Only one month a year

Ramadan is all about fasting, but also about feasting. Abstaining from eating during the day, from dawn to sunset, not even having a sip of water, the reward is often lavish tables with the best and the best of all the food available. Some of the most special dishes are prepared during Ramadan, there are always regional favorites for this holy month when the focus is always on food. Some particular foods are only on our tables for only during Ramadan, they are eaten only one month a year and are longed for the remaining 11 months. Even the non-observers long for these tastes, they celebrate the month as an opportunity to savor these Ramadan favorites.

The first thing that comes to mind when we think of Ramadan is the flat pide bread. Ramadan pide is completely different with its rather soft texture and fragrant smell. They are usually dusted with a generous sprinkle of sesame seeds and especially spotted with black freckles of nigella seeds that add a very tempting taste to the much-loved bread. Every region has its own Ramadan pide bread, with subtle differences. For foreigners, the word pide (pronounced pee-deh) is sometimes a bit confusing. It is often interpreted as the Turkish equivalent of pita bread which is small and round with an interior pocket, the one popular in the Balkans, especially in Greece and Levantine regions. But in Türkiye, pide refers to a wider selection of flatbreads, including the ones with a topping. Those with a topping are often likened to pizzas, but they are closer to Georgian ones. The topping can be as diverse as minced or chopped meat to various cheeses, eggs, or completely vegetarian with spinach or similar. Then there are flatbreads that are meant to be consumed as bedding for kebabs or meatballs, mopping the oozing fat and juices from the still sizzling meat. Those are the ones that are punched down flat with fingertips creating an embossed pattern. The result is not as puffy, but soft and spongy enough to soak up the dripping of grilled meat pieces. But these pide types are not about the Ramadan pide, which is uniquely made for the month of fasting.

The Ramadan pide is also punched down with fingertips, but it is way more pillowy and softer than the usual ones. The secret to that is that the ratio of water to flour is very high, almost one to one. The shape of the Ramadan pide is not also singular, the shape and size differ widely from region to region. There are the more usual ones that are round like a full moon, in some places it takes an oval shape, sometimes oblong. There are even rare regional versions almost like a square shape like the ones in Bingöl, a province in the East. And then, the pattern made with fingertips also varies widely. For example, in Diyarbakır, it is very elaborate, the piercing done with nails is almost like embroidery. In Istanbul, there is no such fine embossment work, on the contrary, the pide is punched down with a few widely spaced fingerprints so that the dough in between puffs up more and gains that incredible pillowy texture. But if there is one single characteristic to the Ramadan pide that is prevalent in all versions, is that they are all enjoyed at their freshest. That is why the bakeries around the country are at their busiest towards sunset, as the time to break the fast approaches and people happily queue to get the still-warm Ramadan pide to rush to the iftar table.

Sometimes pide bread is the indispensable accompaniment to a humble iftar meal consisting of only a hearty soup. There are regions where the much-loved tarhana soup is served every single day during the course of Ramadan. Tarhana is a dried soup mix, which has zillions of versions, but it is basically a fermented yogurt and grain or flour dough, in some regions deep red with the addition of tomatoes and red peppers. Some provinces are almost obsessed with having a bowl of it for 30 days in a row, without skipping a single day. In the Aegean region starting from Uşak, going down towards Muğla, Fethiye, Burdur and Antalya regions, there would be a bowl of it served at iftar or sahur every day during Ramadan, quite convenient without having the question “What soup should I have today?” as after all with that pillowy pide it will make complete meal anyway!