Menemen

Remove the stems and seeds from the peppers and slice them into thin rings. Score a small cross in the base of each tomato, drop them into boiling water for 30 seconds, then peel and dice them. Loose skins curl up in the pan and spoil the texture. Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat them lightly with a fork, only until the yolks and whites just come together.

• green peppers (sivri biber)4
• tomato500 g
• egg6

Heat the butter and olive oil in a wide 28 cm frying pan over medium heat. Add the peppers and cook for 4–5 minutes, stirring, until they are soft and bright green but not browned. Menemen is cooked and served in this one pan, so choose one that is good enough to bring to the table.

• butter30 g
• olive oil1 tbsp
• green peppers (sivri biber)4

Add the tomatoes, the pul biber and a pinch of salt. Cook over medium heat for 8–10 minutes, stirring now and then, until the juice has cooked off and the mixture is a thick, jammy sauce with a film of oil on top. Taste and add more salt if needed. The sauce must be thick before the eggs go in, or the dish turns watery.

• tomato500 g
• pul biber1 tsp
• saltto taste

Lower the heat. Pour the beaten eggs over the tomatoes and stir slowly for 2–3 minutes, folding from the edges to the centre, until the eggs have just set in soft, creamy curds and still look glossy. Take the pan off the heat while the eggs seem slightly underdone, because the heat of the pan finishes them. Serve at once, straight from the pan.

• egg6