Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Konya - If you are a meat lover, then Konya is THE place for you!

Every meal we ate here last weekend revolved around meat, more meat and tasty pide-like bread. A heavy meal like this paired rather well with the chilly winter weather we still are experiencing in Turkey.

Since food is always a highlight of our Turkey trips, I thought I'd give you a rundown of what we ate and some of our favorites in Konya.

Top 7 Good Eats in Konya:
1. Etliekmek - This is a local and larger variation of the traditional Turkish lahmacun. Flat bread is baked with ground meat, tomatoes, peppers and onion. We first tried this tasty bread/meal at Damla and then again for lunch at Şifa Lokantası. One order can easily be split between two people and goes well with a hot bowl of soup.
2. Pişmaniye - This is literally referred to as floss candy and looks like a fluffy ball of yarn. I'd say it closely resembles a Turkish version of American cotton candy. We bought two boxes to share with our friends here in Istanbul.
3. Fırın Kebab - (oven-cooked meat) My husband enjoyed these melt-in-your-mouth chunks of lamb served with soft pide bread at Konya Mevlevi Sofrası.
4. Candies - Konya is known for its candies. We saw at least two large sugar factories located outside of the city. One of my favorite candies, and perhaps one of the oddest, is called cezerye. This sweet falls into the Turkish Delight family and is made from reduced carrot juice, az sugar and hazelnuts, then coated with shredded coconut. This fruit roll-up concoction is my new favorite treat!
A Bergamot-flavored after-dinner mint candy from Konya.
5.  Hurma - (Dates) Since Konya is considered a more religious city, you will see several shops devoted to carrying just dates - or dates and candy. Dates are the fruit with which the Prophet Mohammed used to break his fasts. We bought a small bag of dates, which will probably end up in some baked treat, such as Grandma's Oatmeal-Date Bars.
6. Tirit - This rich dish is described as Konya's special bread with bouillon, yogurt, onion, butter and sumac. It's traditionally served at weddings and is very delicious!
 7.  Tavuk Suyu - This is no ordinary chicken soup! This tomato-broth based soup with shredded chicken and vermicelli noodles was the perfect anecdote to a day spent sightseeing in the cold. I think I could eat this soup every day!
We tried the tavuk suyu at both Damla and Şifa Lokantası in Konya.
If you happen to visit Konya, these are the foods I recommend trying and taking home what you can so your friends can sample them too.

Afiyet olsun!

Restaurants in Konya:
Damla,  Pürçüklü Mahallesi, Türbe Caddesi No:53, Konya

Şifa Lokantası, Mevlâna Caddesi No. 29, Konya

Konya Mevlevi Sofrası, near the Mevlana Museum, Konya

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5 comments:

Julia said...

We've got a few Konyalı lokantas in Fethiye that we keep meaning to try. we set off to one of them yesterday but the rain beat us back! All the food in your photos looks so tempting. Wonder how the Fethiye places will compare...

Joy said...

@Julia, would love to hear what you think! My husband's co-worker just told us about a Konyalı lokanta here in Istanbul too...over on the Asian side though. So hope to try that too down the road.

jaz@octoberfarm said...

i have to make that chicken soup! this all looks so good!

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hey joy! do you ever make the etliekmek or the tavuk suyuana? i looked for recipes and can only find them in turkish! i never gave turkey much thought until i found your blog and then eventually the others i follow and now i am in love with this country and all of it's wonderful food.

Joy said...

@Jaz, I haven't made either recipe yet. I've been cooking non-Turkish foods or lil this and that at home lately. =) However, I would try Julia's recent recipe for domates corbasi and add some shredded chicken to it. It sounds very similar to the tavuk suyu that we just had in Konya.

Turkeys for Life