Best Turkish Salad Recipes

TURKISH SHEPHERD'S SALAD

Steps:

• Combine all of the ingredients except the olives and romaine in a large bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes toss together, taste and adjust seasonings. Garnish with olives and serve, with pita bread and romaine lettuce if desired.

TURKISH EGGPLANT (AUBERGINE) SALAD

Steps:

• With a fork, pierce skin of eggplant. Bake eggplant in a rimmed pan in a 400 degrees oven for 1 hour or until very soft; cool.
• Split in half and scoop out pulp into a bowl. Mash pulp with a fork.
• Mix in oil, lemon juice, garlic, green pepper and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and chill for 2 hours.
• To serve: Arrange romaine lettuce leaves on platter. Mound eggplant in center. Garnish with tomato wedges and fresh parsley.

TURKISH PIYAZ (BEAN SALAD)

Steps:

• Rinse and drain the beans.
• Toss the beans with the other salad ingredients and transfer to a serving platter. (If you wish, the serving platter can be lined with lettuce or mixed greens first.).
• Whisk the dressing ingredients together and pour on top. Set salad aside to marinate for 1 hour.
• Before serving, garnish with eggs, black olives and parsley.
• Servings are estimated.
• Preparation time is estimated using canned beans.

TURKISH POMEGRANATE MOLASSES SALAD DRESSING

Steps:

• 1. Add all the ingredients to a jar, close the lid and give it a good shake.

TURKISH SHEPHERD'S SALAD

Steps:

• Prepare all the ingredients
• Mix well.
• Refrigerate for an hour and serve.

TOMATO SALAD WITH TURKISH TAHINI DRESSING

Steps:

• Arrange the sliced tomatoes on a platter.
• Mix together the tahini, water and lemon juice. Combine the garlic with 1/4 teaspoon salt in a mortar and pestle, and mash to a paste. Stir into the tahini mixture. Add the cumin, then salt and pepper (or Aleppo pepper) to taste. Thin out with water if the dressing is too thick to pour. Drizzle over the sliced tomatoes, sprinkle on the parsley and serve.

TURKISH BEAN AND HERB SALAD

Steps:

• Combine the beans and their soaking water with the two crushed garlic cloves, the halved yellow onion and the bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer one hour. Add salt to taste, and continue to simmer until tender but intact, about 30 minutes. Remove from the heat. Discard the onion halves, garlic cloves and bay leaf, and carefully drain the beans through a colander or strainer set over a bowl.
• Meanwhile, cut the tomatoes in half across the equator. Set a strainer over a bowl, and squeeze out the seeds from the tomatoes into the strainer. Rub the gelatinous seed sacs against the strainer to extract the juice, and discard the seeds. Grate the tomatoes against the large holes of a box grater set in a wide bowl, and discard the skins. Add the juice from the strained seeds to the grated tomatoes, and stir together.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large, heavy casserole or Dutch oven over medium heat, and add the onion. Cook, stirring often, until very soft but not browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Add a generous pinch of salt and the garlic, and continue to cook, stirring, until the garlic is fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute. Stir in the sugar, half the tomatoes and half the herbs. Reduce the heat to low, and cook, stirring often, until the mixture has cooked down to a fragrant sauce, about 15 minutes. Stir in the beans, 1/2 cup of broth and the remaining tomatoes. Cover and simmer for another 25 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, stir in the remaining herbs and olive oil, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and allow to cool. Stir in the lemon juice if desired, and serve with lemon wedges. If the beans seem dry, add more of the bean broth to taste.

CHOBAN SALATASI (TURKISH "SHEPHERD'S" SALAD)

Steps:

• Have all the vegetables cut into similar size, diced.
• English cucumbers work best; remove seeds from larger ones.
• Combine all ingredients in bowl.
• Mix dressing and gently toss just before serving salt and pepper to taste.

KISIR (TURKISH BULGUR WHEAT SALAD)

Steps:

• Mix bulgur and water and set aside for 30 minutes, until all of the water is absorbed. (There is a special kind of bulghur used in Turkish Kisir, but any bulgur or cracked wheat that can be prepared in this way will work).
• Add remaining ingredients, adding the red pepper paste last. (Trader Joe's makes Red Pepper Spread with Eggplant and Garlic, which works pretty well. The Turkish spread is called Ajvar (Ayvar/Hayvar/Havyar), and it is much more spicy).
• Refrigerate and serve cold.

VEGAN TURKISH FREEKEH SALAD (FIRIK SALATASI)

Steps:

• Rinse freekeh in a sieve under cold running water. Drain. Place into a pot, add water and salt, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until water has been absorbed and freekeh is soft, 15 to 18 minutes.
• Transfer freekeh to a bowl. Mix in olive oil and lemon juice. Set aside to cool, about 10 minutes.
• Add bell pepper, green onions, parsley, and mint to freekeh; mix well. Stir in lemon zest and pomegranate seeds. Serve on lettuce leaves.

TRADITIONAL TURKISH SALAD

Steps:

• Chop the lettuce into bite-size pieces. Seed the peppers, remove the cores and cut the flesh into thin strips. Chop the cucumber and slice or chop the tomatoes. Cut the onion in half, then slice thinly.
• Place all chopped salad ingredients in a bowl and sprinkle the feta over the top and lightly toss together.
• For the dressing, blend together the olive oil, lemon juice and garlic in a small bowl. Stir in the parsley and mint and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Pour the dressing over the salad, toss lightly and serve garnished with a handful of black olives.

TURKISH LEEK SALAD

Steps:

• Peel the outer layer of the leek. Cut the leek into slices.
• Chop the tomato and cucumber into slices (or cubes if you like)
• Finely chop the parsley.
• Put the cut tomato, cucumber and leek into a bowl and squeeze half a lemon over. Cover with the chopped parsley, and add olive oil, salt and pepper.
• The salad is ready. We always recommend to have a small taste to check if you need to add any extra salt, pepper, lemon or parsley if you wish...

TURKISH KOFTA KEBABS WITH MINTED YOGURT AND CARROT, CUMIN SALAD

Steps:

• Soak skewers in cold water for half and hour.
• Add lamb, onion, garlic, chilli and parsley to a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Mix with hands until all is combined.
• Divide into 8 portions and mould into sausage shapes around skewers. Chill for minimum of 30 minutes or overnight.
• For the minted yogurt, mix yogurt with mint. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and set aside.
• For carrot and cumin salad, peel and shred the carrot and turnip in a food processor. Toss into a bowl with oil, cumin and lemon juice.
• Brush koftas well with oil and lightly oil a griddle or frying pan. Fry koftas in batches over medium heat in a preheated pan about 5 minutes until browned all over and cooked through.
• Layer tomato slices, then salad then koftas onto 4 plates. Serve yogurt along side.

TURKISH GREEN BEAN SALAD

Steps:

• In a large sauce pot, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion and garlic and saute 5 minutes until the onions are soft.
• Add the green beans, tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper to the pot, cover and let stew over medium heat for 45 minutes or until the beans are very soft.
• Transfer the beans to a serving dish and garnish with chopped mint, lemon wedges and a dollop of yogurt on top.

BULGUR WHEAT SALAD - TURKISH STYLE

Steps:

• Mix all the ingredients together and let it marinate for at least a half hour in the fridge then serve.
• When pomegranates are in season, I substitute the grape, makes for eye catching colour.

CUCUMBER SALAD (TURKISH CACICK)

Steps:

• In a bowl combine garlic, vinegar, salt, dill,and yoghurt and mix well.
• Blend cucumbers with yoghurt mixture and refrigerate for an hour or so.
• Serve sprinkled with olive oil and mint.

TURKISH ORANGE SALAD WITH MEDITERRANEAN DRESSING

Steps:

• Slice a little piece off the top and bottom of each orange so you have a stable cutting surface. Trim away all skin and pith with a small sharp knife without taking too much off the fruit. Slice oranges horizontally and arrange on a serving platter.
• Combine onion, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt in a bowl and pour over the oranges. Grind fresh pepper over the salad and arrange black olives on top.

PATATES SALATAS? (TURKISH POTATO SALAD)

Steps:

• 1. Boil the potatoes in their skins. When they are soft enough, peal them and let them cool down.
• 2. Chop up the potatos, tomatoes, spring onion and onion. Put them in a bowl. Add olive oil, lemon juice, fresh mint leafs, dill, chili pepper and salt. Mix for a while. Ready to serve...
• 3. This is exactly the way Huleya gave me the recipe.

CACIK (TURKISH CUCUMBER SALAD)

Steps:

• Peel and dice the cucumber finely and add to the yogurt in a mixing bowl. Stir in the dried mint, salt, and most of the fresh mint. Mince or microplane in the garlic, stir again, and then tip the whole thing into a serving dish. Sprinkle over the last scrapings of chopped mint and drizzle with the oil.

TURKISH ONION SALAD

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients and mix well.
• Set in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to mellow before serving.