Cooking with My Mom | Traditional Turkish Eid Recipes

As Kurban Bayramı (Eid al-Adha) approaches, we return to the warmth of the kitchen and the beauty of tradition. In this special episode, I’m cooking with my mom to prepare two regional Turkish dishes that can beautifully complement your Bayram table.

✨ We start by sharing our family’s go-to Eid recipes:
• Etli Pilav (Rice Pilaf with Meat)
• Easy Baklava using phyllo sheets
These are the classic dishes we serve to guests during Eid!

Then, together with my mom, we make:
🥄 Zeytinyağlı Biber Dolması — Vegan stuffed peppers with rice, tomato, and spices, Southeastern Turkey style
🍲 Tarhun Çorbası — A rich, yogurt-based lamb soup with dried tarragon from Konya region

🕊️ Whether you’re preparing for Bayram or just looking to try something traditional and delicious, I hope these recipes bring joy to your home.

📌 Don’t miss my full Bayram Sofrası episode with a complete festive menu:
👉 https://youtu.be/j2HttBpv38o
📌 Here is the Mom’s village and Our grape yard in Cappadocia Nevsehir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW68eEpatDc
📌 How Is Istanbul On Big Holidays? EID VLOG https://youtu.be/keJnTWoYKsM
👉🏻 How To Preserve Grape Leaves In Two Ways

Ingredients for Spicy Vegan Stuffed Peppers:
750gr. to 1 kg. green bell peppers (I used brined grape leaves for some of the filling)
for the filling:
3-4 onions
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup or more olive oil
2 tomatoes or about 1/2 cup tomato pure
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tbsp pepper paste (optional)
pul biber (chili flakes), black pepper, sumac to taste
about 1 tbsp dried mint
tsp of sugar
half a bunch chopped parsley
tomatoes to cover the filling
For the sauce to cook the stuffed peppers:
1 cup water
1/4 cup tomato pure
2-3 tbsp pomegranate molasses
1 tsp salt

Ingredients for “TARHUN ÇORBASI” Lamb Yogurt Tarragon Soup
about 250gr. cooked and shredded lamb meat
2 cups meat broth
1 cup cooked chickpeas
for the yogurt sauce:
1+1/2 cup plain full fat yogurt
2-3 heaped tbsp flour
1 egg
3-4 cups water
handful of tarragon
sal to taste (add after the soup is cooked)
for the top olive oil sauce:
chopped tarragon
4-5 tbsp olive oil

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Kurbanama or Eida is approaching. A time of gathering, sharing and celebrating with loved ones. In Turkish homes, the days leading up to the holiday are filled with preparation, and the kitchen becomes the heart of it all. In this special episode, I’m cooking with my mom. Together we’ll make two delicious regional dishes, a vegan stuffed pepper dolma from southeastern [Music] Turkey and a creamy yogurt base lamb soup from cona called tarhun [Music] chbasa. Welcome my friends. As you can see, my mom is here below. Happy to be with her again. This time we going to cook bard mas. But before we begin, I would like to share what a classic Turkish eat table looks like. During kurban, once we receive the sacrificial meat kurban, we often start by making it pily rice pil with sauteed lamb or beef. If it’s beef, we cook it longer, adding water and checking until it is soft. Then we raise the heat to evaporate the remaining liquid if any, and lightly fry the meat, preferably with tail fat or butter for extra flavor. In here, in the same pan, I prepared the rice. The key to fluffy Turkish pilam is soaking the rice in warm salty water beforehand. Saute the washed and drained rice in plenty of butter and make sure to add from the broth. For the full recipe video, you can check my links in the description. And of course, no bam table is complete without Turkish baklava or traditional sweets. I’ve shared many baklava recipes on this channel. But for this table, I prepared a quick and easy version using readymade filow sheets. These are the two core dishes we usually serve to guests during Eid. And today’s recipes will complete the menu for your special celebration. [Music] We’re going to cook bard masa. I already prepared the filling. Let me show you. And then we’re going to begin to fill our peppers. It is going to be a vegan filling. I have rice, tomato puree, tomatoes, onions, garlic. Going to add spices. First, I’m going to dice my onions finely and going to saute in olive oil. To shorten the time, I just cut the first one and begin to saute and add the second onion. Adding the salt while sautéing helps to soften the onion and cook in a shorter time. I also drizzled more olive oil and diced some tomatoes and couple of cloves of garlic. Here I’m adding a heap tablespoon of tomato paste and half a tablespoon pepper paste. It’s optional. If you don’t have, don’t worry. But we always use it in Turkish cuisine. And I washed and drained my rice. It is a bit more than one and 1/2 cups. After sauteing for a couple of minutes, I added the tomatoes. And since I had tomato puree, I used both of them. You can either use when it’s the season, fresh tomatoes, grate or finely chopped or use tomato puree. A little bit sugar always balances the acidity when you work with tomatoes and paste. And for the spices, since my pepper paste is hot, I used a little bit paprika, some sumach, black pepper, and lots of dried mint. Stir everything well and add some chopped parsley. You can be generous here. I used from the freezer. And our filling is ready. Okay, so that’s how I prepare the filling. It is cooled down right now. I already washed my peppers and we begin to take out the seeds and the stem. You just cut with your finger and then take out get the seeds here. There are tools to take this out, but it is easily doable like this too. Mhm. We’re going to use the stem to cover. So, don’t throw it away. In the pressure cooker I have lamb meat. It is cooking for a traditional beautiful soup recipe. Hearty dish I can even say. [Music] I shared it on the channel. Okay. So, we took out the seeds and also keep the stem. Now, we going to fill in. So, we shouldn’t fill all the way and make it loose because the rice is going to swell. So, it needs space. Mhm. M. Mhm. So, we filled the uh peppers. We wanted to make some grape leaves to show and taste. It also tastes so delicious. It has like an umami taste in it. These are the ones I made maybe like 2 years ago. I made a brine and kept it in the fridge. I have the recipe, too. And this is the new ones I made last week. Okay. So, I’m gonna also make some [Music] Mhm. My mom has grape orchards. We visited last year together. We say hi to Niir. It’s beautiful always. We went there during the late summer and cooked some beautiful traditional dishes in Nir too. Mhm. Mhm. [Music] I also have that on the channel how you can make and freeze them. By the way, you can also make it with minced meat. It’s the meat version. Uh that one usually made raw and it has its own flavor. Should [Music] I look at that? We are trying to [Music] filling. Added some water, some tomato puree for the sauce for our dolma. You can also use some pomegranate molasses either on the sauce or on top. Okay, I put the tomatoes. I’m going to pour the water. With my mom’s suggestion, I added some salt to the sauce too. A little bit pomegranate molasses. It goes to salt up to cook. After it is boiled on high, I’m going to lower the heat and cook for about 45 minutes to an hour. [Music] For the recipe, you can use any kind of lamp. Best if you have with bone. I’m using lamb shoulder here. And going to first brown it the sides to give an extra flavor. I cooked a little bit then decided to use my pressure cooker to shorten the time. If you have time, you can also slow cook it. In pressure cooker for me it took about 30 40 minutes and it was beautifully soft. We need to shred the meat since we are going to use it in soup. So with help of a fork it’s easier. And I’m also going to use a cooked chickpeas. This these are from the freezer. I always have it on hand to use for my soups or rice dishes. It also goes in with the meat into the pot along with the broth. To make it lighter, I used half water and half broth and begin to cook to simmer to melt all the flavors together. And in a separate pan, I’m gonna cook the sauce. I have yogurt about one and a half cups. Adding three heaped tablespoons flour and one egg. First going to stir everything and then add some water. And we are going to cook this over a slow heat until it begins to uh bubble. This way we prevent to curdle the yogurt and it will be smooth and silky soup and of course delicious. This is the old technique they use in automan times and in Anatolian cuisine recipes. But if you have a short time, you can also mix everything and then add some of the broth that is hot while steering and then put everything back to the soup pan. So after uh the yogurt sauce is bubbling and hot, I put it over to the meat and chickpea mixture. I haven’t add any salt. We should add it in the last minute. But before that, I’m going to chop my teragon which we call taruno. This is the signature ingredient for this recipe. As you can see, it has very simple ingredients and this is really gives its unique flavor to it. Now I’m adding salt. The terrigon also goes in the last minute to keep its uh green color while having the aroma in it. And as a final touch, I’m heating some olive oil. Thankfully, I catch the pan and then add the terrigon just for four 5 seconds and then pour the sauce over the soup. Don’t mix all in and use the beautiful sauce while serving. Okay, we are ready my friends. Our zetin dolma is cooked and rested. Let me show you. Looks beautiful. And then we have soup here. Another Ottoman recipe. We are going to taste the ton chasu. It’s beautiful using tagan. [Music] Let’s [Music] taste. Interesting. Beautiful. Rich and creamy. By the way, don’t close it all the way. The steam can make the soup curdle too if you close it. Okay, now let’s taste the [Music] dolma. It is still warm. You can eat cold either. Once you begin, you cannot stop. [Music] I’m going to fly. Give it a try. It’s very easy, full of flavor. Still, it’s vegan, vegetarian. You can serve as a side dish or even main dish. Have it for picnic. [Music] Mhm. [Music] Mhm. Please write down your comments what you think and don’t forget to give thumbs up. We filmed this episode earlier. Also to all who are celebrating. Thank you so much for watching my friends and we hope to see you in another delicious Turkish food recipes and travel vlogs. A to [Music]