Salads are extremely important in Turkey. The word 'salad' in our minds conjures up a mixture of raw vegetables prepared for easy eating and served cold but this is not the case here. In Turkey a salad can come close to being considered a meal. Also, it may have the consistency of a dip at times or be a mixture of cooked vegetables sitting in oil or yogurt.
Purslane salad with Yogurt
Having cooked up half a kilo of white beans in my pressure cooker, I felt I should put some to use immediately and I had an inspiration for bean salad on toast with a Turkish flavour. We were more than surprised how delicious it was. COOKING DRIED BEANS IN BULK I tend to cook more…
The markets are still full of the larger radishes which are in season earlier than the more delicate little cherry radishes. This refreshing radish salad goes well with many dishes and gives a lovely cleansing aftertaste to the palette. There are many varieties of radishes and the taste can vary significantly with some being quite…
Salads are not only very healthy for you and incorporate plenty of delicious. fresh seasonal produce but also that there is a never ending choice of where one goes with a salad. It can cover such a wide range of dishes. Because of this, the term salad can definitely be used all year round and it is not at all unusual to eat salad in winter time as it could well be a cooked vegetable dish served at room temperature, such as Celeriac with Quince in Orange and Lemon Juice which has to be one of my all time favourite winter vegetable dishes.
Celeriac and Quince in Orange and Lemon Juice
A Salad is a wide term covering a number of dishes which sometimes you might consider to be more of a Meze or possibly, a Zeytinyağlı meaning a dish cooked in olive oil. And if that is not enough of an explanation, then dare I say it, the latter dish also means that this is always served cold or room temperature and never warm or hot. Turks do not believe that it is healthy to overheat olive oil.
Lentil Salad with White Cheese
Of course, in summer, the Turks eat some very refreshing salads and some of them are so ridiculously simple, you hardly feel that you can call them a salad. This grated black radish salad packs a very tasty punch and is delicious eaten alongside some other salads and some nice bread.
Grated black radish salad
Celeriac is a vegetable which I hardly knew at all before I moved to Turkey. It is a very common vegetable in the Turkish kitchen and it replaces celery in some instances as well, as celery does not grow well in this climate and is virtually impossible to find here. This salad below is another favourite of mine. It is very fresh and the combination of flavours is just delicious.
Celeriac with walnuts in garlic yogurt
Where would we be without the ubiquitous Shepherd's Salad. So crunchy and fresh. A great combination of flavours of just a few ingredients and a very simple dressing. Summer doesn't get better than this.
Turkish Shepherd's Salad
In Turkey it isn't difficult to put together a tasty salad. We have all the fresh ingredients handy and what's more, we like to have a salad or two on the table!
the local markets are wonderful: they have everything to make a great salad!