Havuç Tarator (Turkish Carrot, Walnut & Yoghurt Dip)

This delicious dip hearlding from Türkiye is made using a handful of ingredients. Grated carrots are sautéed gently and then added to Greek yoghurt with olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and pul biber to make a divine addition to a Mezze-style spread.

Turkish Cuisine

Turkish cuisine is close to my heart almost as much as Persian cusine! I have travelled to Türkiye more times than i have to Iran, mostly because of the food but also the kindess of the people, the weather, the history and the sights!

The culture surrounding food in this beautiful country is very like that in Iran. It is the essence of family, coming together, sharing and eating with your loved ones. Turkish patisseries are incredible, filled with cakes, breads and other baked goods. Around the streets of Istanbul you can pick up freshly baked simit (the Turkish equivalent of a bagel) and eat it while soaking up the sights and washing it down with Turkish tea of coffee! The kebabs and other main dishes are outstanding as are the arrays of appetisers and starters pre the main event.

One of the dishes I fell in love with while visiting Istanbul was Havuç Tarator.

What is Havuç Tarator?

Havuç Tarator is a simple yoghurt-based dip made with sautéed grated carrot, crushed walnuts. lemon juice, pul biber, olive oil and a hint of garlic. It is absolutely delicious and easy to knock up.

For those of you who may not be familiar with pul biber, it is a dried, coarsely ground dark red pepper is grown in Syria and Turkey. It is used as a condiment and has a mildly smoky flavor with moderate heat. If you are unable to find it, you can substitute with dried red chilli flakes.

Serve Havuç Tarator alongside a mezze-style meal with lots of other dishes; as an accompaniment to kebabs or other BBQ dishes; or just with crackers or crisps.

Other Turkish Recipes

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Havuç Tarator

Turkish Carrot & Yoghurt Dip

Prep Time15

Cook Time5

Total Time20

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Turkish

Keyword: vegetarian, dip

Servings:

Author: Mersedeh Prewer

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
3 medium carrots (grated on the coarse side of a box grater)
1 large garlic clove (crushed)
500 g Greek yoghurt
30 grams walnuts (coarsley crushed)
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pul Biber or Aleppo Pepper (red pepper flakes)
Squeeze or 2 of fresh lemon juice

To garnish

Pul Biber or Aleppo Pepper
Olive oil (to drizzle on top)
Walnuts halves

Instructions

Place a frying pan on a medium-high heat and add olive oil. Once the oil starts to glisten, add grated carrot. Then add crushed garlic and stir until the carrot wilts and the garlic is evenly distributed - this should only take a few minutes. Turn off the heat and let the carrot mixture cool.
Take a bowl, add yoghurt, grated carrot, crushed walnuts, lemon juice, salt, Pul Biber and stir. Taste and adjust seasoning or other flavours as desired.
Cover the bowl and leave in the fridge for the flavours to intensify and mix well through the yoghurt (no less than 1 hour).
When you are ready to serve the dip, drizzle some olive oil on top and decorate with walnuts and a sprinkle of Pul Biber. Serve as part of a mezze-style spread of dishes, or as an appetiser.

Sweet Potato & Leek Bolani with Coriander Chutney

Afghan flatbread filled with sweet potato & leek, served with a coriander chutney

Bolani (also called Periki) is a stuffed flatbread from Afghanistan. It is commonly cooked by frying and it has a thin crust, which can be filled with a variety of ingredients, such as potatoes, lentils, leeks or minced meat. It is usually served with a yoghurt and / or a coriander chutney. Bolani is made for special occasions but is also a popular street food available in Afghanistan.

It can be eaten as an appetiser, accompany a main meal or eaten as a snack. If you have ever eaten a stuffed Indian paratha or a Mexican quesadilla, then you will be familiar with the presentation of this dish. The main differences being that the Bolani is not flaky and layered like a paratha and not cheesy like a quesadilla, however the premise of of a stuffed type of flatbread is the same.

This recipe is one of a series of recipes posted which forms an element of a larger family meal for my lot. The others are Qorma-e-Lubia (Afghan red kidney bean curry) which I serve with rice, and Maast O’Khiar (a yoghurt dip made with cucumber, mint and garlic). Whilst Maast O’Khiar is the Persian name for this dip, you may be familiar with the Mediterranean versions such as Tzatziki (Greek version), Cacik (Turkish version), Talattouri (Cypriot version). The Afghan version is called Jaan-e-ama and often eaten with Bolani.

The recipe below is vegan and, despite having to make the dough yourself, is relatively quick and easy. I have developed my Bolani recipe to include sweet potato, leek and coriander for the filling (see picture below). It is flavoured with dried red chillies, garlic, turmeric, ground coriander, cinnamon and fresh lime juice. Although not the traditional filling, the combination of the ingredients for the mixture is delicious and one that I am sure you will love. I have also made Bolani in the past with the more traditional fillings such as (1) leeks, spring onion, chilli and coriander; and (2) potato, spring onions, coriander and chili and you should feel free to experiment with yours.

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Sweet Potato & Leek Bolani with Coriander Chutney

Afghan flatbread filled with sweet potato & leek, served with a coriander chutney

Prep Time45

Cook Time45

Resting time for dough30

Total Time2

Course: Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish, lunch, Accompaniment

Cuisine: Middle-Eastern, Afghan

Keyword: vegetarian, vegan

Servings: (to 6)

Author: Mersedeh Prewer

Ingredients

Coriander Chutney

1 bunch fresh coriander (about 100 grams)
3 cloves garlic (crushed or minced)
The green ends of 4 spring onions
1 to 2 green chilli peppers
1/3 cup walnuts
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Bolani Filling

2 medium sweet potatoes (peeled and chopped into medium sized chunks)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 medium leeks (quartered and sliced)
3 cloves garlic (crushed or minced)
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp dried red chilli flakes
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Juice of 1 lime
3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Bolani Dough

200 g plain flour
100 g atta (chapati flour) (you can use wholemeal flour instead)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil (plus extra to fry the Bolani)
180 ml water

Instructions

Coriander Chutney

Make the chutney ahead (minimum 2 hrs before eating) to let the flavours settle.
Add coriander, garlic, walnuts, chillies and scallion ends to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
Add the vinegar and pulse a few more times - the chutney should have a coarsely chopped appearance. Add olive oil, sugar, salt and pepper and taste. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Pour chutney into a sterilised jar with a lid. Place in the fridge until you are ready to use. Any left over chutney keeps for 2 months in the fridge and can be used for other dishes including grilled meats, roast vegetables or curries.

Bolani Filling

Steam or boil the sweet potatoes until cooked / soft.
Add 3 tbsp of vegetable oil to a large frying pan / skillet and place over a medium / high heat. Add leeks and cook until softened. Add garlic and turmeric and stir into the leeks until evenly distributed and aroma released.
Add ground coriander, dried red chilli flakes and cinnamon and stir.
Add sweet potato and mash into the mixture until the leek mixture is fully integrated into the mashed sweet potato.
Add fresh lime juice and the finely chopped fresh coriander leaves. Add salt and pepper and taste, adjust seasoning if required. Take off the heat and set aside to cool until you are ready to stuff the Bolani dough.

Bolani Dough

Stir flours and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and add the vegetable oil and water. Form a shaggy dough with your hands, then turn out onto a clean work surface. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes until you have a smooth dough. Place the dough in the mixing bowl and cover. Set aside to rest for 30 mins,
Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. Roll one piece of dough on a clean surface until the dough is 15cm in diameter.
Divide the sweet potato filling into six and fill half of the round of dough by spreading into a thin layer, leaving a 1cm empty space around the edge. Fold the empty top half of the dough over the filling and press down to seal, stretching parts of the dough to create an even crescent shape. Place on baking paper until ready to cook.
Heat a large non-stick frying pan or skillet over medium-low heat. Add 1 tsp of vegetable to the pan. When the oil is hot, add 1 Bolani and fry for about 2 minutes on each side until golden brown. Then place on a paper towel to soak up oil while the others fry. Feel free to keep the cooked Bolani in a low / medium heat oven to keep warm while you fry the others.
Serve the Bolanis warm / hot with the coriander chutney and / or yoghurt based (or non-dairy yoghurt) dip.

Summer Kuku served with a Pea, Mint and Feta Dip

Kale and red pepper kuku with a pea, mint & feta dip

This recipe is pure summer on a plate! A light and easy meal – I often cook it the night before we want to eat it and store it in the fridge. It can be eaten warm or cold and it is a great way to get a hit of goodness into you.

Kuku (also spelled ‘kookoo’) is an egg-based, vegetarian dish from Iran made with beaten eggs, folding in various ingredients. It is similar to the Italian frittata, the French quiche or an open-faced omelette, but it typically has more vegetables than its Western counterparts. It is served either hot or cold as a starter, side dish or a main course, and is accompanied with bread and either yogurt, salad and / or rice. The two most well known kuku recipes are Kuku Sabzi (made with herbs and barberries and / or walnuts); and Kuku Sibzamini (made with potatoes). Ultimately, you can make kuku with any vegetables you like.

This kuku recipe materialised after an Oddbox delivery. Oddbox is a wonderful company that rescues surplus or imperfect vegetables and fruit, which would otherwise not make it to the shopper, and offers it by way of a home delivery subscription services. My medium-sized box of delights is delivered fortnightly. It’s a fantastic initiative that helps me to eat more vegetables and fruit, while helping to save our planet. It is also been great for challenging my recipe ideas as sometimes I can fall into the routine of buying the same ingredients and cooking the same recipes.

One of my Oddbox deliveries had some kale and red peppers, which lead me down the path of experimenting with the medium of kuku. Kale has become very popular in the UK due to the health benefits. Our supermarkets are always well-stocked with kale and red peppers, potatoes and red onions – the vegetables used to cook this dish. I use garlic, smoked paprika and chillies for the aromatic notes, which results in a smoky and gently warming feel to eating this even when eaten cold.

Traditionally kuku is fried and flipped over to brown on the other side, but I prefer to oven bake mine so the recipe below is geared towards baking but feel free to fry it if you prefer, either omelette-style or like fritters.

The beauty of kuku is that you can make a batch one evening and have it as a quick lunch on your working days. It is also a well-loved addition to a mezze-style meal or served with bowls filled with lots of antipasti (as pictured) in my family.

I have paired this kuku recipe with a pea, mint and feta dip, making the overall experience fresh, light and summery.

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Summer Kuku served with a Pea and Mint Dip

Prep Time20

Cook Time1

Total Time1 20

Course: Main Course, lunch

Cuisine: Persian, Iranian, Fusion

Keyword: light lunch, mezze, frittata, kookoo

Servings: (to 4 people)

Author: Mersedeh Prewer

Ingredients

Kuku

2 tbsp olive oil (and a little to grease your tin)
200 g potatoes (diced into 1 cm cubes)
1 medium / large red onion (finely diced)
1 red pepper (medium diced)
75 g kale (removed from stalks, washed and roughly chopped)
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
1 tbsp tomatoe purée (dissolved in 100ml of water)
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 small red chilli (minced)
6 large free range eggs (cracked and beaten in a bowl)
Salt and pepper (to taste)

Pea and mint dip

2 cups peas (frozen is fine - blanch them in boiling water before blending into the dip)
1 clove garlic
40 g feta
2 tbsp olive oil (plus extra to drizzle on top)
10 leaves fresh mint (plus extra to chop and garnish the dip with)
Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 160°C (fan) / 180°C (conventional) / Gas Mark 4.
Take a cake tin (20 cm diameter) (preferably one without a loose base as the egg is likely to seep out unless you properly cover the gaps with baking paper). Grease and line the tin with baking paper. Place the tin in the oven to heat up.
Take a frying pan, place on a medium / high heat and add 2 tbsp of oil.
Add the potatoes and cook until the potatoes start to turn golden and little crispy.
Add the peppers and onions and cook until they soften.
Add the garlic, smoked paprika, chilli and stir until evenly distributed.
Add the tomato purée and water to the mixture.
Then add the kale and cook until wilted and the mixture has little or no liquid. then turn off the heat and let cool for 10 mins.
Take the beaten egg mixture and add the vegetable mixture and stir. Season with salt and pepper.
Remove the tin from the oven and pour the mixture in. Then place in the oven to cook for about 30 to 40 mins (or until a knife poked into the middle of the kuku comes out clean)
To make the dip, blend all the dip ingredients in a food processor and pour into a serving bowl. Feel free to adjust seasoning and lemon juice to taste. Scatter a little finely chopped mint on top and drizzle with a little olive oil.
Serve the kuku warm or cold with the dip, flatbreads and other antipasti type dishes or as part of a mezze-style meal.

Persian-Style Dal with Persian Mixed Spice & Dried Limes

A deeply comforting dal cooked in a rich tomato sauce with warming spices. The combination of the dried limes and Persian mixed spice creates an incredible savoury dish. A great vegetarian dish to eat with rice and or flatbread.

I discovered a love for dal over the last ten years. My husband introduced me to the world of dal during one of our early dates. He is a big fan of Indian cuisine and always orders a dal dish to accompany his meal. I was reluctant at first but, after a spoonful, I fell in love with the creamy texture and the aromatics of the dish. I wanted to make a dal dish with a Persian twist so I started experimenting!

Ingredients in this Dish

This dish is made with yellow split peas (Channa Dal) using the holy trinity of Persian cooking – onion, turmeric and saffron. I also added other familiar flavours from our cuisine during the recipe development including limoo amani (dried lime), advieh (Persian mixed spice) and nigella seeds. The resulting dish is deliciously savoury, packing an umami punch and satisfying even the die-hard carnivore.

Limoo amani can be bought online or from most Middle-Eastern food shops. It adds a musky and citrusy flavour to the dish. Be careful when piercing a hole into the dried lime as you do not want the seeds to fall out while it is cooking as it can make the dish bitter – just a gentle shallow poke into the lime with the end of a sharp knife.

Advieh can also be bought from most Middle-Eastern food shops – I buy mine online from Freshly Spiced on Etsy. The combination fo spices are nutmeg, rose petals, cardamom, cumin, black pepper, goriander, and cinnamon.

I like a little heat in my food so I add red chilli to my dal, but feel free to leave it out.

How to Serve This Dish

Serve it with roti or naan, rice if you want a hearty meal with fresh herbs, torshi or a yoghurt dip on the side such as Maast o’Moosir (yoghurt and Persian shallot dip) or Maast O’Khiar (Persian yoghurt and cucumber dip).

Leftovers

This dal dish will last in the frisge up to 5 says if kept in an airtight container. Always cool dishes completely before refridgerating.

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Persian-Style Dal with Persian Mixed Spice & Dried Limes

Prep Time15

Cook Time1

Total Time1 15

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Persian, Iranian, Fusion

Keyword: vegetarian, vegan option, dhal, dahl, daal

Servings:

Author: Mersedeh Prewer

Ingredients

For the dal

250 g chana dal (split yellow lentils) (rinsed with water until it runs clear and left in a bowl of water to soak overnight)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 whole red chilli (finely chopped - please feel free leave out / reduce amount or deseed if you would prefer it less spicy)
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp turmeric
900 mls vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
1 to 2 limoo amani (dried lime)
200 g fresh tomatoes (chopped)
1/8 tsp ground saffron (bloomed in 2 tbsp of water)
Juice from half a fresh lime
Salt and pepper (to taste)

For the temper and garnish

2 tbsp ghee (non dairy alternative, if vegan)
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1/4 tsp advieh (Persian mixed spice)
1 tsp nigella seeds (to garnish)

Instructions

Blend onion and garlic into a paste in a food processor or equivalent.
Take a large saucepan and add 2 tbsp oil and place on medium-high heat. Add chilli and coriander seeds. Toast lightly for 30 seconds to release flavours. Be careful not to burn otherwise it will be bitter. Add onion and garlic paste to the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Add turmeric and cook for a couple of minutes.
Drain channa dal and rinse. Then add to the pan with stock, chopped tomatoes, bay leaf and bloomed saffron.
Pierce imoo amani 3 to 4 times around the lime gently with the tip of a sharp knife and add to the pan - only a shallow piercing is required. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down, add a lid and let it simmer for 45 minutes.
When the channa dal has cooked, remove from heat and remove the bay leaf and limoo amani. Stir to break down. Squeeze some fresh lime juice and season to taste. Leave the mixture to thicken.
To make the temper, place a small frying pan on high heat. Add ghee and fry mustard seeds for 30 seconds. Turn heat off, add advieh and mix and then pour into the dal mixture and stir. Sprinkle nigella seeds to garnish.
Serve with chapatis or roti and/or rice with yoghurt or torshi.