Menemen
Turkish Eggs with Tomato and Pepper
Menemen is the Turkish answer to scrambled eggs, cooked in a pan of softened peppers and tomato and brought to the table in the pan, with bread to scoop it up. It takes twenty minutes. The one rule is to take it off the heat while it still looks slightly too soft.
Menemen is scrambled eggs with tomatoes, peppers and onions, served throughout Turkey.
The two recipes agree on olive oil, peppers, tomatoes and a pinch of red pepper. One adds white cheese to the eggs and uses spring onions; the other uses a diced onion, paprika and oregano, and sets half the vegetables aside to fold in at the end.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely diced, or 2 spring onions, sliced
- 1 small green pepper (about 100 g), finely diced
- 2 ripe tomatoes (about 200 g), finely diced
- 1/2 tsp Turkish red pepper flakes (pul biber) or hot paprika
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano (optional)
- 4 medium eggs, beaten
- 60 g white cheese or feta, crumbled (optional)
- Fine sea salt and black pepper
- Crusty bread, to serve
Method
- Soften the vegetables Heat the oil in a frying pan over a low to medium heat. Cook the onion and pepper with the pepper flakes, and oregano if using, for 6 to 8 minutes, until soft.
- Cook down the tomatoes Add the tomatoes and salt and cook for about 5 minutes more, stirring now and then, until they have broken down and the juice has thickened.
- Add the eggs Pour in the beaten eggs, and the cheese if using. Stir gently over a low heat for 1 to 2 minutes, until the eggs are just set and still glossy.
- Serve Take the pan off the heat at once, because the eggs go on cooking. Season with black pepper and serve in the pan with bread.
Food safety
The eggs are only just set. Use eggs with the British Lion mark, or cook them through, if serving anyone who is pregnant, elderly, very young or unwell.
The pan should be wide enough that the tomatoes cook down instead of stewing.
Do not salt the eggs early, or they turn watery.