Name: Turkish breakfast
Prep time: 1 h 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients: 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); 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; 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

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A full Turkish breakfast is a weekend affair shared with family or friends. It’s an important moment/meal; 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 while living in Turkey; these are some of my fondest memories.

Weekend staple

A traditional Turkish breakfast consists of lots of small plates, placed at the center of the table where everyone can help themselves. A Turkish breakfast 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 (made from beef or chicken meats), jams, sliced cucumber & tomatoes, and slices of bread with a selection of things to spread onto or to dip into. It’s not a proper Turkish breakfast unless you run out of place to put serving dishes on the table! It might look impressive but removing things from the fridge and putting them onto small plates doesn’t take very long. I swear!

If you’ve got some time, then you would most definitely prepare eggs too! There 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!

Black tea (çay) 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 and dips

Here are my favorite spreads and dips 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. A pişi is a fried ball 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 the dips and spreads for a true Turkish experience. You would only have a couple on a Turkish breakfast table since eggs, cheese, olives, etc, would also be served.

I particularly love the sausage dip (kahvaltılık sosis) & the Turkish clotted cream and honey (bal kaymak). They are my absolute go-to. But the advantage of tomato, red pepper & walnut spread (çemen) is that you can keep it forever in the fridge if you cover it with a thin layer of olive oil.
The advantage of the spoon salad (kaşık salatası) is that you can feel good about having something healthy on the table. It’s called a spoon salad cause it’s very watery and you would usually eat it with a spoon. I spoon it on my bread, therefore ruining the health benefits, oh well.
The sausage dip and the tomato, red pepper & walnut spread also freeze very well so you can make them in advance and let them thaw in the fridge overnight.

Kaymak

Kaymak is a delicious dairy product that’s very popular in Turkey. The milk (from cows or water buffalos) is first slowly cooked in a saucepan over low heat while being whisked constantly. After having simmered for a significant time, the resulting cream is then covered and left for 5-6 hours to rest.
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 breakfast (served with honey).

If you get the opportunity to taste kaymak in Turkey, do it! Especially since the kaymak sold in Turkish stores abroad is nothing like the one in Turkey. The kaymak I find in France, sold in cans, is always disappointing. The color and texture are off-putting. It’s also bland and weirdly sweet at the same time. So if you’re serving bal kaymak for breakfast, and you don’t live in Turkey, you are way better off using mascarpone or clotted cream instead.
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 is creamy and luscious to make bal kaymak.

Turkish breakfast

Author: Amélie
Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours
Yield: 4 1x
Category: Breakfast
Method: Stove
Cuisine: Turkish

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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

Scale

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.

sausage dip cooking in pan

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.

breakfast spread ingredients

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.

salad dip in a container

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!

turkish clotted cream and honey on a plate