Black Sea Turkish steamed anchovies — whole hamsi layered over sliced potato, tomato and onion in a covered pan, moistened with lemon and a little water or olive oil, then gently steamed until the fish turns opaque and the vegetables slump soft. It is the moist counterpart to the famous cornmeal-fried hamsi tava: no crust, no oil-frying, just clean steam-cooked anchovy over a bed of vegetables, finished with parsley and lemon.
Hamsi (European anchovy) is the defining fish of Black Sea Turkish cooking — it runs in dense winter schools off Trabzon and Rize from November to March, and the coast turns it into rice, soup, bread and even dessert. Where hamsi tava fries the fish in the region's staple cornmeal, buğulama (from buğu, 'vapor') steams it whole over vegetables in a covered pan. The technique suits a rainy coast short on cooking fat: a little water or olive oil and the moisture from the vegetables do the work. The dish is home cooking rather than restaurant fare, valued for keeping the small fish intact and tasting cleanly of the sea.
The anchovies stay whole and silvery, fanned over a soft bed of potato that has drunk up the fish juices. The flesh is meltingly tender — steam-cooked, never seared — lifting cleanly off the fine bones. The pan liquid is a light tomato-onion broth sharpened by lemon, nothing like the crunch of the fried version: this is all softness, brightness and clean anchovy flavor. Eat it straight from the pan with bread to mop the juices, a wedge of lemon alongside.
Steaming protects the fragile anchovy: the fish never touches the hot pan, so it cannot stick, break apart or dry out the way it would in oil. Sliced potato laid on the bottom serves two purposes — it lifts the fish clear of the metal and, releasing starch and absorbing liquid, it keeps the broth from going thin and watery. Tomato and onion give up roughly a third of their weight as water, which combines with the lemon and the small added liquid into steam that cooks the fish from below and around. A tight lid holds the heat near 95°C — hot enough to cook the thin fish in well under fifteen minutes, gentle enough that it stays whole.
Variations
Trabzon home cooks keep it minimal — anchovy, potato, onion, lemon; some add a layer of sliced tomato and green pepper for a redder, sweeter broth. A version without potato leans on extra onion and tomato for body. Olive-oil-forward cooks dress it as a zeytinyağlı dish, eaten warm or at room temperature. The same buğulama technique applied to sea bass gives levrek buğulama; applied to mussels, midye buğulama — all distinct from the cornmeal-fried hamsi tava and the Rize anchovy-rice bake, hamsili pilav.
On the Palate
Where Hamsi Buğulama sits in the Turkish flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
6 steps · 15 min active + 20 min waiting
- 110 min
Clean the anchovies: pinch off the heads and pull out the guts with them, rinse, and pat dry. Leave whole, bones in.
- 25 min
Peel and thinly slice the potatoes and onion; slice the tomatoes. Lay the potato slices over the bottom of a wide shallow pan, then the onion, then half the tomato.
Watch outLay the potato slices flat across the bottom first — they lift the fish off the metal so it can't stick or scorch, and their starch keeps the broth from going watery.
- 33 min
Arrange the anchovies in a close-packed layer over the vegetables, then cover with the remaining tomato, the chopped peppers and parsley.
- 42 min
Pour over the lemon juice, olive oil and a small splash of water; season with salt and pepper.
- 518 min
Cover tightly and steam over low-medium heat until the potatoes are tender and the anchovies are opaque and just cooked, 15-20 minutes — do not stir.
Watch outKeep the lid tight and never stir — the fragile anchovies cook in the trapped steam and will break apart the instant you poke them.
- 65 min
Rest off the heat for a few minutes, scatter with more parsley, and serve straight from the pan with lemon wedges and bread.
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