Şakşuka

Şakşuka is fried aubergine, courgette and pepper tossed in a tomato-garlic sauce and topped with yoghurt, served at room temperature. Despite the similar-sounding name, it has nothing to do with menemen — şakşuka is a room-temperature fried-vegetable dish, while menemen is a hot, egg-based pan cooked and eaten straight from the stove; mixing the two up is an easy but avoidable menu mistake.

What it actually is

Cubed aubergine, courgette and green pepper fry separately in batches until each is tender and lightly golden, then come together in a garlicky tomato sauce that cooks down briefly to bind everything. The whole dish cools to room temperature before serving, finished with a generous dollop of thick yoghurt — sometimes with a little garlic worked into it — spooned over the top just before it reaches the table.

Fried vegetables in tomato sauce, no egg anywhere, is the whole dish. Menemen, by contrast, is built entirely around eggs scrambled directly into a hot tomato-and-pepper base and eaten immediately from the pan — a genuinely different format and temperature, despite the name overlap that trips guests up.

How it's served

• At room temperature, never hot, with the yoghurt spooned over just before serving.
• As a starter or meze, alongside bread for scooping.
• Without egg, which is the clearest way to tell it apart from menemen.

Writing it on a menu

• Flag dairy from the yoghurt topping.
• Say clearly that it's served at room temperature, without egg, since the name alone invites confusion with menemen.
• Note that it's naturally vegetarian.
• Mention if a vegan version without the yoghurt topping is available.