Gastronomy
Eating out of taste some local food must be on your "to do list" at your holiday in North Cyprus.
Here are some of the meal that you should try during your holiday.
You could try Meze to try many of the tastes up to 30 varieties at one sitting at the local restaurants. First of all you will find fresh almond and crushed green olive (çakızdez), Cacık, Humus, Samerella, Tahin, village bread toasted, grilled hellim cheese, different salads, special caper leaf pickle and many other tastes on your table. Then be ready for varieties of kebaps, you must taste grilled Şeftali Kebap one of the unique tastes of Cyprus.
The Kleftico (meat baked in a sealed oven) is also very traditional meal in North Cyprus.
Many fish restaurants mainly by the sea are also welcoming you offering Meze dishes with sea food as well.
Well known taste Cyprus Potato: Also with Beer taste potato chips from Cyprus Potato at summer time.
Home Cooking. North Cyprus at the eastern Mediterranean eats health food cooked with olive oil. Olive and carob trees are traditional trees of North Cyprus and use them widely in cooking. North Cyprus offers variety of meal home cooked in special restaurants in cities and at the villagers home or village restaurants at rural areas. Here are some of the home cooked dishes you must try:
Molehiya is specialty of North Cyprus, cooked with meat. It is green leafy vegetable similar to mint, which grows only in Cyprus and on the banks of the Nile. It is sun-dried. It has a strong flavor and taste.
Stuffed Pumpkin Flowers is special meal very delicious. Women in North Cyprus collects pumpkin flowers very early morning, which open their leaves slightly in the sunrise. Pumpkin flowers are stuffed with rice and spices.
Potato kebab is prepared with potatoes, minced meat, onions, tomato paste and spices, cooked in oven. It is served with yoghurt.
Köfte (meat ball) is prepard with minced meet, onions, grated & crushed potatoes and spices and fried with sunflower oil.
Gologas: Special vegetable cooked with meat, grows in Cyprus. When you visit Yeşilırmak village (where also strawberries grow) in western part of North Cyprus you will notice very big green leafs at the field that is gologas.
Ayrelli is wild asparagus cooked with eggs and potato cubes.
Lalangi is a delicious recipe from the traditional Turkish Cypriot kitchen. It is prepared with rabbit meat. You could eat cold or hot as a main meal.
Hand Made Macoroni with Hellim Cheese. Villagers made fresh macaroni and it is delicious with grated hellim cheese.
Oven Macaroni: It has mince and special mixture in it of course grated hellim cheese is must.
Lokma: The traveler with a sweet tooth will appreciate lokma, little balls of paste made from flour, sugar, and yeast, fried and then dipped in syrup. The result is a crisp, sweet crunchy confection that just melts in your mouth.
Yoghurt plays an important part in Turkish life. Thick and creamy, it complements meats and vegetables, is added to sauces, kebabs, salads, and cakes. Drink cool Ayran yoghurt drink on a hot day while visiting historical spots.
It is always a pleasant attraction to visit the "Bandabulya" maket in Nicosia. Freshest fruits and vegetables; for the most part organically grown by the villagers themselves, could be found at shop keepers at the bandabulya. Babutsa, fresh figs, strawberries and others
Green Salads are served with all meals. Watercress, marul, rokka, dandelion, and mustard greens can be mixed to suit everyone`s taste; together with fresh onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, and peppers they are a feast. The dressing is inevitably olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper.
Grape Sucuk is prepared with grape juice. Grape juice must boil for some hours. While boiling, lime is added and stirred into the mixture. Sucuk is made by dipping almonds into the heavy mixture as it cools. Then cut it and eat.
Special pilaf called Mücendra Pilaf and Herse is also unique tastes.
Lemonade(lemon juice) : Citrus orches provides enough lemon juice for the Cypriots to prepare lemonade for the long summer time.
Here are some pastas and pastries that you should try. Tatar Böreği, Pirohu, Hellim cheese pie, Nor cheese pie, Minced meet pie, Spinach pie, Pumpkin pie, Mushroom pie, Olive bread, Hellim bread, Bidda, Sesami bread, Tahinli, Pilavuna.
Of course do not forget to eat traditional sweets of North Cyprus. Fırın Katmeri, Samsı, Tel kadayıfı, Ekmek kadayıfı, Şamişi Lokma, Şammali, Bişi, Sucuk, Köfter, Paluze, Golifa. Also try some special sweets made with Green walnuts, Bitter orange skins, Bergamot skins, watermelon skin.
Looking for alcoholic beverages you may try Zivaniya, Wine, Rakı, Brandy(brandy sour), Beer.
To become familiar to those meals please visit places to visit North Cyprus site at the home page for their pictures.
