I will repost the information from Turkish Minisitry of Culture website to give you some background on the Turkish culinary culture. They hire professionals to write these after all:

Nutritional habits are shaped according to the prevalent cultural - geographical - ecological - economic characteristics and features and the historical process.

When one talks about the Turkish cuisine, the term should be understood as the totality of foods and beverages which provide nutrition to the people living in Turkey, the ways of preparing and preserving them; techniques, equipment and utensils required for this, eating manners and all the practices and beliefs which are developed around this cuisine.

The richness of variety Turkish cuisine possesses is due to several factors. In summary, the variety of products offered by the lands of Asia and Anatolia, interaction with numerous different cultures over a long historical process, the new tastes developed in the palace kitchens of the Seljuk and Ottoman empires have all played a part in shaping the new character of our culinary culture.

Turkish Cuisine, which in general consists of sauced dishes prepared with cereals, various vegetables and some meat, soups, cold dishes cooked with olive oil, pastry dishes and dishes made from wild vegetation has also produced a series of health foods such as pekmez, yogurt, bulgur etc. The eating habits which reflect the tastes changing from one location to the next, gains a new meaning and near - sacredness on special occasions, celebrations and ceremonies.

Turkish Cuisine, while rich in variety and taste-bud friendly, also contains examples which could provide a source for healthy and balanced diets and vegetarian cuisines.

Below you will find a list of some of the dishes from Xen’s kitchen.

You are by no means limited to those. I did not want to have a huge list of dishes to select from. When you call, we will discuss and come up with a good menu for the week, the day, or the party.

1. •MEZES
   

2. •SOUPS
   

3. •SALADS
   

4. •KEBAPS
   

5. •KOFTES
   

6. •OTHER MEAT DISHES
   

7. •SARMA and DOLMA
   

8. •POULTRY
   

9. •FISH
   

10. •VEGETARIAN DISHES
    

11. •PILAV and MAKARNAS
    

12. •BOREK and POGACAS
    

13. •DESSERTS

One of my friends said Turkish cooking is pure garlic. But he was wrong, we actually add some other stuff to our garlic. Many of the mezes are garlicy, but we have some that don’t have any.

1. •TARATOR walnuts, tahini, garlic
   

2. •SAKA SUKA eggplant, pepper, egg, tomatoes
   

3. •BABAGANUS eggplant, tahini, garlic
   

4. •HAYDARI feta cheese, yogurt, garlic
   

5. •ARNAVUT CIGERI liver (cow or lamb), onions
   

6. •HUMUS  chickpeas, tahini, garlic
   

7. •HAVUC KIZARTMASI carrots, yogurt, garlic
   

8. •MUCVER squash, eggs, onions.
   

9. •PATATES KOFTESI potatoes
   

10. •PIYAZ beans, onions, eggs
    

11. •LALEZAR cheese, potatoes, onions
    

...and many more

I love having a bowl of soup, summer or winter. In summer a luke warm soup is a light dish that fills you up but it doesn’t make you uncomfortable. Many soups are served with lemon, giving them a nice refreshing taste. Well, cold weather is the time for soups, anyways.

As you can guess from the names of the dishes below, corba means soup.

1. •YOGURTLU CORBA yogurt, eggs, mint
   This soup can be served hot or cold. It always has a very refreshing taste.
   

2. •DOMATES CORBASI tomato soup
   

3. •SEBZE CORBASI vegetable soup
   

4. •PIRINC CORBASI rice soup
   

5. •MERCIMEK CORBASI lentil soup with onions, green peppers, and carrots
   

6. •EZOGELIN CORBASI lentil, rice, bulgur, mint
   

7. •CERKEZ CORBASI lamb, corn, green beans, onions
   

8. •KOFTELI CORBA soup with meatballs
   

9. •YESIL MERCIMEK CORBASI green lentil soup with onions.

Well, when someone says kebap, usually those kind of in the know think of doner kebap or sis kebap. Actually, any dish that involves cooking the meat without addition of water (cooking over open flame, grilling, roasting, pan frying, or stewing) can be called a kebap.

So, for those who want doner kebap: I’m really sorry... It is very hard for me to cook it, though I can recommend some good restaurants in large metropolitan areas that do it.

True to my mediterranean roots, I love lamb. But many people find the taste a little bit too strong. That’s why I usually cook kebaps with cow’s meat. Based on request, I switch to lamb.

1. •ALI NAZIK ground meat, eggplant, yogurt
   Alright, Turks have some funny names for our dishes and one of the interesting examples is Ali Nazik which means “Gentle Ali”. Isn’t it one of the most hilarious names?
   

2. •HUNKAR BEGENDI meat, tomatoes, eggplant, milk
   Ok, this dish, being named “the emperor liked this” might be funnier. According to the myth, it was invented for Ottoman emperor Murat IV (17th century) by a chef who wanted become a cook at the emperor’s kitchen.
   

3. •ALI PASA KEBABI meat, onions, parsley - wrapped in thin dough
   Well, if Gentle Ali has his own kebap, Ali Pasa should have one, too. (Being a pasa in Ottoman empire was like the knighthood in British one.)
   

4. •HASAN PASA KEBABI meat, onions, milk
   I am not really sure if this Hasan Pasa is the famous Ottoman governor of Iraq from 18th century, or a small town which turned into a suburb of Istanbul.
   

Now, lets switch to careers:

1. •BAHCIVAN KEBABI meat stew with tomatoes, peas, carrots, peppers
   This is the gardner’s kebap.
   

2. •COBAN KEBABI another meat stew. This time with tomatoes, onions, potatoes
   ..., the shepherd’s kebap...
   

3. •AVCI KEBABI one more meat stew, with tomatoes, onions, peas, potatoes, carrots
   ... and the hunter’s kebap.
   

While at it, how about Turkish towns:

1. •COKERTME KEBABI meat, potatoes, yogurt
   A beautiful seaside town in southwest Turkey
   

2. •ADANA KEBAP ground meat, onions, spicy - actually a kind of kofte
   A big town in south east Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast. cooked with special skewers on a grill.
   

3. •URFA KEBAP similar to Adana, but not spicy
   Urfa is just east of Adana. Their food is usually way spicier than Adana’s. I wonder how they ended up with the non-spicy dish here.
   

And the other famous kebaps:

1. •SIS KEBAP lamb’s meat, cooked with skewers on a grill.
   I cook sis kebap only with lamb’s meat, nothing will taste good enough. The meat will need to marinate for at least 24 hours.
   

2. •TALAS KEBABI meat, parsley, tomatoes - wrapped in thin dough
   

3. •TAS KEBAP meat, onions, potatoes, peppers
   

... and many more. Just too many of them to list here.

Kofte is a kind of Turkish meatball. There are just so many different kinds of them that I love to cook, I will have to skip some. I think most of the meat that I eat is a type of kofte. It is usually much faster to prepare and cook. And I love mixing ground meat meat with some other stuff.

By the way, there are vegetarian koftes made with potatoes or squash, lentils, listed below...

1. •TAVADA KOFTE ground meat, onions, parsley, lots of spices
   This is my favorite family recipe.
   

2. •SUCUK KOFTESI ground meat, garlic, lots of spices
   Another one that came down the recipes. If you thought tavada kofte was spicy, you shouldn’t try it. I sometimes cook it for unsuspecting friends just to see their faces.
   

3. •KADINBUDU KOFTE ground meat, onions, rice, eggs.
   You will never believe what this means: “a woman’s thigh kofte”. Doesn’t look anything like that, though.
   

4. •IZMIR KOFTESI ground meat, onions, tomatoes, potatoes
   A delicious, oven cooked kofte. Izmir is the third biggest town of Turkey, located on the western coast.
   

5. •ELAZIG KOFTESI ground meat, bulgur, tomatoes
   Elazig is the town where my mom is from in eastern Turkey. They have delicious dishes, and this is just one of them. It’s served in a broth.
   

6. •CULLU KOFTE ground meat, bulgur, tomatoes, eggs
   This is kind of interesting. After Elazig koftesi is ready, you take them out of the liquid, dip them in whisked eggs and panfry them. So, cool.
   

7. •EKSILI KOFTE ground meat, rice, lemons, eggs
   “Sour kofte”, served in a broth.
   

Ok, here are some veggie koftes:

1. •PATATES KOFTESI potatoes, eggs, cheese
   

2. •MERCIMEK KOFTESI lentils, parsley (served cold)
   

3. •MUCVER squash, eggs (pan fried, served hot or cold)

Salads are a very important part of Turkish meals. In Turkey, the salad is served at the same time as the main dish. Since we are not used to eating in a hurry, when we are taking a break from the main dish, we just eat a little salad. The salad actually clears the pellet a little, so the diner can get a fresh taste of his/her food.

Another thing that totally threw me off was all the salad dressings. The traditional Turkish culture uses olive oil with either lemon juice or red wine vinegar in their salads. That’s it.

Some of the salads that Xen kitchen offers are listed below:

1. •SHEPHERD’S SALAD tomatoes, cucumbers, scallions, lemon juice and olive oil
   Based on how I feel that day, I serve it with some feta cheese, olives, even some anchovies.
   

2. •GREEN SALAD tomatoes, lettuce, scallions, olive oil, lemon juice or vinegar
   

3. •CARROT SALAD carrots, tomatoes, scallions, olive oil, lemon juice
   

4. •RUSSIAN SALAD mayonnaise, cooked salami, potatoes, carrots, pickles
   This is actually a meze, but the name suggests it is a salad, so I’ll stay with that...
   

5. •POTATO SALAD potatoes, eggs, tomatoes, scallions, red onions
   

6. •CACIK yogurt, cucumber, dill, garlic
   This also is not an “official” salad, more a yogurt side dish, but can be served as a salad.
   

7. •MARTIN’S SALAD baby spinach, bacon bits, goat cheese, apples, red wine vinegar, bacon fat (!)
   This is not Turkish home cooking. It might be Belgian, because I learnt it from my Belgian roommate Martin. I don’t care where it’s from though, it is delicious and unhealthy as hell.

Turkish cuisine is not just about koftes and kebaps. We also cook some other dishes for carnivores. I will just give a handful of examples.

1. •GRILLED STEAK your choice of steak, marinated with thyme and about 10 other spices for at least 2-3 days. Recommended medium rare or medium. Incredible on a coal grill, but just as tasty on a pan in your kitchen.
   

Some eggplant dishes with meat:

1. •KARNIYARIK eggplant stuffed with ground meat, onions, green peppers, parsley, spices
   This is one of my favorite dishes. It takes a decent amount of time to cook, but once it’s ready, there is not too many dishes that taste as good. Of course you have to overcome the name, which means “split stomach”. The reason why it’s called so is you cut a slit in the eggplant from bottom to top and stuff it there. Just don’t visualize while eating.
   

2. •PATLICAN OTURTMA eggplant with ground meat, onions, tomatoes
   If karniyarik is too gruesome a name to overcome, here is another version, which looks and tastes very different but still has some similar ingredients.
   

3. •MUSAKKA eggplant with cubed meat, onions, tomatoes
   This Turkish dish was passed over to the Greeks and rest of the Balkans. It went through some transformation in Greece, but then it crossed the Atlantic. The American “Greek Mousakka” that you find at diners all over is extremely transformed into a heavy, tasteless dish compared to the Mediterranean original. To taste the real deals, you need to order from me, or find a first generation Turk or Greek.
   And there is an Arabic musaqqa’a. It is a totally separate dish; a cooked vegetable salad.
   

4. •MANTI meat wrapped in dough, served with garlic yogurt and butter
   You could claim the manti is the Turkish version of dumplings. And up to a point they are...
   This dish is such a big part of Turkish culture that you will find restaurants in Turkey which serve only manti and nothing else.
   

The dishes below are originally vegetarian. Since Turkish dinner does not often have a meat dish, they are sometimes cooked with meat to provide an additional source of protein and give additional taste. I will list only a few, but pretty much every vegetarian dish

1. •ETLI BAMYA okra with small cubed meat, onions, tomatoes
   

2. •ETLI NOHUT chickpeas with ground or cubed meat, onions
   

3. •KIYMALI KURU FASULYE beans with ground meat
   

4. •YAZ TURLUSU “mixed stew for summer”, eggplant, squash, green beans, okra, tomatoes with cubed lamb
   
   

And there are many more...

Sarma and Dolma have so many types, that I will just try to just list the three most common ones:

1. •SARMA ground meat, rice, onions, tomatoes wrapped in grape leaves
   This is a favorite of mine. The pinky-sized pencil long wraps are so delicious, so visually satisfying, yet so easy to eat! You can have them at your dinner party, or nuke these bad boys and sit and munch while watching Monday Night Football.
   Alright, some people call sarma with a different name: dolma. But, dolma means stuffed (see below), while sarma means wrapped. There also is the Dolma that you can buy in cans or grocery stores. Do not do it. The canned stuff will make you never eat this delicious dish.
   

2. •DOLMA ground meat, rice, onions, tomatoes stuffed in bell peppers, tomatoes, squash, or eggplant
   The stuffing is the same as for sarma, but they are stuffed instead of wrapped.
   

3. •LAHANA SARMASI ground meat, rice, onions, tomatoes, wrapped in cabbage leaves
   

There is also a vegetarian version:

1. •ZEYTINYAGLI SARMA rice, tomatoes, wrapped in grape leaves

I was attacked by a chicken when I was nearly a year and a half old. To this day, I carry the marks of that event on my hands and face and in my psyche. Like any mad scientist, I am still busy taking my revenge on the species, consuming as many of them as possible.

1. •FIRINDA TAVUK oven roasted chicken coated with a tomato-based sauce.
   This is one of my favorites. I often throw in some small potatoes, shallots, carrots, and even apples in the oven with the chicken. They come out tasting delish.
   I often cook whole a whole chicken, but sometimes just breast (with bones) also taste great. Recommended with a chicken soup as a starter.
   

2. •CHICKEN SCHNITZEL battered and pan fried boneless chicken breast strips
   Not Turkish, but with a Turkish touch, since I am the one who’s cooking.
   

3. •CHICKEN LITE chicken breast, soy sauce, garlic
   One of my original recipes, though I am sure there is half a billion people cooking their chicken this style somewhere on the world. It is pretty light and delicious.
   

4. •TAVUKLU KURU FASULYE beans with minced chicken, onions, carrots
   

5. •TAVUKLU NOHUT chickpeas with minced chicken, onions, carrots
   Chickpeas are my favorite members of the bean family. And with chicken, they become delicious.
   

6. •PILIC INCIK marinated chicken legs
   Again a very light chicken dish, this time with legs or drumsticks. They are overnight marinated in garlic, parsley, and cooked in oven.
   

7. •CURRY CHICKEN chicken, mushrooms, onions
   Definitely not a traditional Turkish. But then, it does not fit into any other nation’s curry chicken recipe. I love it, everyone else who can handle hot curry loves it.

A funny think about cooking Mediterranean fish in United States is... Well, there is no Mediterranean fish. That is a major roadblock, since the fish that I grew up eating and cooking are anchovies, mullet, red mullet, gilt-head bream, and many other small fish. But luckily, most of the fish can be cooked using similar methods. Traditional styles of cooking the fish are:

1. •GUVECTE BALIK fish cooked in casserole, with onions and potatoes.
   I usually prefer smaller fish with mellow taste for this style, since the slow cooking in its own juices will magnify the taste.
   

2. •BALIK TAVASI thinly battered and pan fried fish.
   Again, this is a style that I prefer for smaller fish.
   

3. •FIRINDA BALIK oven cooked fish, often with some butter and spices.
   Best for bigger fish.
   

4. •BALIK BUGULAMA fish slow cooked in oven with a closed lid, with lemon, tomatoes, and onions.
   This definitely changes the texture and taste of the fish. I prefer it for some medium sized - strong flavored fish. When all the flavors mix, this becomes one of the tastiest dishes ever.
   

5. •IZGARA BALIK fish cooked on a grill
   
   

There are a couple other fish dishes that I will mention, because they are too delicious to pass.

1. •SESAME CRUSTED TUNA STEAK
   Definitely not eastern Mediterranean, but delish. I get the highest quality and freshest tuna steaks for this from a trustworthy fishmonger, since I serve it raw in the middle. I cannot risk turning this beautiful dish into a health hazard.
   

2. •TUZDA LEVREK sea bass cooked in salt
   This is a very interesting dish, because a whole sea bass is covered with sea salt and cooked like that. When it is ready, one has the break the shell of salt before serving. Delicious!
   

3. •TEREYAGLI SOMON salmon with butter, parsley, ginger
   

Well, while cooking American fish is hard for me, there is a great selection of shellfish that I love to cook.

1. •MIDYE TAVA mussels, deep fried and battered
   

2. •MIDYE DOLMA mussels in shell, stuffed with rice, served cold with lemon.
   I love this! You can find this dish being sold in every touristy seaside town.
   

3. •GUVECTE KARIDES shrimp, tomatoes, cheese in casserole
   I had this once at a restaurant and asked the cook to use his recipe. It was such delicious dish!
   

And as usual there is many more.... 

One could say that since I did not write about the vegetarian dishes up till now, they are not that prolific in the Turkish meals. But, actually the vegetarian food, cooked often with olive oil, is a mainstay. I seldom have  a meat dish at home, when I am not entertaining guests. The reason is simple. We eat too much meat. When I am home I want to eat as healthy as possible, so that I can be as unhealthy as possible when I go out.

These are what I cook and eat often. They are more like stews of each vegetable.

1. •ISPANAK spinach dish with onions, rice.
   Nothing as tasty as this, especially served with some yogurt on top.
   

2. •KARNIBAHAR cauliflower dish with onions, peppers, carrots.
   

3. •KURUFASULYE bean dish with oinons, peppers, and depending on taste, carrots.
   This is what we call the poor man’s meat in Turkey. Everyone eats kurufasulye pilav, which is beans served on a bed of rice. Nothing beats it.
   

4. •BAMYA Okra dish with onions.
   It is not fried and it is not slimy. Ok, not that slimy. But I love the taste. And when I was a kid I loved eating green rockets. I guess my family knew how to make me eat my veggies. This one also goes really good with rice on the side.
   

5. •TURLU mixed veggie dish with eggplants, squash, green beans, peppers, tomatoes, onions.
   

6. •ZEYTINYAGLI PATLICAN egglant dish with tomatoes, onions, red bell peppers, hungarian peppers.
   

7. •PATATES YEMEGI potato dish with onions, bell peppers, and peas
   I love this in winter. Very stew-y...
   
   

Some vegetarian dishes can be served either cold with some lemon, or warm. I love eating them cold on hot days. We call these zeytinyagli, which means “with olive oil”. And that is true. You have to cook these guys with olive oil.

1. •ZEYTINYAGLI FASULYE green beans, onions, tomatoes.
   

2. •PIRASA leeks, carrots, rice.
   
   

Let’s go back to the funny names:

1. •IMAM BAYILDI eggplant stuffed with onions, tomatoes, green peppers
   You remember karniyarik (split stomach) in the “Other Meat Dishes” section? This is his veggie sister.
   And her name translates as: “The preacher passed out!” The story goes like this: The Ottoman preacher wanted karniyarik one day. But there was no meat at home, so his wife cooked this vegetarian version. He was so shocked by the taste, he passed out at the table. I could see how this myth might be true.
   

A French dish, just because I love it:

1. •POTATOES DAUPHINOISE creamy, cheesy, potato casserole dish.
   As unhealthy and as satisfying as any non-fried veggie dish. If you think it’s not unhealthy enough, I can add some Canadian bacon and turn it into tartiflette (actually tartiflette has some more subtle differences, but they are still in the same ballpark).
   

Every meal, especially every dinner is pretty much incomplete without a pilav (rice) or pasta. Thus, we end up with a million different ways to cook them. Here’s some:

1. •PILAV rice cooked with butter. 
   

2. •ERISTELI PILAV rice pilav with vermicelli-like pieces of pasta
   This is the one pasta that I regularly cook. I love the taste.
   

3. •DOMATESLI PILAV rice pilav cooked with tomatoes
   Especially great for summer dinners with the taste of fresh tomatoes inside
   

4. •MIDYELI PILAV rice pilav cooked with mussels
   

5. •BULGUR PILAVI cracked wheat cooked with onions, peppers
   This pilav has no rice in it. Goes really well with meat, especially lamb, dishes.
   

6. •MAKARNA any kind of pasta, cooked with butter
   

7. •KIYMALI MAKARNA pasta served with ground meat sauce
   The sauce is nothing like the Italian sauces. One has to try to understand
   

8. •SAHTEKAR MANTISI pasta served like manti
   Ok, you should check out the definition of manti in “Other Meat Dishes” section. Instead of making those little dumplings, one can just make a ground meat sauce, and pour garlic yogurt and butter sauce on top. It is delicious. I often serve this as the only dish for my guests and it disappears in no time!
   

9. •FIRINDA MAKARNA oven roasted pasta with cream sauce
   

These are the pastries of the Turkish cuisine. They not only form a major part of afternoon or morning snacks, they are also served as mezes or when people come over for a tea (yip, Turks do visit each other to have a tea).

We use something called yufka to make boreks. Yufka basically is an uncooked, thin dough. It is similar to filo dough, but a touch thicker. Borek (and hence yufka) is such an important part of the cuisine that, there are  yufka stores called Yufkaci in neighborhoods. My neighborhood yufkaci while I was growing up was a red headed guy with red headed twin sons, not much unlike that Ron Weasley character in Harry Potter. The store and the guys were always covered in flour with a distinctive smell. Hard not to love that place.

Enough of reminiscing, so borek is basically layers of yufka with some ingredients in between the layers. They are cooked in the oven usually. Some are:

1. •ISPANAKLI BOREK borek with spinach
   

2. •KIYMALI BOREK borek with ground meat
   

3. •PEYNIRLI BOREK borek with feta cheese
   

Then, there is some other versions:

1. •SIGARA BOREGI fried borek with either ground meat or feta cheese.
   Some people call this the Turkish eggroll. It definitely has a resemblance to it shape-wise. It is distinctively different when it comes to taste.
   

2. •SOSYETE MANTISI a roll-shaped borek with ground meat, served with garlic yogurt and butter sauce.
   You remember manti from “Other Meat Dishes” section? This is the “high society manti” which is actually is an easier way to prepare and cook the manti.
   

3. •TALAS BOREGI borek with a homemade yufka stuffed with ground meat, peas, onions
   

Then, we have pogaca, which is might remind people a Turkish version of empanada. They are the best ever snacks, because you can have them hot or cold, snack on them whenever.

1. •PEYNIRLI POGACA feta cheese and parsley in a thin dough shell
   

2. •KIYMALI POGACA ground meat in a thin dough shell
   

The pide is neither a borek or pogaca. This is something like the fastfood of Turkish cuisine. It is a little like pizza, since it’s got ingredients on a dough and cooked in an oven. It is different in every other way, the most important being the fact that grease and/or sauce does not drip on your shirt. One can roll the pide into a tube and eat it while walking.

Usually the dough needs a couple of days to get ready, so if you want pide, you will need to order it well in advance.

1. •KIYMALI PIDE ground meat on a thin dough
   

2. •SUCUKLU PIDE Turkish sausage on a thin dough
   

3. •PASTIRMALI PIDE a really strong tasting Turkish cured meat on a thin dough
   

4. •LAHMACUN ground meat with tomatoes on a small thin dough
   Lahmacun and kiymali pide sound similar when you look at the ingredients. And that is where the similarities end. Lahmacun is small compared to pide; I would say the size of a dessert dish. The ingredients are also adjusted to give a different taste.

A Turkish proverb goes “Let’s eat sweet things and talk about sweet things.” That attitude reflects into the cuisine, which gives us a ridiculous amount of desserts. There’s another reason for our love of desserts: Most of the them consist of lots of sugar and butter with some other ingredients. You cannot go wrong with lots of sugar and butter.

1. •REVANI a cake-like dessert with sugar syrup
   ...and NO butter! Had to have this as the first item for the purposes of irony.
   

2. •MOZAIK KEK a chocolate cake.
   You might guess. Mozaik kek means “mosaic cake”.
   

3. •SEKERPARE a pastry served with syrup on.
   

We should switch back to funny names:

1. •TAVUK GOGSU a milk pudding.
   The name means “chicken breast”, and its color and texture might be thought to resemble uncooked chicken breast, who knows? It contains mastic gum, which is believed to have some medicinal properties.
   

2. •HANIM GOBEGI deep fried sweet pastry served with sugar syrup
   This is called “lady’s belly button”. A pretty sexy name, isn’t it?
   

3. •VEZIR PARMAGI pastry with semolina flour
   Vezir was something like the prime minister of the Ottoman Emperor. Vezir Parmagi is “the finger of vezir”
   

I will not put too many other names, we can go through a whole list. But there is one that my grandma used to make:

1. •LOKMA TATLISI a pan fried pastry.