Believe it or not, Turkish cuisine isn’t all about kebaps and Turkish coffee. Our housemate Emrah made menemen last night, and though technically I guess it’s a breakfast food, it’s one of my favourite dishes at any time of day (and from what I understand it’s “South Beach friendly,” whatever that means— are certain foods against the law in South Beach or something?).
Meneman, as Burcu over at Almost Turkish Recipes points out, “can be defined in a couple of different ways such as Turkish breakfast specialty or lazy dinner option or great summer dish.” I’ve had menemen in many different places, and it’s always made differently, but basically what we’re talking about here is scrambled eggs and vegetables. Tomatoes, onions, and peppers are the most common, but “nothing is written in stone, so you can use more or less of [any of the ingredients]. You can use finely chopped onion instead of green onions, and you can also add pitted and chopped black olives.”
Generally the way we decide what goes in our menemen at home is by opening the fridge and throwing in whatever vegetables we have. At the moment we have a surplus of tomatoes and not much else, so last night’s menemen was heavy on the tomatoes. It was heavenly, and of course it was served with cucumbers on the side (also please note newspaper tablecloth, which for me defines a Turkish table). I know it sounds weird to the Americans and to some of the Europeans, but cucumbers are pretty much required on any Turkish breakfast plate. I don’t think I’ve ever had a Turkish breakfast that didn’t include cucumbers. On the other hand, don’t try to serve a Turk sweet things for breakfast— they absolutely can’t understand how doughnuts or anything sweet from the bakery could ever be a breakfast food. But I digress.
Anyway, go check out Burcu’s recipes— she makes Turkish recipes with a twist. I like her idea of adding cheese to the mixture (and it made me giggle that she dared to suggest Greek cheese), and I love olives too, so perhaps we’ll try that next time. Link to Burcu’s menemen recipe
Note: yes, I’ve heard of the South Beach diet, I’m just being deliberately obtuse because I find it difficult to hide my raging hatred for all fad diets. In fact, I may write more on this very subject tomorrow.