Menemen: Turkish Dish With Aleppo Pepper

To those who’ve never tried it, the traditional Turkish recipe for Menemen is quite a simple one that’s essentially scrambled egg - but with a twist. Featuring just a few basic ingredients, to include the warmth and spiciness of Aleppo pepper it’s best served with some fresh, crusty bread, and it represents a tasty way to start the day or a mouthwatering lunchtime snack.

Now, we could describe the dish to you in fine detail, however, nothing will illustrate just how delicious this quick recipe is until you’ve tried it yourself. Now we're going to give you a step-by-step guide on how to make it at home.

For the most authentic Mediterranean flavor for this particular dish, we would recommend using genuine Aleppo pepper. Although, an Aleppo pepper substitute like cayenne or red pepper will usually suffice to provide the necessary zing that characterizes the traditional Turkish recipe.

An Authentic Taste of the Med

If you travel to Istanbul to have breakfast, you will typically find several different choices, including sausage, pastrami, ham, spinach, and even some with extra vegetables. The point is that you can customize yours to your taste, with Aleppo spice and Aleppo-style pepper sufficient to give you the spice you should expect.

However you have yours, just be sure to have some nice freshly toasted bread available to enjoy with it, as it complements the dish perfectly.

So, To the Ingredients!

So, for the purpose of this article, we’re going to be following the traditional Turkish recipe as closely as we can and for that, you’ll need the following ingredients:

• Eggs - we recommend using four free range eggs for this dish, although you can drop that to three if you prefer to keep the tomato/egg ratio more to your liking
• Tomatoes - fresh tomatoes are best, but canned varieties are fine if they’re pre-diced
• Green Pepper - there are some lovely mildly spicy green peppers available in Turkey, but they’re a bit harder to find in the US, so an Anaheim, Bell or Poblano pepper is a good substitute.
• Onions - It’s up to you which type you use, with yellow, white and green varieties all being super delicious.
• Butter & olive oil - you’ll need olive oil for sautéing the vegetables and by adding butter at the appropriate moment, you’ll make your tomato sauce nice and creamy.
• Aleppo Pepper, Black Pepper & Salt - As we mentioned earlier, authentic aleppo spice is best, but cayenne or red pepper will do just as well
• Garnish to taste - Depending on your taste, you can add garnishes like chopped chives, parsley or even avocado.

How to Go About Making Your Menemen

Ok, so once you have all of your ingredients ready, you start by sautéing your finely-diced peppers and onions in olive oil until they appear soft. Then you should add in the butter, a pinch of Aleppo pepper (to your taste), tomatoes and a large pinch of salt and black pepper before giving it all a good stir.

At this point with everything bubbling away, you should crack your eggs into the pan, allowing them to cook for around 60 seconds or so. Next, use your spoon to stir the eggs into the tomato and veg mixture. Then it’s a matter of cooking the eggs until you’re happy that they’re done to your liking.

Typically speaking, this will take anywhere from 3-5 minutes and once done, you should immediately serve and add garnish to your taste. Add in a few delicious slices of toasted bread to dip into your menemen and you’ve yourself a delicious morning treat.

Ways to Make Your Menemen Different

We’ve given you the basic Menemen recipe to enjoy at your leisure. However, there are some interesting and tasty ways that people get their unique version of the dish. For example, you might like to add extra herbs like garlic or oregano.

Menemen can also be very tasty when cheese is added, with Aegean Mihalic and Diyarbakir Orgu cheeses being some tasty Turkish varieties to try. Our advice is to try experimenting with your Menemen recipe to see what gorgeous combinations you can come up with.

Aleppo Pepper - The Hidden Treasure In Turkish Cuisine

Menemen is just one of an eclectic range of wonderful Turkish cuisine that comes with unmistakable aromas and simply magical tastes and flavors. Aleppo pepper is one of the hidden heroes of Turkish cooking as it provides the zing that’s so characteristic of food in the region.

We hope that you enjoy trying this wonderful dish in all its different forms and if you’d like to see more of the many other amazing Turkish spices there are to try out, simply visit the Little Istanbul shop where you’ll find something for every occasion.