Hakkari

The Kurdish word for soup covers a range of preparations that are the foundation of highland cooking in Hakkari. The most common are lentil, tomato and lamb bone broths, seasoned with dried red pepper, wild thyme (kekik) gathered from the plateau slopes, and finished with a drizzle of clarified butter. Served at breakfast, at lunch and before the main evening meal. At tea houses and simple lokantas across the province, a bowl of şorba with fresh bread is the meal that keeps a day going in the mountain cold. It is usually made from scratch in the morning and served until it runs out.

Wild mountain herbs - thyme, sage, mint, watercress, wild leeks - gathered from the Cilo and Sat plateaus in summer are used throughout Hakkari cooking and are also sold dried in the bazaars. The plateau altitude and the limestone-rich soil produce herbs with a concentration of aromatic oils that commercially grown alternatives do not have. Wild thyme (kekik) from Hakkari is sold in small sachets at the Yüksekova market and in Hakkari city. It is a genuinely good thing to bring home and one of the few local products that travels well.

Hakkari province produces honey from beehives kept on the high summer plateaus among wild flowers above 2,000 metres. The variety of alpine flora - including endemic species found nowhere outside the Cilo-Sat range - gives the honey a complex, slightly bitter floral character. It is sold in unfiltered form by plateau beekeepers, often still containing pollen and wax. The honey is available at the Hakkari and Yüksekova markets from late summer. Some beekeepers also offer mountain honey from transhumance hives that move between valley and plateau with the seasons.

A herb-laced sheep cheese produced in the Hakkari and Van highlands, with various wild greens - sirmo, mendi, helis - layered into the curd during production. The herbs lend a distinctive grassy, slightly garlicky character that intensifies over months of ageing in clay jars buried in the ground. Served as part of the breakfast table or alongside bread and tea. Sold at the village markets and increasingly at speciality cheese shops in larger Turkish cities.

Hand-shaped lamb kebabs formed around a thin skewer in elongated 'finger' lengths, seasoned with the local pepper and grilled over charcoal. The Hakkari version uses lamb from highland-grazed sheep, which gives the meat a more pronounced flavour than the lower-altitude alternatives. Served on lavaş with grilled vegetables and a small bowl of yoghurt. A staple of the kebab houses in the city centre.

A thick, ancient-feeling stew of bulgur, dried beans, lentils and yoghurt cooked together with mountain herbs and finished with a hot butter and paprika dressing. A Hakkari highland speciality and one of the older dishes still in regular preparation - the kind of food that predates separation between meal categories. Served in deep bowls with bread for dipping. Found at the village restaurants and increasingly at the few Kurdish cuisine restaurants in larger cities.