The Türkiye Culture Portal and Sinop Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism record the same defining method: deboned anchovies, firm rice with onion, parsley and mint, lightly floured fish arranged half-overlapping, and beaten egg brushed over the closed pie. The finished dish is described as cake-like. This home version keeps that plain Sinop filling rather than adding the pine nuts, currants or sweet spices found in other Black Sea anchovy-and-rice preparations.
Sinop İçli Tava — Recipe Card
Sinop anchovy and herb-rice pie
Makes 6 servings · Makes one 24 cm (9½ in) round, about 6 wedgesUS cup = 240 ml · tablespoon = 15 ml · teaspoon = 5 ml. Cup and weight conversions are approximate. Australian cooks: use a 15 ml measuring tablespoon.
Ingredient quantities and servings are scaled. Cooking times, pan sizes, frying oil depth, and temperatures stay the same; cook larger batches as needed.
Ingredients
How to make Sinop İçli Tava
Prepare the anchovies
Keep the cleaned anchovies cold. Rinse them briefly only if needed, then dry very thoroughly with paper towels. Check for remaining backbones. Season with 3 g (½ tsp) of the salt and return them to the refrigerator while you prepare the rice.
Cook the rice until firm
Melt 40 g (3 tbsp) butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook the onion for 6–8 minutes until soft but not browned. Add the rice and stir for 2 minutes. Add the water and 3 g (½ tsp) salt, bring to a gentle simmer, cover and cook on low for 10–12 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed but the grains remain firm.
Season and cool the filling
Remove the rice from the heat. Fold in the parsley, mint and black pepper, cover and rest for 10 minutes. Spread the rice on a tray so it cools to warm; hot rice would begin cooking the raw fish during assembly.
Line the pan
Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Melt the remaining 80 g (5½ tbsp) butter and brush a 24 cm (9½ in) round cake pan generously. Dust the skin side of each anchovy lightly with flour and shake off the excess. Arrange fish skin-side against the pan in overlapping rows across the base, then up the sides, leaving the upper ends hanging beyond the rim. Each fish should overlap the previous one by about half.
Enclose the rice
Spoon the warm rice into the fish-lined pan and press it into an even layer without compacting it hard. Fold the overhanging anchovies toward the center. Use the remaining fish, skin-side facing outward, to cover every gap so the rice is completely enclosed.
Glaze and bake safely
Brush the beaten eggs evenly over the top and drizzle with any remaining melted butter. Bake for 25–35 minutes, rotating the pan once, until the fish is golden, the egg glaze is set and the center reaches at least 63°C (145°F).
Rest and unmold
Rest the pan for 10 minutes. Run a thin spatula around the edge, place a warm platter over the pan and invert carefully. If the surface needs more color, slide the pie onto a baking sheet and broil briefly while watching continuously. Cut into wedges and serve hot.
Bring this recipe to your kitchen with a printable copy.
Print recipeRecipe from MyTurkishRecipes · https://myturkishrecipes.com/sinop-anchovy-and-rice-pie-icli-tava. Quantities reflect your selected serving scale. Cooking times are estimates; follow the doneness cues.
A few helpful kitchen notes
Anchovy choice
Use fresh or properly thawed small anchovies, not cured anchovy fillets from a jar or tin. Ask the fishmonger to remove heads, guts and backbones if possible; keep the fish at 4°C (40°F) or colder.
Sinop filling
This version follows Sinop’s official plain filling of rice, onion, parsley, mint, salt and black pepper. Pine nuts, currants, dill and sweet spices belong to other regional or household versions and are not added here.
Heat level
No added chili. The seasoning is aromatic rather than hot; serve pul biber separately if diners want heat.
Dietary notes
The recipe contains fish, wheat/gluten, egg and dairy. The official source permits vegetable oil in place of butter, but that change does not remove the other allergens.
Food safety
Prevent raw fish and egg from contacting ready-to-eat foods, wash hands and tools after handling them, cook the center to 63°C (145°F), and refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours.
How to store and reheat Sinop İçli Tava
Cool and refrigerate within 2 hours in a shallow covered container at 4°C (40°F) or colder. Eat within 3 days. Reheat wedges to 74°C (165°F) in a 180°C (350°F) oven so the fish crust stays firmer; do not leave reheated seafood at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
Sinop İçli Tava: questions and answers
Is Sinop İçli Tava the same as hamsili pilav?
They are closely related anchovy-and-rice dishes, but this Sinop source specifies a simple parsley-and-mint rice, floured anchovy backs and a beaten-egg glaze. The recipe keeps those local details.
Can I use canned anchovies?
No. Cured canned or jarred anchovies are too salty and too small to form the fresh fish shell. Use cleaned fresh or properly thawed whole small anchovies.
Why should the rice remain firm?
The rice cooks again inside the enclosed pie. Fully soft rice can become pasty and press liquid into the fish layer during baking.
Can I assemble it ahead?
For best quality and safer handling, prepare the rice first, cool it to warm and assemble immediately with cold fish. Bake the pie the same day rather than holding the raw assembled dish overnight.
