Many tourists, having been on vacation in Turkey, are wondering how to cook such an omelette, as served in a hotel, local cafes and restaurants? In fact, there is nothing difficult to cook Menemen (namely, the Turkish omelette with vegetables) at home.
For two servings of an omelette, you will need onions, garlic, sweet meaty peppers and ripe tomatoes, as well as 3-4 eggs. For spiciness, dried pepper flakes called biber pool are added, and for flavor, a pinch of ground cumin is added. If you couldn’t find these spices, then replace with a pinch of ground red pepper so that the Turkish scrambled eggs with vegetables turn out to be traditionally spicy in taste.
Be sure to serve Menemen with fresh bread, preferably with thick pita bread, so that all the juices from the pan can be soaked out.
Ingredients:
- Large chicken eggs – 3 pcs.
- Tomatoes – 2 pcs.
- Bulgarian pepper – 1 pc.
- Onion – 1 pc.
- Garlic – 1 clove.
- Ground cumin – 1 pinch.
- Pool biber (hot pepper flakes) – 1-2 pinches.
- Salt – to taste.
- Black ground pepper – 1-2 pinches.
- Vegetable oil – 2 tbsp. l.
How to cook:
1. Blanch and peel the tomatoes. To do this, make a crosswise cut on the skin, place the tomatoes in a bowl and pour boiling water directly from the kettle. Leave in this form for 2 minutes, then drain the liquid and hold the tomatoes under running cold water. The peel after such shock blanching is very easy to peel off.
2. Cut the tomatoes into small cubes. Peel the onion and garlic from the husk, clean the seeds and partitions from the pepper. Chop them into small pieces too.
3. Heat vegetable oil in a small cast-iron frying pan (you can use olive or refined sunflower oil). Saute the onion until soft and translucent.
4. Then add pepper and garlic. Fry for 2-3 more minutes.
5. Send tomatoes to the pan. Sprinkle with chili flakes and cumin and season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes until all excess moisture is removed from the pan.
6. Separately, break 3 eggs into a bowl, add a pinch of salt and ground black pepper, carefully chop with a fork and pour it over the vegetables in the pan.
7. Cook for about 2-3 minutes until the egg mixture sets. Then turn off the heat, cover the pan with a lid and let the dish brew for another 1 minute. Due to the fact that the sauce is very hot, the eggs will reach readiness on their own, while the dish will not dry out.
Serve hot Turkish scrambled eggs with vegetables, sprinkled with chopped herbs – a mix of dill, parsley and cilantro. Top with fresh white bread or pita bread.
Enjoy your meal!