Turkish Yogurt Eggs with Chilli Tadka
This Indian take on yogurt eggs is based on an age-old Turkish recipe called Cilbir. More than a thousand years ago, Central Asian Turks were the first to make Yogurt. Initially, it was used for medicinal purposes. The word Yogurt comes from a Turkish word meaning ‘to blend’. Since the Central Asians at the time led a nomadic life, they came up with methods to preserve their food and this is one reason why milk was made into yogurt.
In my search for a high-protein breakfast, I came across Cilbir. I was intrigued because while I generally eat yoghurt (with berries) or eggs for the first meal of my day, I hadn't thought I could combine the two! Traditionally Cilbir is served with Aleppo which is butter mixed with paprika, chilli and cumin.
While that sounds delicious, I wanted to experiment how the dish would work with my favourite Indian ingredient, ghee. Turns out, it works really well! The Indian in me couldn't resist and I also added in some fresh garlic and dill because it was growing in the garden though you don’t really need the latter.
Ingredients
1 tbsp vinegar
2 eggs
1 cup yogurt, strained to remove moisture
2 tsp dill
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp Dolly Mumma Spiced Ghee
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Instructions
Finely slice the garlic. In a pan heat the Dolly Mumma Spiced Ghee. Once the ghee is hot, add in the garlic and fry until golden. Allow the ghee tadka to cool.
Chop the dill and thyme finely and mix the herbs in the yogurt. Season the yogurt with salt and pepper.
In your serving plate, add the herbed yogurt at the bottom.
Next, poach the eggs. To poach the eggs, fill a deep saucepan with water and vinegar. Bring to a boil. Meanwhile, crack the eggs into separate bowls. Once the water comes to a boil, turn off the heat. Using a spoon, swirl the water in one direction creating a vortex. Holding the bowl containing one of the eggs just above the surface of the water, carefully slide the egg into the center of the whirlpool. Do this again with the second egg. Cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for 3 minutes (no peeking!) Once cooked, use a slotted spoon to gently lift the eggs out of the water. Gently transfer to a paper towel to drain. You can also watch this video to understand the egg poaching technique.
Gently place the poached eggs on top of the yogurt.
Top your yogurt eggs with the spiced ghee mixture.
Note: If you don't have the Spiced Ghee, use normal ghee. Once the ghee is hot, add in cumin seeds, mustard seeds, curry leaves and a dried red chilli.