Dilek Abla’s homemade Turkish cuisine

Sure, we’re a bunch of urbanites here with access to Turkish restaurants in Sydney but we still get a craving for good old homemade Turkish dishes every now and again. Our love affair with kebabs and pides are well-known but we all have a soft spot for homemade kuru fasulye, tarhana, manti or sulu kofte.

At her catering service, Dilek serves a diverse range of Turkish mum-kitchen classics. From traditional Turkish stews to hearty regional Turkish soups and from Mediterranean style olive oil based vegetarian dishes to central-Anatolian specialties, Dilek cooks from all regions of Turkish cuisine.

“I discovered I had some passion for cooking at a very early age. My early memories with includes my grandmother cooking with many other women in our kitchen. Everything she cooked tasted just like heaven.” Dilek says.

I spent a lot of times around the kitchen observing how my grandmother and mother used to cook. I suppose their passion passed on to me.

I loved the entire process of cooking, especially watching the people around me sincerely enjoy what I had created.

In Turkish families, food is part of what brings everyone together. I raised my family in Australia and we always emphasized the importance of a home cooked meal in my household when my children were young.

“I had the chance of working along side my husband at our cafe for 10 years where I was able to experiment with many recipes . This also led me to cooking for larger parties so I soon began offering my catering services from home.” Dilek explains.

The creative element of cooking really does it for me. I also believe cooking isn’t always about following measurements, but about how you feel.

“Part of our hospitality culture, we are taught to understand that cooking for others, even when they are not present when you are preparing the food, can certainly bring a sense of closeness and representation of care for that person. “ Dilek adds.