Travels for Taste

Tales of travel and food with a touch of spice

Zingy Turkish Poached Eggs

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I am a fan of eggs in any form and when I chanced upon this delightful Turkish recipe for combining eggs with thick and fulfilling greek yoghurt I just had to go ahead and experiment! Total Greek Yogurt 0% is fat-free, gluten-free and suitable for vegetarians and pregnant women – all good, no nasties! Besides these virtues its consistency is great and I have in the past few days consumed one of the smaller pots per day part in smoothies and just a dollop with my rice and curry dinner. There are so many versatile combinations that are possible with this yoghurt. From smoothies and shakes to use in cooking as a marinade or cooling dip with chopped goodies like fresh chives, garlic, chilli flakes etc.The thick and creamy consistency is a bonus if you’re trying to watch your weight too!

I made these poached eggs for brunch and served them with wholemeal pitta toasted in the same pan where I made my chilli butter – fabulous!

Traditionally this dish is called Cilbir (pronounced as chillburrr, roll the r’s!) is a Turkish dish of poached eggs with yoghurt (often with garlic mixed in). There are records of Cilbir being eaten by Ottoman sultans as far back as the 15th century. It is now common to serve the dish topped with melted butter infused with Aleppo pepper, for which paprika can be substituted. (Source: Wiki)

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Zingy Turkish Poached Eggs

Manjiri Chitnis
Print Recipe
Course Breakfast
Cuisine Turkish
Servings 2 people

Ingredients
  

  • 4 Large Eggs
  • 5 – 6 cloves Garlic peeled and chopped fine
  • 500 grams Greek Yogurt
  • 50 grams Butter
  • 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
  • A pinch of chilli powder – as per your tolerance levels
  • A handful of fresh Mint roughly chopped
  • Sea Salt as per taste
  • Plenty of freshly cracked Black Pepper

Instructions
 

  • Boil water in a large saucepan, then cover with the lid and allow to simmer on a medium flame for a while
  • When the water is absolutely boiling hot, take off the lid and reduce the flame to a very low simmer. Then, carefully crack the eggs into the water one by one. They seem to sort of go ' freeze frame’ once dropped into the boiling water. Give them about 30 seconds when it seems like they have been poached carefully remove them one by one using a slotted spoon. If you suspect that the yolk will just burst open it means it needs some more time inside. Don’t worry if this process isn’t perfect the first time around , it is a learning curve and you will get it right in a few tries – in case of disaster scoop out as much of the egg as you can and after you are done with all the eggs use a sieve to save the remaining egg
  • Use two bowls or plates to serve. First, scoop some yoghurt into each of the serving bowls. Season with sea salt, a generous sprinkling of cracked black pepper and a pinch of chilli powder. Mix well
  • Create a bit of shallow space in the middle of the yoghurt mix and place the poached eggs on top
  • Heat a non-stick pan on a medium flame, and reduce flame to a simmer. Melt the butter and before it starts to brown add the finely chopped garlic and smoked paprika. Then add some sea salt
  • Quickly pour this delicious golden spiced butter over the eggs and yoghurt
  • Garnish by sprinkling some fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped for a burst of fresh flavour
  • Toast the mini wholemeal pitta bread portions in the same pan that was used to melt and spice the butter and it will give your pitta that extra kick of flavour!
  • Scoop the flavoured poached egg and the cooling yoghurt with the pitta bread. It’s a beautiful sensation on your palate as the cold yoghurt and smoked paprika work their magic on your taste buds
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Disclaimer: With many thanks to Total UK. I was not required to write a positive review and was not compensated monetarily for this post. Like all my previous posts about events and reviews, ALL opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
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WHY NOT TRY MY OTHER RECIPES WITH EGGS AS THE STAR INGREDIENT?

I VISISTED A BUSY EGG FARM WHERE HENS ROAM IN RURAL ENGLAND, HAVE A READ AND BROWSE THROUGH SOME PICTURES FOR A VIRTUAL TOUR

Behind the scenes at an Egg Farm

Vintage Frittata recipe inspired by ”Angel”

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Well as my previous blog post mentioned I am quite besotted with my latest cookbook – The Vintage Tea Party by Angel. She is such a talented lady and anyone with orange hair,a vivid imagination, a vast collection of Vintage odds and ends and a great cook to top is all is my kind of hero!

So I first ate a Frittata at my workplace where it was served during tea time,anything remotely associated with eggs and I simply must try it, I could live on fried eggs ,omelettes ,scrambled eggs and yes Frittatas!

I surfed up info about the origin of Frittata because that’s the beauty of food and recipes, they start from someplace and then suddenly are popular world cuisine and everyone’s making their own versions. Some food blogs have really well researched posts about the Frittata and I do recommend reading them:

http://www.delallo.com/articles/la-frittata-egg-dish-endless-possibilities

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2008/12/i-have-change-and-treat-for-you-today.html

http://www.thefoodadvicecentre.co.uk/reference/recipes/frittata/

Wikipedia defines a Frittata as : The Italian word frittata derives from fritto, the past participle of “to fry” (friggere),[1] and was originally a general term for cooking eggs in a skillet, anywhere on the spectrum from fried egg, through conventional omelette, to an Italian version of the Spanish tortilla de patatas, made with fried potato. Outside Italy, frittata was seen as equivalent to “omelette” until at least the mid-1950s.

Well,Angel’s recipe is an antithesis to this logic,why? well because it’s OVEN BAKED not fried and secondly is rather basic yet tasty,her recipe recommends using flower petals to decorate and also cutting it into shapes to make it more visually delightful and intriguing. Ofcourse what I’ve cooked isn’t a patch on the beautiful Angel’s creation but it’s a sort of a tribute to her, in a demi god,fan like behaviour sort of a way…!!

By all means if any one of you does create one anything close to Angel’s original, please do share your feedback and pictures !

I have scaled down the ingredients for 2 people and added a few twists here and there for experimental touches of my own!

Ingredient list to whip up a mean frittata- Vintage and all that 🙂 remember to roll up ur hair in a bun while making it and think Vintage :),Angel style !

  1. 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  2. Half a white onion sliced
  3. 1 Courgette  finely sliced into half-moon slice
  4. 5 large free range eggs
  5. Salt
  6. cracked black pepper
  7. Goats cheese crumbled

Method

  1. Pre Heat the oven to 220° C /Fan 200° C/ Gas mark 7. Line a baking tin with non-stick baking paper.
  2. Heat oil in a small frying pan and fry the onions until soft for about 2 minutes, stir in the chopped courgette bits,fry on a higher flame for about 4 minutes till it’s goldenish. Angel advises not stirring or tossing this too much in her book and I do agree.
  3. Beat eggs in a bowl,season with salt and add the onion and courgette mixture.

4. Crumble some goats cheese and  then transfer above mixture to a baking tin of your choice, I simply used my small cake tin. Bake for about 15 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack and serve hot.Season with cracked black pepper sprinkled on top.

I think this makes for a really delicious and filling tea time snack and is really easy to make when time is a constraint,which is almost always in our busy lives.

Of course,Angel’s recipe differs and requires some more cooking as there is cheese and is seasoned with edible gerbera petals, I will try it once am able to lay my hands on those delicate beauties.

To check out Angel’s website click here

Trust if me if you already haven’t, her books are a MUST HAVE in everyone’s personal collection of recipe books, I for one am totally smitten!

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