Roasted spinach is one of the most refreshing olive-oiled dishes in Turkish cuisine. Due to its high nutritional value and containing anti-cancer components, spinach is among the indispensable dishes of today’s Turkish cuisine. It is a very important food source for people suffering from iron deficiency due to its high iron content.
Spinach is preferred in several different types of dishes in Turkish cuisine. Spinach is a vegetable that is often preferred in savory pastries such as Gozleme and Borek.
Spinach was also a very popular vegetable in Ottoman cuisine. Spinach with minced meat, which is a dish of Ottoman cuisine, is still a very popular dish today and is a dish that has taken its place on many restaurant menus.
How is it served?
Almost all vegetable dishes cooked with olive oil serve cold in Turkish cuisine. So, for this reason, they are considered as a side dish and/or meze in Turkey. Most of us consider Roasted Spinach as a side dish because it can be eaten solely or with the main dish.
Roasted Spinach is widely served together with plain yogurt on top. Some people prefer minced garlic in yogurt also. I am also one of those people who love to eat Roasted Spinach with minced garlic and yogurt mix on top. If you don’t like yogurt, you can also eat Roasted Spinach plain.
How is it made?
Roasted Spinach is probably one of the easiest side dishes of Turkish cuisine to make. If you buy cleaned and packed whole-leaf spinach, you can start right away to roast it. But; if you buy a non-packed fresh baby spinach bunch, washing the spinach leaves one by one may look time-consuming.
Roasted Spinach
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Fresh Baby Spinach washed, drained and chopped
- 1 Medium size Onion diced
- 5 tbsp Olive oil
Topping
- 4 tbsp Plain Yogurt
- 3 Garlic Cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
Instructions
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Put olive oil into the frying pan and bring the heat to medium level.
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Add the chopped onions and saute until the onions get soft.
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Add the chopped baby spinach leaves and saute for about 15 minutes until spinach leaves release their juice and get mid-roasted.
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Before you serve the dish, mix the minced garlic and yogurt in a separate serving bowl.
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Garnish with red pepper flakes.
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Serve Cold
