There is no real breakfast without scrambled eggs for you? Then mix it up a bit without completely missing out on your favorite breakfast dish with this Turkish egg specialty! Menemen is a traditional food made from eggs, tomato, green peppers and spices. It is mainly eaten for breakfast but also as a main dish during the summer months. While some people only think the plain version is the real deal, many others like adding ingredients like Turkish feta cheese, sucuk or pastırma. Even more controversial are onions which are sometimes added but are less common in the breakfast version.
Menemen is a delicious and light meal for a perfect start into the day. The eggs are barely set, firmer around the edges and moist in the middle, and the mix of tomatoes and peppers give it a fresh and fruity note. Menemen is usually prepared in little metal pans in which it is also served, accompanied by white bread or Simit, the traditional Turkish sesame rings.
The traditional dish is named after the Turkish town of the same name on the Aegean coast, right north of Izmir. Menemen is a set item on the menu of any typical Turkish breakfast house. If you don’t have any of these around the corner and don’t plan on visiting Turkey soon, simply try it yourself with our simple and authentic recipe:
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 10 tomatos
- 1 green pepper
- 1 onion
- salt
- pepper
- 1 tbsp spicy paprika powder
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp oil
Instructions
- Peel the tomatos and cut them into half and then into thin slices
- Also cut the pepper and the onion into thin slices
- Heat up the butter and oil in a pan, add the onion slices and sauté them until glassy
- Add the peppers and the paprika powder and roast it together
- Now also add the tomatos and season everything with salt and pepper
- Let it simmer for about 10 minutes
- Open the eggs into a bowl, salt them slightly and scramble them well
- Pour the eggs into the boiling tomato-pepper sauce
- Turn off the heat after about 1 minute and leave the pan on the hot plate until the eggs coagulate
- Finally, stir the mass carefully and serve it hot.
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Similar to:
Shakshouka from Israel
Images:
Menemen Joy by Chris Hobcroft, licensed under CC BY 2.0