TAMEK Hot Pepper Paste 550g

A steaming bowl of Turkish soup or "çorba", accompanied by fresh, crusty bread is like a warm hug from mom. You wouldn't be able to think of better comfort food, especially during the cold, rainy days of winter. In Turkey, soup is served as the first course at both lunch and dinner and is also a common choice for breakfast in many Anatolian homes. During the holy month of Ramadan, the daily fast is always broken with soup, fresh bread, olives, and cheese—light fare that is easy on the stomach after a day of fasting.

A steaming bowl of Turkish soup or "çorba", accompanied by fresh, crusty bread is like a warm hug from mom. You wouldn't be able to think of better comfort food, especially during the cold, rainy days of winter. In Turkey, soup is served as the first course at both lunch and dinner and is also a common choice for breakfast in many Anatolian homes. During the holy month of Ramadan, the daily fast is always broken with soup, fresh bread, olives, and cheese—light fare that is easy on the stomach after a day of fasting.

Pastırma is a form of Turkish cured meat with exceptional flavor, a delicate texture, and a lingering taste. The predecessor to the Italian pastrami, this delicacy originated before the Byzantine times, in the East of Turkey in the town of Kayseri where it is still produced today. The story of its invention has to do with meat being pressed, bastırmak in Turkish, by the legs of horsemen as they rode with sides of meat hanging from their saddles. Today, shanks of beef are cut from domestically grown beef, and dry cured in the fresh air for a couple days. Next, the meat is covered in a paste called çemen, which is made from garlic, fenugreek seeds, and red peppers, and left to cure for another couple days. Connoisseurs will tell you that if your pastirma is cut with a machine, as opposed to a hand knife, it is inferior. Believe what you will.

Simit is generally served plain, or for breakfast with tea, fruit preserves, or cheese or ayran. Drinking tea with simit is traditional. full with Grape molasses and Ankara style (gevrek) Simit are a popular Turkish street food. Instead of being boiled like a bagel, the twisted circles of dough get a quick dip in diluted grape molasses before dredging in sesame seeds. The result is a crisp exterior and a light, delicate, and tender interior. It is the best breakfast in this world when accompanied by cheese, tomatoes, cucumber and a cup of tea. Although it's one of the best street foods in the country, it's possible to make it at home too.