Sucuklu Menemen with Soft-Set Eggs and Warm Flatbread

⏱ 30 min · Serves 2

Turkey's greatest breakfast: sweet peppers and ripe tomatoes cooked down into a jammy base, spiked with spicy sucuk sausage and finished with eggs stirred to a barely-set, custardy softness. Scoop straight from the pan with warm bread.

Per serving: 710 kcal · 36.0g protein · 42.0g carbs · 44.0g fat

Ingredients

• 120g sucuk (Turkish spicy sausage), sliced into thin coins
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 green Turkish pepper (or 1 green bell pepper), deseeded and sliced
• 1 small onion, finely sliced (optional)
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 4 ripe tomatoes (about 400g), grated or peeled and chopped
• 1 tsp pul biber (Aleppo pepper flakes)
• 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• 4 large eggs
• 20g butter
• 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 50g feta or beyaz peynir, crumbled (optional)
• 2 flatbreads or thick slices of sourdough, warmed

Method

1. Put a wide non-stick or cast-iron frying pan over medium heat. Add the sucuk coins dry (they release plenty of fat) and fry 2-3 minutes until the edges crisp and the oil runs red. Lift out with a slotted spoon and set aside.
2. Add the olive oil to the sucuk fat, then the pepper and onion. Cook 5-6 minutes until softened and just starting to colour.
3. Stir in the garlic, pul biber and paprika and cook 30 seconds until fragrant.
4. Add the tomatoes with a good pinch of salt. Simmer over medium heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring now and then, until thick and jammy with no watery pool left.
5. Return most of the sucuk to the pan (keep a few coins back for the top) and stir through. Drop in the butter and let it melt into the sauce.
6. Crack in the eggs. Let them sit 30 seconds, then stir gently and slowly with a spatula, folding the sauce over the eggs, for 1-2 minutes until just set but still glossy and soft. Take the pan off the heat while it looks slightly underdone.
7. Season with black pepper, scatter over the reserved sucuk, parsley and feta if using. Serve straight from the pan with warm flatbread.