Turkish Eggs

I tried Turkish eggs for the first time whilst abroad in India. I had them at a delicious little tea and breakfast shop in Chennai and I instantly fell in love. If you've never had them, you might find the description of the dish a little odd or off-putting but stick with me. Basically, you start with yogurt, warm it up with a little minced garlic and salt, and scoop it into a bowl. Nestle a poached egg on top and then drizzle with a delicious garlicky, spicy butter. Toast some pita for dipping and dig in.

Eggs and yogurt sounds a bit weird, I know, but it's really delicious and one of my new favorite breakfasts ever. It's got enough protein to fill me up through the afternoon but it's light enough that I don't feel sluggish after chowing down.

Ingredients [serves 2]
yogurt
6 oz. Greek yogurt
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ teaspoon salt

butter sauce
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon crushed pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic, sliced
white end of a scallion, chopped

2 eggs
pita bread, toasted
scallion greens, chopped

If you want to go all out, whip up a fresh batch of flatbread pitas. I opted to make them small and adorable.

Next, get started on the yogurt. Finely mince some garlic (you can grate it if you like) and add to a bowl of yogurt. Crack in some salt and then pop it over a pot of simmering water just to warm through. You don't need it to be hot; just looking to take the chill off.

In a skillet, combine butter, olive oil, chili flakes, garlic slivers, and sliced scallion (white to light green bit only).

Heat until butter is melted and the oil is lovely and tinged red.

The v. last step is to poach some eggs.

To serve, smear a little yogurt in the bottom of a bowl. Add the egg on top and then drizzle generously with the garlicky butter. Garnish with a few scallions (the reserved dark green bit) and dig in. Bring any leftover butter sauce to the table to keep drizzling onto newly exposed pools of yogurt.

I like to really just go for it with the pita bread. It's especially convenient when cut into triangles; the points are great for stabbing into the egg.

The rich runny yolk is gorgeous when it's swirled into the yogurt. It's creamy, it's spicy, it's garlicky, and it's delicious.

Here's the recipe page: