The preparation of soups in Turkey is rarely complete without the use of offal. If you don’t like this type of food, read the menu carefully. In appearance, it is not always clear whether there are offal in the soup. A striking example is the recipe for ishkembe soup, which is made from offal with the addition of garlic and vinegar. There are also soups with other ingredients in Turkey. Merdzhimek is made from red lentils, shekhrieli yesil merdzhimek – from green lentils. In the latter, it is customary to add vermicelli. There is also tarkhana chobrasy, perhaps the most famous first dish in Turkey. A mixture of pepper, flour, onion, yeast and ground dried tomatoes is added to the soup. Purely vegetable Turkish salad – shepherd’s, or choban salads. It is made from cucumbers, tomatoes, sheep’s cheese, onions and sweet peppers. Another popular option is potlyjan salads. The main ingredient is fried eggplant. The skin is removed from them, after which the pulp is mashed. For a spicy taste, parsley, olive oil and garlic are added. The salad is often dressed with olive oil. Eggplants are quite popular in Turkey, but the main local vegetables are tomatoes and peppers.

Drizzled with olive oil, spinach and carrots are often served as an appetizer. But the most famous Turkish snack is meze. More precisely, this is a set of snacks that are offered for alcohol. Mezes are cold and hot. The former are made on the basis of yogurt with the addition of vegetables, the latter are often easy-to-cook baked dishes. For example, karidesh gyuvech is shrimp baked in earthenware with vegetables.