Türkiye · Turkish breakfast cuisine
Menemen
Soft, silky eggs scrambled into a sweet sauce of ripe tomatoes and green peppers cooked in butter and olive oil, served sizzling in the pan with toasted bread: the Turkish breakfast classic.
Cookhuddle Editorial Cookhuddle | Turkey
Editorial selection: recipes cross-checked against several documentary sources. They have not been tested in our kitchen: follow the precautions given and adapt times to your own oven.
Photo: E4024 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source · cropped
original Original text, written in English.
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- Servings
- 2
- Preparation
- 10 min
- Cooking
- 20 min
- Total
- 30 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
Cuisine / tradition: Turkish breakfast cuisine (TR) — declared by the author
- Breakfast
- Main dish
- Quick
Ingredients
For 2 servings
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 piece long green peppers (sivri biber), seeded and finely chopped
- 3 piece ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced (or grated)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp pul biber (red pepper flakes)
- 4 piece eggs
- 1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped, to serve (optional)
- 4 slice country bread, toasted, to serve
Method
- Step 1. Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds, peel them and cut them into small dice, or grate them. Seed the peppers and chop them finely.
- Step 2. Melt the butter with the olive oil in a wide, shallow pan over medium heat. Add the peppers and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, until soft.⏱ 6 min
- Step 3. Add the tomatoes, the salt, the black pepper and the pul biber. Cook uncovered for 8 to 10 minutes, until the tomatoes have released their juice and most of it has evaporated, leaving a thick sauce.⏱ 10 min
- Step 4. Make 4 hollows in the sauce and break an egg into each, or beat the eggs and pour them over. Lower the heat and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring gently if you like, until the eggs are just set but still soft and glossy.⏱ 3 min
- Step 5. Take off the heat at once, as the eggs keep cooking in the hot pan. Scatter with parsley and serve immediately in the pan with toasted bread.
Story and cultural note
Menemen takes its name from the district where it is made and, according to one source, was first made in İzmir by Cretan Turks. It can be made with or without onion, and the question of onion is a famous Turkish debate; the recipe here has none, as in the classic breakfast version of the sources. The Samsun speciality çakallı menemen, from the Black Sea region, is also made without onion, with a lot of butter, tomatoes and green peppers. Some versions add white cheese, kaşar or sucuk. The sources differ on how the eggs go in: whites stirred in first then yolks, whole eggs broken in, or beaten.
Tips for success
Use ripe, sweet tomatoes and let the excess juice evaporate before adding the eggs, so that the dish is saucy but not watery. Keep the heat low once the eggs go in and take the pan off the heat while they are still soft: they finish cooking in the pan. Do not over-stir. Salt just before or after the eggs. Pregnant women, young children, older people and immunocompromised people should prefer fully cooked eggs: leave them in the pan until they are firm and no longer runny.
Serving and presentation
Serve immediately, straight from the pan, with thick slices of toasted country bread to scoop, a few olives, white cheese and sweet tea.
Diet and allergens
Information declared by the author. CookHuddle does not verify or certify it. If you have an allergy, check the ingredients yourself.
DietVegetarianNut-free
ContainsEggsMilk
May contain traces ofGluten (cereals)
