Turkish food tends to be very traditional in style and similar to Greek cuisine, they also take many ideas from Ottoman dishes used in the Ramadan period. However, although home cooking and catering professionals may have stayed fairly traditional in their style of cooking the call for take away food and eating out at restaurants has become more popular as the years have gone on.

Some of the traditional dishes in Turkey are:

• Shish kebab
• Pides
• Sucuk

One of the earliest known dishes to be served as a main is Turkish Manti.

To make this traditional Turkish dish, Turkish Manti, you simply have to follow these instructions:

• You need to make the filling and the dough mixture separately, you start by preparing the dough mixture first. For this you will need 1 and ¾ cups of plain flour, 1 beaten egg and ½ teaspoon of salt. You need to place the flour in a bowl then clear a gap in the centre of the flour pour a cup of water, the beaten egg and salt into the centre and start folding flour into the mixture use your hands to bring it together until it has an elastic constituency then leave this to sit, covered in the bowl at room temperature for an hour.
• You then prepare the filling by mixing 1lb of beef (minced), 1/3 of a cup of parsley, 1 small onion (grated) salt and pepper to your taste in a bowl. Leave to one side.
• To make the sauce you need to mix together 2 cups of plain yoghurt and 2 teaspoons of garlic (minced). Mix well and leave at room temperature.
• Then divide the dough into 2 equal balls, roll with your hand on a flat surface until the thickness is about 1/10 of an inch. Then cut into squares measuring around 1 and ½ inches, you can then place 1 teaspoon of the filling into the centre of each square.
• You will then have to take each corner of the squares and bring them into the centre squeezing together making small parcels, and flour lightly.
• You then need to bring a pan of salted water to the boil, place the parcels in the boiling water. Each parcel will be ready when it starts to float towards the surface.
• When they start to float you can remove them from the water keep in a covered bowl so they stay warm. When they are all cooked place in bowls and pour most of the sauce mix over the parcels, leaving some sauce to serve at the side of the dish. Then serve.

There are of course many caterers that specialise in Turkish cuisine and can cater for large events such as weddings, with a wide selection of Turkish foods available.