Menemen is a traditional Turkish breakfast recipe. This dish is so easy to make and will make a perfect, nutritious meal.
Just add your favorite crusty bread or some lovely homemade breakfast Turkish buns and you have a perfect breakfast!
Classic Turkish Breakfast
As you may know, I’m a huge fan of Turkish cuisine. Baklava, pogaca, kebab, gozleme – there are so many wonderful, delicious dishes!
Turkish cuisine is full of flavors, but it’s not overly complicated. And this breakfast idea is a proof of that.
What Is Menemen?
Menemen is one of my favorite ways to eat eggs for breakfast. I remember when I had it for the first time during my vacation in Bodrum. This gorgeous port city in the south-west of Turkey is not that far away from this dish’s place of origin – small town of Menemen in Izmir Province.
At first it looked just like scrambled eggs with lots of tomatoes, but menemen is so much more than that!
Vegetables are delicate and juicy, with a hint of sweetness. All thanks to the fact that they have time to caramelize before the eggs are added to the pan.
The whole dish is wonderfully creamy – tomatoes and bell peppers blend just perfectly with the eggs.
Menemen Varieties
There is a decades long debate whereas onions should be listed as an ingredient in original recipe for menemen. In 2018, Turkish food critic asked his Twitter followers for a vote in the poll on that matter. Almost 450 000 people voted and the onion faction won with 51% of the vote. I wouldn’t call it a solid victory 😉
For me there is no menemen without onions, so you’ll find it in my recipe for this dish. But what else can you add to this traditional Turkish breakfast?
Cheese. In Turkey you’ll find versions of menemen sprinkled with kaşar cheese on top, which is quite similar to cheddar. Sometimes white cheese – beyaz peynir – is used. You can use feta cheese as a substitute.
Sausage. If you want to make this dish more hearty and noutritious, you can add sucuk – dried salami-like sausage. It’s usually added with the peppers to give the oil more aroma and flavor.
Cured beef. Pastirma, a highly seasoned cured beef, is one of the most common additions for breakfast in general in Turkey. It provides the dish with unique, intense flavor.
Menemen Vs. Shakshuka
There are some similarities between Turkish menemen and Tunisian Shakshuka, but they are definitely not the same thing.
Ingredients for both dishes are almost identical: ripe tomatoes, sweet onions, bell peppers, olive oil, eggs, herbs and spices. Method of preparation is what sets them apart.
In shakshuka eggs are poached whole in a tomato sauce and in classic Turkish breakfast the eggs are scrambled and mixed with sautéed vegetables.
There are also some differences in seasoning those dishes. Recipes for shakshuka tends to call for more intense spices like cumin, garlic and cayenne pepper whereas menemen is usually seasoned with just salt and aleppo pepper (or freshly ground black pepper).
Menemen. Turkish Scrambled Eggs With Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 5 eggs
- 1 big ripe tomato or 2 medium ones
- 1 onion
- 1 green bell pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt and freshly-cracked black pepper
- chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Cut a shallow X with a sharp knife on the bottom of the tomato.
- Place the tomato in a bowl and cover it with boiling water. Leave it for 30 seconds.
- Take the tomato out of the bowl and remove the skin.
- Dice the tomato, chop the peppers and onion.
- Heat olive oil in the pan. And pepper and onion. Cook for 3-4 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and cook over low heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Crack the eggs on top of the vegetables and stir them into the tomato mixture. Cook until the dish reaches perfect texture.
- Serve with turkish breakfast buns, simit bagels or crusty bread.