Cilbir

A little-known Turkish dish that enamours those who do try it, Cilbir is a wonderful mix of poached eggs and Greek-style yoghurt.

Credit: Adam Liaw

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 125 ml (½ cup) white vinegar
• 1 garlic clove (or chopped garlic shoots)
• sea salt, to taste
• 500 g (2 cups) plain Greek–style yoghurt
• 8 eggs
• 40 g butter
• 2 tsp Aleppo red pepper flakes (or chilli flakes)
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• ½ small red capsicum, seeded and finely chopped
• pide, to serve
  
  

Instructions

1. Place 1 litre (4 cups) of water and the vinegar in a deep-frying pan over high heat. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.
2. Crush the garlic with a pinch of salt and mix it with the yoghurt (if the taste of raw garlic in the morning is too strong for you, you could leave out this step, and instead fry a little garlic or chopped garlic shoots later with the capsicum). Add a little hot water to bring the yoghurt to room temperature. Set aside.
3. Gently crack the eggs, one at time into a small sieve placed over a bowl to help separate the watery whites out. Pour the egg with the firm white into a ramekin, then repeat with the remaining eggs, placing each egg into a separate ramekin.
4. Divide the yoghurt mixture between four shallow bowls.
5. Carefully add the eggs to the gently simmering water, one at a time, with a maximum of three eggs poaching at a time. Cook for 2–3 minutes or until the whites are set and the yolks are still soft and runny. When ready, use a wide slotted spoon to scoop the eggs out of the water, drain on a kitchen cloth and place 2 in each bowl top of the yoghurt.
6. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan, add the red pepper flakes, paprika and capsicum (and garlic, if you’ve saved it for this step) and cook for 3 minutes or until browned. You can cut the pide into cubes and cook in the brown butter until toasted if you like. Spoon the brown butter mixture over the eggs and serve immediately.

 

Photography by Adam Liaw.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.