it is called kapali. There is also kumpir, potato filled with whatever you want.

hummus -humus

cigars_sigara böreği

shepherd's salad- çoban salata

cacik-cacık

pide kapali- kapalı pide

EKMEK-BREAD

In Turkey,  the freshness of the ingredients is the reason that Turkish food tastes so good. The fruits and vegetables sing in your mouth. This guide will tell you about Turkish food, starting with bread.

The bakers of the Ottoman Empire thought that Adam, the patron saint of bakers was taught to make bread by the Archangel Gabriel. To this day bread has major cultural significance in Turkey. It is usually baked twice a day, early in the am and late in the afternoon so folks heading home from work can have fresh bread at dinner time. People in the west make do with packaged bread but in Turkey bread is bought fresh, when it is still crisp. There are many types of bread but here is information about four. The fresh baked elongated loaf of bread which looks like French bread is the bread that most people eat during the day. Then there is flat bread, familiar to all of us as pita bread (pide in Turkish) which is good for wrapping stuff up in, lavash a wafer thin type of bread also good for wrapping and simit, which is a round bread , rather like a bagel, covered with sesame seeds, sold everywhere - it is good for a snack on the run. There are many other varieties of bread and you can sample some of them at breakfast buffet's all over Turkey. The world for bread in Turkish is ekmek.