A full Turkish breakfast is a weekend affair shared with family or friends. It’s an important moment/meal and the best way to start the day is to spend time with the people you love best while eating delicious food! You can eat a great Turkish breakfast in many restaurants but nothing compares to the ones prepared by loved ones. I used to go to my in-laws every Saturday for breakfast when I was living in Turkey and these are some of my fondest memories.
TRADITIONAL TURKISH BREAKFAST
A traditional Turkish breakfast consists of lots and lots of small plates, placed at the center of the table where everyone can help themselves. It wouldn’t be complete without slices of cheese (most commonly beyaz peynir, a brined cheese similar to feta, and kaşar peyniri, a mild semi-hard yellow cheese), olives, cold cuts, sliced cucumber and tomatoes.
If you’ve got some extra time on your hands and it’s not a matter of taking stuff out of the fridge and placing everything on small plates (it’s not a Turkish breakfast unless you are running out of place to put serving dishes on the table, literally) then eggs would be served! They are so many ways to cook eggs for a Turkish breakfast, whether you prefer menemen (scrambled eggs with vegetables), cheesy omelets, sucuklu yumurta (sunny side up eggs with stir-fried sausages), çılbır (poached eggs with yogurt), or plain boiled eggs it’s all up to you. There’s certainly something for everyone!
Çay (black tea) is always served at breakfast and the glasses are constantly refilled. Obviously, Turkish people don’t eat like that every morning. During the week it’s more common to eat a smaller version of this breakfast or to only eat a savory pastry from the bakery.
SPREADS & DIPS
Here are my favorite dips and spreads you might spot on a Turkish breakfast table. Slices of fluffy white bread are required to enjoy them. However, for the ultimate treat, nothing can beat a Turkish breakfast with warm pişis on the side. Pişis are fried balls of bread dough and tearing one in half and smearing it with balk kaymak or dipping it into a sausage dip is pure happiness.
You don’t have to make all of the dips and spreads for a true Turkish experience. You would only have a couple of them on a Turkish breakfast platter since there would also be eggs, slices of cheese, and more. I particularly love the sausage dip & the Turkish clotted cream and honey if you couldn’t tell already. But the advantage of çemen is that you can keep it forever in the fridge if you cover it with a thin layer of olive oil. The sausage dip and the çemen also freeze very well so you can make them in advance and let them thaw in the fridge overnight.
What’s kaymak?
Kaymak is a delicious dairy product that’s very popular in Turkey. It’s obtained by condensing the milk of cows or water buffalo and then leaving the cream to rest. The milk is first slowly cooked in a saucepan over low heat while being whisked constantly. After having simmered for a significant time it is then covered and left for 5-6 hours. Kaymak is similar to clotted cream but it’s thicker and more compact. Kaymak is really rich, as it contains around 60% milk fat. It’s a real treat! In Turkey kaymak is mostly used for desserts (like ekmek kadayıfı or katmer) or for breakfast (served with honey).
If you get the opportunity to taste kaymak in Turkey you definitely do it! Especially since the kaymak sold in Turkish dairies is nothing like the one you can buy in Turkish stores abroad. This kaymak, sold in cans or plastic tubes is greatly disappointing. The color and texture are off, it’s tasteless and you’re way better off using mascarpone or clotted cream if you’re making bal kaymak. I tried making kaymak at home but the results were nowhere near as good as what I used to eat in Turkey. If you’ve got a reliable kaymak recipe, I’ll gladly take it and try again. Until then, I’ll use something else that’s creamy and almost as luscious to make bal kaymak.
Are you looking for other Turkish breakfast recipes? Here are some of my favorites:
- Olive rolls (Zeytinli açma)
- Ekmek (White loaf)
Turkish breakfast
- Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Stove
- Cuisine: Turkish
Description
It’s not a Turkish breakfast unless you run out of place to put down serving dishes on the table! Here are some of my favorite traditional breakfast dips & spreads to help you do just that.
Ingredients
For the sausage dip (kahvaltılık sosis):
- 4 medium-sized sausages
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 garlic clove, peeled
- 2 onions, peeled
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 heaped tbsp mild red pepper paste (tatli biber salçasi), or use tomato paste
- 115ml water (½ cup), just boiled
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp salt
- ⅓ tsp black pepper
- ⅓ tsp chili powder (kirmizi biber)
For the breakfast spread (çemen):
- 6 sprigs of parsley, leaves only
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 90g walnut halves (1 cup)
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 tbsp mild red pepper paste (tatli biber salçasi), or use an equal amount of tomato paste
- ½ tsp red chili flakes (pul biber)
- 1 tsp dried mint
- 1 tsp dried thyme (kekik)
- 2 tsp sesame seeds
- 2 tsp nigella seeds
For the salad dip (kaşık salatası):
- 1 long green pepper
- ½ long cucumber, peeled
- 3 tomatoes, peeled
- 12 sprigs of parsley, leaves only
- 1 tsp salt
- ⅔ tsp dried mint
- ⅔ tsp sumac, or use lemon zest
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses (nar ekşisi)
- 3 tbsp olive oil
For the Turkish clotted cream and honey (bal kaymak):
- 6 tbsp of runny honey
- 2 tbsp of kaymak, heaped (use clotted cream or mascarpone if you’re not in Turkey)
Instructions
For the sausage dip (kahvaltılık sosis):
- Cut the sausages into 3cm (1 in) slices and set aside. Grate the tomatoes using the largest shredding holes of a cheese grater, or blitz them in a food processor, and set aside. Finely chop the garlic and set aside. Finely chop the onions.
- Heat the oil in a deep non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onions along with a pinch of salt. Cook for 7 min until translucent, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the sausages. Cook for 5 min.
- Add the chopped garlic, red pepper (or tomato) paste and spread it all over the sausages using the back of the spoon. Cook for 2 min. Stir in the grated tomatoes, water and spices. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 min. There should be some liquid at the end so if it looks too dry to be a dip, add a bit more water at the end. Pour the sausage dip into a serving bowl.
For the breakfast spread (çemen):
- Finely chop the parsley and set aside. Place the garlic and salt into a mortar, pound into a paste and set aside. Finely chop the walnuts.
- Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat and toast the walnuts until they become fragrant and start to brown, stirring from time to time. It should take about 3 min. Keep an eye on them, if they burn you won’t be able to get rid of the bitter taste. Pour them on a plate and heat the oil in the pan.
- Add the pastes and cook, mixing continuously, with a wooden spoon for 2 min. Take the pan off the heat and add the pounded garlic, spices, seeds and walnuts. Stir until everything is well combined. Put the çemen onto a plate and let it cool down completely.
For the salad dip (kaşık salatası):
- Deseed the green pepper, cucumber and tomatoes. Finely chop the vegetables and parsley leaves. Put them into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add the spices, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses, olive oil and mix until combined.
- Pour just enough cold water to cover everything up and make the kaşık salatası ‘spoonable’. I used 115ml (½ cup). Kaşık salatası is supposed to be refreshing so keep the salad dip in the fridge until it’s time to serve.
For the Turkish clotted cream and honey (bal kaymak):
- Pour the honey into a serving dish, save for 1 tbsp. Spoon the kaymak (or whatever you could get your hands on) on top of the honey. Drizzle the rest of the honey on top of the kaymak. Done!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 plate
- Calories: 863
Keywords: brunch, international brunch, international breakfast, breakfast ideas
le beignet
Dans ce petit déjeuner on retrouve vraiment toutes les sensations avec la fraîcheur de la salade, les épices de la saucisse et le sucré du miel, vraiment super bon!!! A refaire