Taştê — The Kurdish Breakfast with Herb Cheese, Qeymax, Honey, Olives and Tea

Name: Taştê — The Kurdish Breakfast with Herb Cheese, Qeymax, Honey, Olives and Tea
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 300 g herb cheese (see recipe Penîrê giyayî — Van-Style Herb Cheese with Wild Garlic and Thyme; or Penîr — Kurdish Homemade Cheese with Rennet); 250 g Qeymax (see recipe Qeymax — Cream from Boiled Milk; or shop-bought kaymak); 200 g olives (see recipe Zeytûnên bi catirî — Olives with Thyme in Olive Oil; or shop-bought black and green olives); 1.5 l tea (see recipe Çay — Kurdish Tea in a Glass); 4 piece eggs (medium); water for boiling the eggs, as needed; 3 piece tomatoes; 2 piece cucumbers (small snack cucumbers or 1 regular cucumber); 1 bunch spring onions; 1 bunch fresh mint; 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley; 1 pack garden cress; salt to taste; 100 g walnuts; 4 tbsp grape molasses (see recipe Dims — Homemade Grape Molasses; or shop-bought grape molasses, Turkish Üzüm pekmezi); 4 tbsp sesame paste (tahini); 4 tbsp honey; 4 piece flatbreads (see recipe Nanê sêlê — Wafer-Thin Flatbread from the Domed Griddle; or Nanê tenûrê — Clay Oven Flatbread, Baked on a Stone in the Oven)

A Kurdish classic that is served in every Kurdish region: Taştê is not a single dish but a generously laid breakfast table with lots of small bowls, from which everyone helps themselves with flatbread. In Kurmanji it is called Taştê, in Sorani Qawaltî, in Turkish Kahvaltı, and the breakfast from Van in particular is famous far beyond the city. Salty herb cheese, rich cream with honey, flavourful olives, crunchy vegetables, fresh herbs, walnuts, grape molasses with sesame paste and hard-boiled eggs take turns on the table, washed down with glass after glass of strong tea.

⏱

Cook time

55 min

🍽️

Servings

🧂

Ingredients

View Original ↗

Nutrition

per serving

1268 kcal

Calories

37 g

Protein

80 g

Fat

97 g

Carbs

Ingredients

For 4 servings

Estimated cost~€9.50 · ~€2.40/serving

Kitchen Tools

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Instructions

1
Plan ahead: make the herb cheese at least a week in advance so that it can mature in the brine; only buy wild garlic, or pick it only if you can identify it with certainty: it is easily confused with lily of the valley and autumn crocus, which are highly poisonous. Cook the Qeymax the day before, because it has to set in the fridge overnight. Put the olives in their marinade a few days ahead as well; with shop-bought cheese, kaymak and olives, none of this is necessary.
2
In the morning, put the tea on first, because it takes the longest, and let it brew over the lowest heat while you lay the table.
3
Lower the eggs with a spoon into a pan of rapidly boiling water and hard-boil them until the whites and yolks are completely firm.
4
Refresh the eggs in cold water and cut one open to check: the yolk should be firm and pale yellow throughout, with no moist centre; otherwise boil the remaining eggs for another 2 minutes. Peel the eggs and halve them.
5
Meanwhile, wash the tomatoes and cucumbers, cut the tomatoes into wedges and the cucumbers lengthways into quarters, arrange them on a plate and salt lightly. Wash the spring onions, mint and parsley, shake them dry, trim the roots off the spring onions and arrange everything on a second plate with the snipped cress.
6
Take the cheese out of the brine, let it drain and cut it into finger-thick slices. Put the olives in a small bowl and the walnuts in a second one.
7
Only take the Qeymax out of the fridge shortly before eating, place it on a small plate and drizzle with the honey; honey is not suitable for children under one year old. Pour the grape molasses and the sesame paste side by side into a shallow dish so that they can be mixed together with the bread at the table.
8
Warm the flatbreads briefly on both sides in a hot frying pan without fat until soft and fragrant, then wrap them in a cloth to keep warm.
9
Set all the plates and bowls close together in the middle of the table, add the bread and serve the tea in glasses; everyone tears off a piece of bread and uses it to help themselves to whatever they like.
10
Tip: As a hot dish in place of the boiled eggs, Hêk û bacanê sor — Eggs in Tomato and Pepper Sauce or Mirtoxe — Toasted Flour with Egg go well. When time is short, white cheese in brine made from pasteurised milk, kaymak and grape molasses from a Turkish grocer, shop-bought olives and fresh flatbread from the bakery will do. Store leftover hard-boiled eggs unpeeled in the fridge and eat them within three days.