Turkish Pickles Recipe (Turşu)

Name: Turkish Pickles Recipe (Turşu)
Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 14 d 30 min
Yield: 20 small plates
Ingredients: 5 small unripe melons; 4 medium green tomatoes; 3 large carrots; 3 large cucumbers; 2 medium aubergines (eggplants); 2 medium red capsicum peppers; 1 medium celeriac; 1 bunch celeriac leaves & stems; 10 hot chillies; 2 bulbs garlic; 1.5 litres grape vinegar; 1 teaspoon coriander seeds; 1 teaspoon fennel seeds; 1 teaspoon sweet paprika; 1 teaspoon fresh ginger; 3 teaspoons salt; 3 teaspoons granulated sugar; 2 teaspoons ground black pepper

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5.0

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Excellent

Prep Time
30 mins
Additional Time
14 d
Total Time
14 d 30 mins
Servings
20 small plates
Calories
50 kcal
Course
Appetizer
Cuisine
Turkish

Turkish Pickles Recipe (Turşu)

Griffin Roy

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Make a big batch of Turkish pickles and have them as a tangy side-serving to most dishes.

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Ingredients

Servings

For The Mixed Pickles

5 small unripe melons (washed & left whole)
4 medium green tomatoes (washed & sliced)
3 large carrots (washed & sliced)
3 large cucumbers (washed & cut into large chunks)
2 medium aubergines (eggplants) (washed & cut into small chunks)
2 medium red capsicum peppers (washed, deseeded & cut into large chunks)
1 medium celeriac (peeled & sliced)
1 bunch celeriac leaves & stems (washed & roughly chopped)
10 hot chillies (pricked with a knife)
2 bulbs garlic (cloves separated & peeled)

For The Pickle Vinegar

1.5 litres grape vinegar
1 teaspoon coriander seeds (crushed)
1 teaspoon fennel seeds (crushed)
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon fresh ginger (grated)
3 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground black pepper

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Instructions

For The Pickle Vinegar

First of all, add your vinegar and all the other vinegar ingredients to a large saucepan.
Bring to the boil and then allow to simmer, covered, for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, remove the pan from the heat, add the garlic cloves and the chillies and leave to cool.

For The Mixed Pickles

Sterilise your jar by filling it with boiling water and leaving it to stand for a few minutes.
Empty the water from the jar and drop the melons to the bottom. These will take the longest to mature.
Now add your carrots over the top.
Sprinkle a few of the celeriac leaves and stems over the top and then add your celeriac slices.
Add your red peppers and green tomatoes and sprinkle more celeriac leaves and stems.
Now add your cucumbers and, finally, your aubergines.
If you have any left, sprinkle the rest of your celeriac leaves and stems over the top.

Adding Your Pickle Vinegar

When the pickle vinegar mixture has cooled, carefully pour it into the jar, over your vegetables.
Push the garlic and chillies down through any gaps.
If your grape vinegar doesn't fill the jar, you can top it up with water or a cold vinegar-water mix. Grape vinegar is quite strong so it can take a bit of water.
Seal your jar and leave for a minimum of two weeks before opening and eating.

Notes

There are no hard and fast rules as to what you can and cannot include in your Turkish pickles. Likewise with the amount you make. For reference, our jar that we use for mixed pickles is around 5 litres.
We add the garlic and chillies to the hot vinegar to prevent the garlic from discolouring and to soften the chillies a little whilst the heat infuses into the vinegar.
With our Turkish pickles recipe, the aubergine and cucumber will be ready to eat first. that's why we place them at the top. With the melon (kelek), we recommend you leave this for 6 weeks before eating.
If you don't want mixed pickles, you can simply choose your favourite vegetable and pickle that on its own.
We love pickled red cabbage and pickled beetroot but we make these as standalone jars because they will colour and flavour your vinegar and other mixed pickles.
We like strongly flavoured mixed pickles so we use grape vinegar. If you like, you can use a milder vinegar such as white vinegar.
If you want to make strong pickles and you can't get grape vinegar, malt vinegar is a good substitute.
In Turkey, it is possible to buy bottles of pickling brine. This is a salty pickle vinegar mix that is too salty for our taste. If we do use it, we make a 50/50 split with grape vinegar and omit the salt from our original recipe.
Homemade pickles are all about experimenting and choosing your favourite combination. Have fun exploring different vegetables, textures and vinegar strengths.
Calories for this recipe are very approximate. It depends on how big your serving is, and which particular pickles you choose for each serving.