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AI-generated photograph: Menemen in a small black iron pan, soft golden folds of egg through a deep red tomato and green pepper sauce, scattered with chopped parsley and dark red chilli flakes, on a worn wooden board

Home · Recipes · Turkish menemen, soft eggs with peppers and tomato

Mediterranean and Middle Eastern · Breakfast

Turkish menemen, soft eggs with peppers and tomato

soft eggs · slow tomato · pul biber

AI-generated photograph

A Turkish breakfast favourite: green peppers and onion softened in olive oil, cooked down with ripe tomatoes, then eggs stirred through gently until just set and silky, finished with mild chilli flakes.

Contains: eggs, as written. Of the 14 allergens, only eggs are in this recipe. The vegetables, oil and spices contain none of the 14.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 green peppers, seeds out, thinly sliced
  • 4 ripe tomatoes, chopped
  • Half a teaspoon salt
  • Half a teaspoon pul biber (Turkish chilli flakes, also sold as Aleppo pepper), plus extra to serve
  • 6 eggs
  • Black pepper
  • 10g fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

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Let's cook

  1. Warm the olive oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat. Add the onion and green peppers and cook for 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft.
  2. Add the tomatoes, salt and pul biber. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until the tomatoes have broken down into a thick sauce and most of the juice has cooked away.
  3. Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat lightly with a fork, with a little black pepper.
  4. Turn the heat down low. Pour the eggs into the pan and leave them for 30 seconds, then stir slowly with a wooden spoon, folding the egg through the sauce.
  5. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring gently, until the eggs are softly set: creamy, not runny, and no longer clear. Take the pan off the heat as soon as they look done, because they keep cooking.
  6. Scatter with parsley and a little more pul biber and bring the pan to the table.

Tips

  • Cooking the tomatoes down well first stops the menemen being watery.
  • In Turkey it is eaten straight from the pan, scooped up with crusty bread.
  • Pul biber is fruity and mild; if you use ordinary chilli flakes, use half as much.

Swaps

  • No fresh tomatoes: use a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes and cook it down a little longer.
  • Add crumbled feta at the end for a richer version (adds milk).
  • Serve with crusty bread if you like, but note that it contains gluten.

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