I’m all 50/50 when it comes to egg and egg dishes but if there’s one egg dish I would make myself for a Sunday morning breakfast as a reward for making it through a hectic week, its menemen! Apart from the M’s, N’s, and E’s, menemen is made of eggs, peppers, cheese and lots of juicy tomatoes: all cooked together until the creamy goodness ready to befriend some crusty bread.

Menemen can sound a lot similar to Shakshouka, but they are variations of one another, like Mediterranean siblings, if you will. Shakshouka involves cracking eggs into wells of stewing tomatoes and letting them sit and cook, while in menemen you mix the eggs in to create a silky version of scrambled eggs. Plus, menemen has cheese, which shakshouka doesn’t.

The most important step (also the most forgettable) while making menemen is to peel your tomatoes. I know this might sound ridiculous but if you don’t, the skin will just sit in the pan and won’t allow the tomato to stew correctly. It’s not something that softens to break down and stew! And of course, I had to forget doing it which meant my stew wasn’t liquid enough. So to improvise, I turned it into a cross between the original menemen and Indian “anda bhurji” and sprinkled feta on top.

If you want to make menemen, remove the skins and if you don’t, that's fine too! So I guess this is a two-in-one recipe?

                 Shakshouka's Mediterranean sibling!

Makes one large portion:

• 1 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 3 small green peppers
• 1/2 a small onion
• 3 medium tomatoes
• 2 tsp. chili paste
• Salt
• 2 eggs
• Turkish cheese/ Mozzarella
• Chili flakes
• Parsley/ coriander, for garnish

Finely chop the peppers and onion. Peel the tomatoes and roughly dice them. On a medium flame, heat the oil and butter in a pan. Add the chopped peppers and onion and render until soft. Add the chili paste and mix. Add the tomatoes, turn down the flame to a low and let the mixture stew, covered, for about 15 minutes. Season with salt.

Crack the eggs into the stewed tomatoes and gently combine, on your lowest flame. Once the eggs have almost cooked or the mixture starts to coagulate, grate some cheese over the pan and remove from the heat. Sprinkle some chili flakes and garnish with parsley or coriander! 

The sizzle while rendering peppers, the sound of stewing tomatoes and crumbling cheese over the pan are just parts of this satisfactory Turkish breakfast experience!

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