Ezme
A Turkish meze that many kebab houses serve alongside grilled meat. Its name means crushed and points to the only technique that matters: everything is chopped by knife as finely as possible — never blended, which releases water and turns the salad into a thin sauce. The second compulsory step is draining the chopped vegetables, since ezme should be dense and concentrated rather than swimming in its own juice.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Chopping 30 min
- Draining 30 min
- Resting 30 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneRemove the seeds and jelly from the tomatoes
Halve the tomatoes and scrape out the seeds with the jelly around them. That is where most of the water sits — left in, it soon has ezme swimming, even after draining.
Ingredients: 500 g tomatoes · 2 pcs peppers · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs hot chillies · 2 cloves garlic · 6 tbsp parsley · 2 tbsp mint
Chop by knife, very fine
Chop the tomatoes, peppers, onion and chillies to a dice the size of a grain of rice. By hand, with a knife: a blender ruptures the cells and releases juice, and you end up with a sauce instead of ezme.
Ingredients: 500 g tomatoes · 2 pcs peppers · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs hot chillies · 2 cloves garlic · 6 tbsp parsley · 2 tbsp mint
A rice-grain dice — and by knife only.Salt and drain in a sieve
Mix the chopped vegetables with the salt (keep back a pinch for the garlic) and tip them into a sieve over a bowl for 30 minutes. As much as half a cup of liquid runs out. This step decides whether ezme is a dense relish or a watery salad.
Ingredients: 500 g tomatoes · 2 pcs peppers · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs hot chillies · 2 cloves garlic · 6 tbsp parsley · 2 tbsp mint
Half a cup of water leaves — without it ezme runs.Crush the garlic to a paste with salt
Crush the garlic with the reserved pinch of salt to a smooth paste under the flat of a knife. Chopped garlic stays in ezme as sharp points; crushed it disperses evenly and builds a background rather than ambushing individual bites.
Ingredients: 500 g tomatoes · 2 pcs peppers · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs hot chillies · 2 cloves garlic · 6 tbsp parsley · 2 tbsp mint
Loosen the purée in the molasses
Stir the tomato purée into the pomegranate molasses and lemon juice before it meets the vegetables. On its own the purée will not disperse through a chopped mixture and stays as dark clots.
Ingredients: 60 ml olive oil · 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses · 1 pcs lemon · 1 tbsp tomato purée · 1 tsp chilli flakes · 1 tsp sumac · 1 tsp salt
Combine everything with the oil
Mix the drained vegetables with the garlic paste, dressing, most of the oil (keep about a tablespoon for serving), sumac and chilli flakes. Stir with a spoon, do not beat — ezme should keep the visible structure of its dice rather than becoming a uniform paste.
Ingredients: 60 ml olive oil · 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses · 1 pcs lemon · 1 tbsp tomato purée · 1 tsp chilli flakes · 1 tsp sumac · 1 tsp salt
Stirred with a spoon — the dice must stay visible.Fold in the herbs last
Fold in the parsley and mint only at the end. Herbs mixed with salt early darken and go limp within minutes, and ezme should look vivid: red with clearly green flecks.
Ingredients: 500 g tomatoes · 2 pcs peppers · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs hot chillies · 2 cloves garlic · 6 tbsp parsley · 2 tbsp mint
Rest half an hour
Leave 30 minutes at room temperature for the flavours to draw together. Serve in a shallow dish, making a well and pouring the remaining oil into it. Eat it with bread or alongside grilled meat.
Ingredients: 60 ml olive oil · 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses · 1 pcs lemon · 1 tbsp tomato purée · 1 tsp chilli flakes · 1 tsp sumac · 1 tsp salt
Before you start
Pomegranate molasses is not lemon
Nar ekşisi tastes both sour and distinctly sweet with a faint bitterness — it gives ezme a depth lemon juice alone cannot. If you have none, use a tablespoon of thick balsamic vinegar, or extra lemon juice with a teaspoon of honey — different, but still good.
Heat is set by the chilli
In Turkey ezme can be very hot, but always edible — the point is a burn, not pain. Start with one seeded chilli and taste. Pul biber, Turkish chilli flakes, are mild and aromatic, so do not stint on them.
Two days, but it weeps
Ezme keeps two days in the fridge but releases more water each day. Pour it off before serving and add a spoon of oil. Do not freeze — thawed tomatoes lose their structure entirely.
