I have been hooked on Maras pepper ever since my first encounter with it a few years ago in lamb meatballs. It's a unique mildly hot red pepper from the Kahramanmara? region of Turkey, just north of Syria. After a lengthy process of drying the peppers and then grinding them, the pepper is sent to markets all over Turkey.
Maras is delicious with vegetables, seafood, and steak. Unlike many peppers, this one has a subtlety; a heat that seems to creep up on one's palate in the most gentle and delicate way. I find that many hot peppers offer a heat that overwhelms the flavor of the pepper. Maras pepper is unique in its well balanced complex taste and level of heat.
Below are 8 recipes that call for Maras pepper:
- Turkish lamb kebabs
- Pistachio-crusted halibut with spicy yogurt
- Valerie's lamb kofte with garlic yogurt sauce
- Vinaigrette - add a dash of Maras pepper to transform your common salad dressing.
- Spiced lamb with eggplant yogurt sauce - substitute their suggested pepper for Maras. This is an excellent recipe from Develï restaurant in Istanbul
- Poached sea bass with almond sauce (Badem Taratorlu Levrek) - drop the black peppercorns, and add maras pepper.
- Mercimek Çorbas? (Red lentil soup) - Use Maras pepper where it calls for red pepper.
- Grilled eggplant with lebneh - simple, yet probably one of my favorites on this list. Add Maras pepper at the end.
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