Turkish Carrot & Walnut Dip (Havuç Tarator)

This light, tangy spread combines fried carrots, toasted walnuts and yoghurt to make a creamy, bittersweet addition to your mezze.

‘Tarator’ is a popular dish eaten between Turkey and the Balkan countries, where it generally straddles being a dip and sauce. In its simplest form, it’s a combination of toasted walnuts, bread, lemon juice and olive oil, but you’ll find many recipes for it across this region that have adapted it to other produce. This popular Turkish version of tarator uses ‘havuç’ - carrots. The carrots can be added fresh or fried - I prefer the fried version as it really saturates the flavour of the carrots and makes a thicker, richer tarator. The rest is light work - a combination of yoghurt, mayonnaise - oh yes, many Turks add mayonnaise to it - seasoning and a chilli-butter sauce for top. Enjoy it with bread, crackers or with meze - the Turkish love tarator especially with seafood. Let’s go!