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Type | Relish |
---|---|
Main ingredients | Eggplant, garlic, often bell peppers, tomatoes, parsley |
Kyopolou (Bulgarian : Кьопоолу, Kopoolu, more often Кьополу, Kopolu; Turkish : Köpoğlu [1] )[ citation needed ] is a popular Bulgarian and Turkish spread, relish and salad made principally from roasted eggplants and garlic.
Common recipes include further ingredients such as baked bell peppers, baked kapia red peppers, tomatoes, tomato juice or tomato paste, onions, parsley, black pepper, and laurel leaves. Hot peppers may also be added. Taste can vary from light and sweet to hot and peppery. It is usually oven-cooked in pots or casseroles.
Kyopolou is a typical eggplant appetizer and can be consumed as a bread spread, a condiment, or as a salad. It is generally prepared as a canned food, in glass jars, for the winter season. During summer and autumn months, when its ingredients are usually readily available, it is also a main dish in Bulgaria, mainly during Orthodox fasting periods, such as Lent. [2] [3]
Similar relishes are popular in the Balkans in different variants and names (e.g., ajvar or pinđur). A Romanian variety is called zacuscă, a word of Slavic origin [4] (cf. Bulgarian and Russian zakuska).
Turkish cuisine is the cuisine of Turkey and the Turkish diaspora. Although the cuisine took its current rich form after numerous cultural interactions throughout centuries, it should not be confused with other cuisines such as Ottoman cuisine or Seljuk cuisine. Turkish cuisine with traditional Turkic elements such as yogurt, ayran, kaymak, exerts and gains influences to and from Mediterranean, Balkan, Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Eastern European cuisines.
Meze is a selection of small dishes served as appetizers in Armenian, Balkan, Greek, Kurdish, Levantine, and Turkish cuisines. It is similar to Spanish tapas and Italian antipasti. A meze may be served as a part of a multi-course meal or form a meal in itself. Meze are often served with spirits such as arak, rakia, raki, oghi, ouzo, or grappa at meyhane and ouzeri or at regular restaurants.
Moussaka is an eggplant (aubergine)- or potato-based dish, often including ground meat, which is common in the Balkans and the Middle East, with many local and regional variations.
Ajvar is a condiment made principally from sweet bell peppers and eggplants. The relish became a popular side dish throughout Yugoslavia after World War II and remains popular in Southeast Europe.
Zacuscă is a vegetable spread popular in Romania and Moldova which originated from Armenia or Georgia. Similar spreads are found in other countries in the Balkan region, and bordering regions.
Iraqi cuisine is a Middle Eastern cuisine that has its origins in the ancient Near East culture of the fertile crescent. Tablets found in ancient ruins in Iraq show recipes prepared in the temples during religious festivals—the first cookbooks in the world. Ancient Iraq's cultural sophistication extended to the culinary arts.
Levantine cuisine is the traditional cuisine of the Levant, in the sense of the rough area of former Ottoman Syria. The cuisine has similarities with Egyptian cuisine, North African cuisine and Ottoman cuisine. It is particularly known for its meze spreads of hot and cold dishes, most notably among them ful medames, hummus, tabbouleh and baba ghanoush, accompanied by bread.
Assyrian cuisine is the cuisine of the indigenous ethnic Assyrian people, Eastern Aramaic-speaking Syriac Christians of Iraq, northeastern Syria, northwestern Iran and southeastern Turkey. Assyrian cuisine is primarily identical to Iraqi/Mesopotamian cuisine, as well as being very similar to other Middle Eastern and Caucasian cuisines, as well as Greek cuisine, Levantine cuisine, Turkish cuisine, Iranian cuisine, Palestinian cuisine, and Armenian cuisine, with most dishes being similar to the cuisines of the area in which those Assyrians live/originate from. It is rich in grains such as barley, meat, tomato, herbs, spices, cheese, and potato as well as herbs, fermented dairy products, and pickles.
Lyutenitsa, ljutenica or lutenica, is a vegetable relish or chutney in Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian cuisines.
Pindjur or pinjur or pinđur, is a relish form and is commonly used as a summer spread. Pindjur is commonly prepared in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia and North Macedonia.
Israeli cuisine primarily comprises dishes brought from the Jewish diaspora, and has more recently been defined by the development of a notable fusion cuisine characterized by the mixing of Jewish cuisine and Arab cuisine. It also blends together the culinary traditions of the various diaspora groups, namely those of Middle Eastern Jews with roots in Southwest Asia and North Africa, Sephardi Jews from Iberia, and Ashkenazi Jews from Central and Eastern Europe.
Tunisian cuisine, the cuisine of Tunisia, consists of the cooking traditions, ingredients, recipes and techniques developed in Tunisia since antiquity. It is mainly a blend of Mediterranean and native Punic-Berber cuisine. Historically, Tunisian cuisine witnessed influence and exchanges with many cultures and nations like Italians, Andalusians, French and Arabs.
Many cuisines feature eggplant salads and appetizers.
Türlü is a casserole of Turkish cuisine. It is made of stewed vegetables and may also include stewed meat. Varieties of this dish are also found in Balkan cuisines. In particular, it is known as turli perimesh in Albania, tourlou or tourlou tourlou in Greece, and as turli tava in North Macedonia.