Soups35 min
Red Lentil Soup with Dried Mint & Butter
A silky, warming mercimek çorbası that has graced every Turkish table for generations — simple ingredients, extraordinary depth.
View Recipe
Featured Recipe
By murat-dogan · Personal recipe, originally from Trabzon, Türkiye
Est.
2019
The Cook Behind the Blog
Raised in Giresun,
Cooking with Soul
I'm Murat Doğan — a home cook from the lush Black Sea coast of Giresun, where every family table groans with slow-simmered stews, hand-rolled börek, and the smoky perfume of wood-fired bread. My grandmother never owned a recipe book; everything lived in her hands and her memory.
This blog is my way of keeping those memories alive. Here I share the dishes I grew up eating — honest, unfussy Turkish home cooking rooted in seasonal ingredients, regional tradition, and the kind of generous hospitality that Anatolian kitchens are famous for.
Whether you're new to Turkish cuisine or cooking it since childhood, you'll find something warm waiting for you here.
200+
Recipes Published
6 yrs
Sharing Turkish Flavours
Giresun
Roots & Inspiration
Fresh from the Kitchen
Latest Recipes
Pastries1 hr 10 min
Ispanaklı Börek — Spinach & Feta Pastry
Paper-thin yufka layered with fresh spinach and crumbled beyaz peynir, baked until shatteringly crisp and golden.
View Recipe
Grills45 min
Adana-Style Lamb Shish Kebab
Hand-minced lamb seasoned with red pepper flakes and cumin, moulded on wide skewers and cooked over glowing charcoal.
View Recipe
Mezze1 hr 30 min
Zeytinyağlı Yaprak Sarma — Stuffed Vine Leaves
Delicate vine leaves wrapped around herbed rice, pine nuts and currants, simmered gently in olive oil and lemon juice.
View Recipe
Mains55 min
Karnıyarık — Baked Stuffed Aubergine
Tender aubergines split and filled with a fragrant mixture of spiced ground beef, onion, tomatoes and peppers.
View Recipe
Desserts25 min
İrmik Helvası — Toasted Semolina Halva
A fragrant, buttery semolina dessert toasted to golden perfection with pine nuts — the taste of Turkish comfort and celebration.
View RecipeExplore by Category
Every Corner of Türkiye's Table
From the smoky grill to the fragile pastry sheet — find recipes by the tradition that shaped them.
Reader FavouritesLoved by Thousands,
Loved by Thousands,
Tested by Time
The recipes readers return to again and again — rated, reviewed, and made with real love in kitchens across the world.
#1
Main Course
#1
4.9(318 ratings)
Slow-Cooked Lamb Güveç
Tender lamb shoulder braised with tomatoes, peppers, and a whisper of cumin in a clay pot — the dish that made my grandmother famous in our village.
3 hrs 20 min
#2
Pastry
#2
4.8(274 ratings)
Simit-Crusted Börek with Spinach & White Cheese
Flaky yufka layers wrapped around a creamy spinach and beyaz peynir filling, then coated in crushed simit sesame seeds for an irresistible golden crunch.
55 min
#3
Dessert
#3
4.9(401 ratings)
Burnt Honey & Pistachio Baklava
A bold twist on the timeless classic — nutty pistachio layers soaked in burnt honey syrup that adds a deep, bittersweet complexity you won't find in any pastry shop.
1 hr 45 min
Autumn 2025
Seasonal Pick
Autumn in Giresun:
Hazelnut Season
Every September, the hillside orchards of Giresun — Turkey's hazelnut heartland on the Black Sea coast — fill with the sound of harvesting. Families lay out wide nets beneath gnarled trees and wait for the moment the nuts tumble free, still wrapped in their papery green husks.
The hazelnut is not merely an ingredient here. It is memory. It is the smell of your grandmother's kitchen in October, the crunch inside a warm baklava, the earthy richness stirred into a pot of tarator sauce. In Giresun, the harvest isn't just agriculture — it is a yearly ritual that connects generations to the land.
This autumn, I travelled back to the region to document the harvest and cook beside the farmers who make it possible. What I brought home was a recipe that honours every stage of the hazelnut — roasted, ground, whole.
Featured Recipe
Giresun Hazelnut Tarator with Roasted Vegetables
35 minutesServes 4Easy
From the murat-dogan kitchen — written & photographed in Giresun, September 2025
HazelnutBlack SeaAutumnTraditional
Weekly Newsletter
New recipes in your inbox
every week
Every Sunday morning, I'll send you a freshly tested recipe from my kitchen in Türkiye — seasonal ingredients, step-by-step guidance, and the story behind the dish. Sometimes a regional tip, sometimes a family secret.
No spam, ever. Unsubscribe anytime with one click.
A
M
F
Z
Joined by 2,400+ food lovers from 38 countries