During Ramadan (Ramazan in Turkish), observant Muslims are encouraged not to eat between sunup and sundown. The big feast meal breaking the fast after sundown is Iftar, and this is traditionally a pretty lavish spread. However, less attention is sometimes given to Suhoor/Suhur, the pre-sunrise meal. In order to get through the day fasting, a hearty Suhoor is common. One of our favorite breakfasts is Turkish, so we were curious to learn about Turkish dishes for Suhoor. Turns out that for Turkish suhoor, hearty, filling dishes are the norm, including creamy kaymak cheese, the egg dish menemen and the baked macaroni dish makarna. Of course, these filling dishes may be accompanied by cheese, bread, honey, fruit, tea, coffee and anything else you may enjoy at a classic Turkish breakfast!
- Menemen Recipe from Chili Pepper Madness (pictured below)
- Menemen recipe from Serious Eats
- Menemen Recipe from Ye-Mek
- Firinda Makarna recipe from Binnur’s Turkish Cookbook
- Kaymak Recipe from Binnur’s Turkish Cookbook
One of our favorite things to do in a country is to sample their typical iconic breakfast foods. We have found some of our most favorite foods this way – yogurt and honey from Greece, helva from Turkey, Torta Caprese from Italy, etc. – and we find it quite a lot more enjoyable than taking a bland continental breakfast. In Spain, the breakfast treat of choice is hot chocolate and churros. In the US, churros have something of a dubious reputation. While, of course, you can find some excellent renditions of churros in the US, the sugar-coated, soggy churro is often the purview of school lunches and amusement parks. I had personally sworn off churros after they were the only dessert offered in our junior high cafeteria. However, I am open to an opinion change.
Eating The World 