Turkish Mezes: Albanian (Style) Liver (Arnavut Cigeri) with Onion-Sumac Salad

A very popular Turkish meze is a liver dish called Albanian (Style) Liver ("Arnavut Cigeri" ). To my surprise many years ago, in a conversation with an Albanian friend, I learned that there was no such dish in Albania. Ever since I kept wondering where the name came from. Couple of weeks ago, I finally had my answer!

According to Evliya Celebi, a well-know 17th century Turkish traveler, Albanian workers throughout Ottoman land were the poorest and could only afford this street food served inside a sandwich. Thus, this dish became associated with Albanians.

A must with Arnavut Cigeri is onion, sumac and parsley salad. Sumac is a Middle Eastern spice with a tart, sour lemon taste.

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Turkish Mezes: Samphire Salad (Deniz Börülcesi Salatası)

Samphire Salad is a very popular meze served in fish restaurants in the Aegean coast of Turkey (i.e. Izmir, Cesme, Kuşadası, Ayvalık, Cunda Island). Samphire is a vegetable found in sea shores around tidal creeks. It’s quite salty as it absorbs a lot of sea salt (so no need to add any salt when cooking!). You can find it in farmers’ markets in abundance especially in spring and summer months.  

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Zucchini Fritters (Kabak Mücver)

Zucchini is one of my favorite summer vegetables and these fritters are great as meze or as a meal on their own. You can also make sandwiches for an easy and tasty lunch. Wholewheat sandwiches made with zucchini fritters, feta or hellim cheese and tomato are to die for!

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Turkish Mezes: Sauteed Zucchini with Garlic Yoghurt

Mezes are appetizers served in small portions mainly to complement drinks in Turkey. Whenever I go to a fish restaurant or a kebab house, I’m torn between the mezes and the main dishes. There are so many cold and hot mezes to choose from and most of the time I end up choosing way too many mezes and skipping the main or regretting to have ordered it…

Yoghurt is widely used in Turkish cuisine and mezes are no exception. Here is an easy meze dish. You can replace the zucchini with carrots, spinach, eggplant, etc.

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