Recipe
Menemen
Turkey's favorite breakfast: eggs barely set in a silky sauce of grated tomatoes and mild green peppers, eaten straight from the pan with plenty of bread.
Menemen takes about 20 minutes and makes 2 servings. Each serving has 393 kcal.
- Preparation
- 8 minutes
- Cooking
- 12 minutes
- Total time
- 20 minutes
- Servings
- 2
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 393 kcal
- Protein
- 15.5 g
- Carbohydrates
- 10 g
- Fat
- 32.5 g
Ingredients
- Eggs4 pcs
- Tomatoes400 g
- Mild green peppers2 pcs
- Olive oil2 tbsp
- Butter20 g
- Pul biber (Turkish chili flakes)1 tsp
- Salt1 pinch
Instructions
- 1
Halve the tomatoes and grate them on the coarse side of a box grater, cut side first - discard the skins.
- 2
Warm the olive oil and butter in a wide pan over medium heat and cook the chopped peppers until soft, about 4 minutes.
Tip: Half of Turkey swears by onion in menemen, the other half calls it heresy. If you are team onion, add one finely chopped onion before the peppers.
- 3
Add the grated tomatoes, salt and pul biber. Simmer until the sauce thickens and no longer looks watery, 6–8 minutes.
- 4
Crack the eggs straight into the sauce and stir gently once or twice - streaks of white and yolk should stay visible.
- 5
Cook just until the whites turn opaque but the eggs are still soft and creamy, about 2 minutes.
Tip: Pull the pan off the heat while the eggs still look slightly underdone - they finish cooking in the hot sauce.
- 6
Serve immediately, straight from the pan, with fresh bread for scooping.
Cooking methods
On the stove
Use a wide, heavy pan over medium heat - the sauce should bubble gently, never fry. If the tomatoes start catching, lower the flame and add a spoonful of water. The eggs go in only once the sauce has visibly thickened.
On induction
Soften the peppers on level 5–6, then drop to 4 for the tomato sauce. Induction reacts instantly, so go down to 2–3 the moment the eggs go in; the pan's residual heat will finish them.
Over an open fire
Menemen works beautifully over embers in a cast-iron pan. Once the eggs are in, keep the pan at the cooler edge of the fire - over direct flame they overcook in seconds.
Recipe questions
- How long does this recipe take?
- Plan for about 20 minutes from start to finish.
- How many servings does this recipe make?
- This recipe makes 2 servings.
- Can I cook this recipe on induction?
- Yes. Soften the peppers on level 5–6, then drop to 4 for the tomato sauce. Induction reacts instantly, so go down to 2–3 the moment the eggs go in; the pan's residual heat will finish them.
- Can I cook this recipe over an open fire?
- Yes. Menemen works beautifully over embers in a cast-iron pan. Once the eggs are in, keep the pan at the cooler edge of the fire - over direct flame they overcook in seconds.
- Which dietary preferences does this recipe support?
- This recipe is tagged: vegetarian, glutenFree.
In the app
Cooking the way it should feel
One step on screen, a timer that keeps going, and clear progress until the dish is done.
