"What ought to we eat for breakfast right this moment," I requested my spouse Adri and my sister, Pico, as we walked down the road on what should have been our fourth or fifth morning in Istanbul.
I knew the reply earlier than I requested the query, however I performed alongside anyway. Who's going to present in first?, I assumed to myself.
It was my sister who chimed in with a quiet "Mahna mahna," which Adri and I instantly adopted up with a "do-doo be-do-do."
See, ever since we had our first style of the Turkish scrambled egg dish known as menemen, at Van Kahvalti Evi, a Kurdish restaurant within the higher Beyoglu neighborhood, that track from The Muppet Present had develop into code for PUT SOFTLY SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH ONIONS, PEPPERS, AND TOMATOES IN MY MOUTH RIGHT NOW.
Even after a full week and a half of consuming superior stuff throughout Turkey it was the one dish that continued to hang-out my goals—each sleeping and waking—lengthy after we obtained again residence.
Having correctly purchased myself a few small tinned-copper sahans—the shallow metallic dishes usually used to prepare dinner and serve the dish—I've made it just a few occasions since I've come residence, however at all times with some issues. The principle challenge is discovering the proper of pepper.
Most dwelling recipes name for inexperienced bell peppers gradual cooked with onions and tomatoes to type the bottom of the dish earlier than eggs are added, and certainly, even in Istanbul, we had variations made with bell peppers. However the most effective ones have been made with a wholly completely different sort of inexperienced pepper: one which's thinner, much less grassy, with a contact extra bitterness and a definite warmth.
Final week, as I used to be digging by way of the fridge and occurred throughout a pint of leftover Japanese shishito peppers, a lightbulb went off in my head (and sure, I instantly began singing the tune to myself).
Shishitos have simply the best delicate warmth and bitterness to work on this dish, which made me notice that their cousins—the Spanish Padrón pepper and the Chinese language lengthy inexperienced horned peppers (in all probability essentially the most broadly accessible of the bunch should you dwell close to a Chinatown or a Complete Meals)—would additionally sub in completely.
I instantly grabbed my sahan and began sluggish-cooking onions and people shishito peppers in further-virgin olive oil together with a pinch of pepper flakes from Urfa in Turkey (sizzling paprika powder works effectively if you cannot discover Turkish pepper), a tiny pinch of oregano, and loads of black pepper.
As soon as they had been very tender, I added some canned entire tomatoes that I very roughly chopped, cooking down the entire combination till the tomatoes' juices had been concentrated and the oil had acquired a deep purple hue.
One trick I've discovered actually helps get the delicate texture good: Take away about half of the vegetable combination at this level and set it apart. It is going to cool barely, in order that if you add it again to the eggs on the finish, they'll immediately cool the combination, stopping the eggs from overcooking.
The eggs themselves must be effectively seasoned with salt and pepper, however very gently crushed. There must be distinct bits of white and yolk within the completed dish.
I created a small properly within the middle of the onion and pepper combination then poured within the eggs.
I cooked the eggs, stirring slowly and steadily, ensuring to scrape up any cooked eggs from the perimeters in order to not permit them to burn.
The secret's right here fixed—however mild!—motion. This makes positive that the eggs cook dinner comparatively evenly whereas nonetheless sustaining distinct sections of whites and yolks.
As soon as the eggs reached the stage the place they had been simply barely, quiveringly set, I eliminated the sahan and stirred within the combination I would reserved.
It isn't conventional, however I added a small sprinkle of chives to the dish, as a result of eggs and chives have been made for one another.
It is a sturdy testomony to the deliciousness of this dish that even Adri—a girl who likes her scrambled eggs so effectively completed that they're past merely dry and have moved on to a stage of such deep browning and drying that they tackle the looks of grains of untamed rice—downed it rapidly and eagerly for brunch.
After all, she began singing as quickly as she sat down on the desk and dammit, now that track is caught in my head once more. (And yours too, I will guess. You possibly can thank me later.)
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