Ezme

Turkey's raw tomato and pepper relish: ripe tomatoes, green peppers, red onion, parsley, dried chilli and lemon pounded to a coarse, vivid salsa and served alongside grilled meats and kebabs: the essential condiment of the Anatolian grill

Origin: Anatolia, Turkey

From the journey of Tomato.

Ezme, from the Turkish verb 'ezmek', to crush or pound, is Turkey's foundational raw tomato condiment, the indispensable accompaniment to the Anatolian grill. Where the West might reach for ketchup or mustard alongside grilled meat, the Turkish table reaches for ezme: a hand-pounded mixture of raw tomatoes, green peppers, red onion, fresh parsley, dried red chilli flakes, lemon juice and pomegranate molasses, with a texture that is somewhere between a salsa and a relish; finely crushed but not smooth, with visible pieces of each ingredient. The name itself is the instruction: the ingredients are crushed, not blended. Traditionally made in a wide, flat wooden bowl with a heavy dowel or in a large mortar, the crushing creates a texture that a blender cannot replicate; the cell walls of the tomato and pepper are broken but not liquefied, releasing their juices into the mixture while retaining some body. Ezme is the canonical accompaniment to Adana kebab (spiced minced lamb on a skewer) and Urfa kebab, and appears on every Turkish meyhane (tavern) table alongside raki and grilled fish. The pomegranate molasses, a thick, tart-sweet syrup, is the distinctively Turkish addition that distinguishes ezme from a Mexican or Levantine tomato salsa.

Ingredients

  • 400 g very ripe tomatoes, deseeded
  • 2 medium green Turkish peppers (sivri biber) or green Italian peppers, deseeded
  • 1 small red onion, peeled
  • 1 large bunch flat-leaf parsley, leaves only
  • tsp dried red chilli flakes (pul biber / Aleppo pepper preferred)
  • 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 tsp ground sumac (optional, adds tartness)

Method

  1. If using a wide wooden bowl and dowel (the traditional method): roughly chop all vegetables and pound them together, working in batches, crushing the ingredients against the sides of the bowl in a back-and-forth rolling motion. The goal is a coarse, irregular texture, not a smooth paste.
  2. If using a food processor: cut the tomatoes, peppers, onion and parsley into rough chunks. Process in very brief pulses, no more than 4–5 one-second pulses per batch, until the mixture is finely chopped but retains clear texture. Drain in a sieve for 5 minutes to remove excess liquid.
  3. Transfer the crushed vegetables to a bowl. Add the chilli flakes, pomegranate molasses, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and sumac (if using). Stir together thoroughly.
  4. Taste and adjust: more chilli for heat, more pomegranate molasses for depth and sweetness, more lemon for brightness. Ezme should be assertively seasoned; it is a condiment for fatty grilled meat and needs to cut through it.
  5. Rest for 10 minutes before serving to allow the flavours to develop. Serve at room temperature alongside kebabs, grilled meats, or as part of a Turkish mezze spread with warm bread.

Notes

Pul biber, the dried red pepper flakes from the Gaziantep region of Turkey, is the correct spice here. It has a mild, fruity, slightly smoky heat quite unlike the sharp heat of Korean chilli or the raw fire of cayenne. If unavailable, Aleppo pepper (from Syria) is the closest substitute.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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