Traditional Turkish Desserts

Traditional Turkish Desserts

These lands are one of the most fertile geographies of the region in terms of dessert. As a people who are fond of their throat and taste, the food culture created by Turkish society is known almost all over the world. Ranking in the top five in the world in terms of variety and taste, Turkish cuisine is also quite assertive in desserts. We investigated the prominent traditional Turkish desserts and the names of these desserts. Here are traditional Turkish desserts from the past to the present.

Tulumba Dessert

It’s tiny, and its flavor is great… Tulumba dessert! One of the most beautiful desserts with sherbet, tulumba is one of the desserts that said it cannot be made at home but is said to be “not difficult” when the recipe is read.

Halka Tatli, Turkish Churros

Halka Tatli, also known as Turkish Churros, is a very popular pastry from Adana cuisine. Which is made by frying knurled dough in oil and then putting them into sherbet, and is usually served with pounded pistachios.

Baklava

Baklava is so important for Turkey between Greece and Turkey in the recent past, almost “Baklava whom?” There would be a diplomatic crisis because of the fight. Joking aside, it is a fact that the Greek side has applied for an international patent for baklava. However, the topic Greece – Turkey in a scene of contention within the country before the crisis, though, Gaziantep, placed Adopt been positioned with a clear stance on this issue. Baklava, which is made by laying thinly rolled dough in layers and baking them with walnuts or pistachios, is a dessert that requires many delicacies and mastery despite this general recipe.

Baklava is the origin of Turkey and derives from a baglaya-style utterance created by adding the word “Bayla” which means to wrap in Mongolian, and has passed from Turkish to other languages. Baklava is at the top of our list as it is one of the most important brands in our country with its hundreds of types and styles.

Katmer

If your way has fallen to Gaziantep and talking about dough desserts, you cannot skip katmer. The national dessert of Gaziantep, katmer, is prepared with a thinly rolled pastry made of baklava dough and greased in a way that you will say it will break off while watching. Katmer, which is sherbeted just like baklava, is on our list of Traditional Turkish desserts as a flavor that you should definitely taste if you have been to Gaziantep.

Kalburabasti

Also known as the date dessert, kalburabastı, is a pastry with sherbet. Separated from pastry desserts in the field of dumplings and like a candy piece, the kalburabasti has a more intense consistency. The name Kalburabastı, on the other hand, comes from the pressing of the dough on a caliber or colander during its preparation. Walnut is used in Kalburabastı dessert.

Hanim Gobegi

The Hanim Gobegi dessert is one of the desserts that draw attention with its name rather than its taste. The lady’s belly dessert, which dates back to the Ottoman Palace, is a combination of dough and sherbet. Hanım’s belly, which is very similar to Izmir Lokma, is made by frying yeast dough and flavoring it with cold syrup. The origin of name also comes from the Ottoman palace. The dessert, which is likened to the lady’s belly due to its fluffy shape while giving the shape of a donut, also indicates that women with light bellies were more appreciated in the Ottoman period.

Kadayif

Of course, Kadayıf has an important place in the traditional Turkish sweets group, but it is also influenced by Arab culture. Each type of kadayıf, which has 3 different types as flat shredded kadayif, string kadayif, and bread kadayıf, differs from each other in terms of the way they are made, and at the same time, each has a special character among desserts. After the inside of the shredded wheat is prepared, it is fried and then cooked with syrup. However, the production of wire kadayif has a unique style as well as the skill of cooking the wire kadayif. How to produce raw shredded wheat, let’s first follow this technique.

While the flat kadayif dough from other types of kadayif has a dough prepared with an egg, the bread kadayif has a dough similar to bread dough and is therefore called bread kadayif. All three types take the common name kadayif because of the sherbet and frying process. The word kadayif is an Arabic word and comes from a root attributed to baklava.

Sutlu Nuriye

Again, we are faced with a dessert whose name is very intriguing. Before moving on to the story of Nuriye with milk, it is worth mentioning that the dessert is a baklava-type dough, and it is a special model that also winkes at milk desserts by containing milk. So why is there milk? When the prices of baklava were brought to the upper limit during the revolution, Sutlu Nuriye was invented by using milk instead of sherbet and hazelnuts instead of peanuts as an alternative dessert to baklava. However, this invention is highly appreciated and it is coming up today. The answer to the question of where the name Sütlü Nuriye comes from, which everyone is curious about, is not clear.

Asure or Ashura

A sweet Ashura with religious traditions. It comes from the name Ashura in Arabic origin. The month of Muharram, which has a place in Islam, is mentioned as the month of Ashura in some places. Firstly, let’s look at where the story of Ashura comes from. According to the rumor, Hz. Noah made his ark and made it famous to those who believed in him.

As they progressed in the fan, they mixed whatever they had and turned it into a big soup in order to behave more economically after the supplies were reduced, and they held on until the flood was over with that soup. Here, the soup in the story becomes today’s ashura. For this reason, the ingredients in the Aşure can be increased according to the preference of the people who make it. The making of Aşure and its distribution in the month of Muharrem developed in the Ottoman period. Because of this situation, we can count Aşure among Traditional Turkish Sweets.

Zerde

Now it’s time for a different dessert. What kind of dessert is Zerde? In fact, we can count turmeric as the least-known dessert on this list. The name turmeric comes from the use of turmeric, and saffron, which also gives the dessert its color. Made with broken rice, turmeric, starch, peanuts, and grapes, the dessert is in a unique category. The city of Zerden is Gaziantep. Generally, a sweet pastry dough type also demonstrates itself as Zerde of said Gaziantep cuisine with desserts, showing that Turkey has an important place in the kitchen.

Cezerye

We also include cezerye, which you will find the best in Istanbul Spice Bazaar, from the category of Turkish delight desserts. Spice Bazaar is a place where spices are abundant, and there are many spices in cezerye, from cloves to turmeric, from ginger to cinnamon. Its main ingredient is carrots. Add the spices to the mixture of carrot purée and walnuts and top

Gullac

Gullac, which comes to mind when Ramadan is mentioned, does not necessarily have to be eaten during Ramadan. Güllaç leaf, which is obtained by mixing corn starch and wheat flour with water and turning it into a thin dough, is a product that can be used not only for güllaç dessert but also for making pastries. The dessert, which has evolved from the name of the meal with rose, to the name of the dish with rose because of the use of roses in its production, is a special flavor where milk and dough meet, and its roots date back to the Ottoman palace.

Kunefe

We are ending our traditional Turkish dessert series in Hatay with a kadayifi, again fried on fire. Künefe, which is also a common dessert of Turkish – Arab culture, is a dessert sought after kebab, and it is cooked slowly on the stove, with an open-top, and its taste is not enough with its Hatay cheese.

What did they say; “Let’s eat dessert, talk sweet.” Bon appétit to everyone.