Home » Meal Type » Dinner Recipes » Cypriot Vegetable Stew: Otherwise Known as Turlu

Dinner Recipes | Flavours of the Middle East | Soups & Stews | Vegan Recipes

Cypriot Vegetable Stew: Otherwise Known as Turlu

ByChoclette 29th October 201513th January 2026

Facebook Pinterest X (Twitter) WhatsApp Reddit E-mail

A flavoursome Turkish Cypriot dish of fried vegetables and tomato sauce. This Cypriot vegetable stew is best eaten with olive bread to soak up the juices, but it’s also good with rice or pasta.

Following on from the gorgeous olive garlic halloumi spelt bread I made a couple of weeks ago, I now bring you my version of another Cypriot recipe, Turlu. It’s a kind of vegetable stew from the Turkish side of Cyprus. It’s very tasty and the aforementioned bread makes a perfect accompaniment.

Cypriot Vegetable Stew

As a big fan of Middle Eastern food, this is the sort of dish I tend to throw together without thinking too much about it. However, on this occasion I used an authentic recipe as my starting point. Sadly, it has long since disappeared from the web.

I followed the advice to make a separate tomato sauce before adding it to the gently fried vegetables. With our runner beans going nuts down at the plot, I also added a fair few of those, but cooked them separately to the other vegetables.

As expected, the turlu was delicious. It satisfied both my Mediterranean heritage and CT’s fondness for a good stew.

Copper Country

I grew up in tin and copper country here in Cornwall. So I was interested to find out that Cyprus is also famous for its copper mining. In fact the name Cyprus means copper.

One day I hope to make it to the Copper Isle and sample some authentic Cypriot cuisine. Maybe we can swap a few recipes. I’m sure I could twist CT’s arm with the promise of some impromptu botanising. The spring flowers would make a great tonic after the grey days of winter.

Other Cypriot Recipes You Might Like

Fasulye with dukkah roasted tofu via Tin and Thyme
Fried halloumi salad with baked pomegranate grapes via Fuss Free Flavours
Olive garlic halloumi spelt bread via Tin and Thyme
Spanakopita via Tin and Thyme
Turkish zucchini fritters via Tinned Tomatoes

Keep in Touch

Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this Turkish Cypriot vegetable stew, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on your preferred social media site and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.

For more delicious and nutritious recipes follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard or Pinterest. And don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to my weekly newsletter. Or why not join the conversation in our Healthy Vegetarian Whole Food Recipes Facebook Group?

If you’d like to see some more stew type recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious, of course.

Choclette x

Turkish Cypriot Vegetable Stew. PIN IT.

Cypriot Vegetable Stew – The Recipe

Print Pin

5 from 2 votes

Cypriot Vegetable Stew aka Turlu

A flavoursome Turkish Cypriot dish of fried vegetables and tomato sauce. Best eaten with olive bread to soak up the juices, but also good with rice or pasta.

Prep Time15

Cook Time45

Total Time1

Course: Lunch, Main Course, Supper

Cuisine: Cypriot, Middle Eastern

Keyword: courgettes, green beans, stew, tomatoes, vegan, vegetarian

Servings: people

Calories: 194kcal

Author: Choclette @ Tin and Thyme

Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion sliced
1 red pepper deseeded and chopped
1 yellow pepper deseeded and chopped
1 large courgette (zucchini) chopped
1 chard or large handful of beet tops (including stalks) – roughly chopped
2 large handfuls of tender runner beans topped, tailed and chopped into 1 inch pieces.
8 medium tomatoes chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 small red chilli deseeded and finely chopped (optional)
100 ml tomato passata
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
good grinding of black pepper
⅛ tsp sea salt (or to taste)
2 sprig fresh thyme
small bunch of parsley finely chopped

Metric – US Customary

Instructions

Gently fry the onions in a large pan with 2 tbsp olive oil for a few minutes, then add the peppers and fry for another couple of minutes. Add the courgettes, stir and fry for another minute or two. Add the beet tops, stir and cover the pan allowing the veg to cook gently for ten minutes or so.
3 tbsp olive oil, 1 onion, 1 large courgette (zucchini), 1 red pepper, 1 yellow pepper, 1 chard
Simmer the beans in a little salted water until tender, then add to the pan of vegetables.
2 large handfuls of tender runner beans
Gently fry the tomatoes, garlic and chilli in the remaining olive oil. Add the passata, spices, salt and thyme and allow to simmer with the lid off for a few minutes.
8 medium tomatoes, 2 cloves garlic, 1 small red chilli, 100 ml tomato passata, ½ tsp ground cumin, ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground cloves, good grinding of black pepper, ⅛ tsp sea salt, 2 sprig fresh thyme
Stir the tomato sauce into the vegetables, cover and simmer for a further 10-15 minutes. Stir in the parsley reserving a little to scatter over the top.
small bunch of parsley

Notes

Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on exact ingredients used.

Nutrition Estimate

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below letting us know how you got on and do share a photo on Instagram. Tag @choclette8 or use hashtag #tinandthyme.

Sharing

This Cypriot vegetable stew goes to Jac over at Tinned Tomatoes for her very popular Meat Free Mondays.

I’m also sending it off to Corina over at Searching for Spice for a new to me challenge, Cook Once Eat Twice. This vegetable stew from Cyprus, as is often the case with this sort of food, was even better the next day. It meant we could sit down to a nice easy meal and all we had to do was reheat it.