Cilbir: Turkish Poached Egg inspired by Manjari

When Manjari (of For the Love of Food) joined Kolkata Food Bloggers close to a year back, she was pretty new to the blogosphere. A quick learner, she has come a long way since then. A junior from school, she is also my schoolmate's cousin - talk about it being a small world! 

When Manjari shared her Cilbir (pronounced Chilber) recipe, I remembered the saveur.com Cilbir recipe that I had come across early last year. Poached eggs served with garlic infused yogurt and topped with melted butter, dill leaves and paprika sounded so fascinating! I did a little more digging around and I found that "Çılbır is a Turkish dish of poached eggs with yogurt (often with garlic mixed in). There are records of çılbır being eaten by Ottoman sultans as far back as the 15th century. It is now common to serve the dish topped with melted butter infused with Aleppo pepper, for which paprika can be substituted." (Source Wikipedia). 

I had also bookmarked this particular recipe, which co-incidentally is the one Manjari's recipe is inspired by as well. Then I forgot all about it, till Manjari shared hers. She, however, chose not to use the garlic. Find her recipe here: Cilbir. 

Ingredients: Serving 1

• Eggs - 2 large, at room temperature
• Vinegar - 1 tbsp
• Water - 4 to 5 Cups
• Greek Yogurt - 1/2 Cup 
• Paprika - 1 tsp
• Butter - 1/2 tbsp 
• Salt to taste
• Pepper - 1/4 tsp, freshly cracked
• Garlic - 1 clove, finely minced 
• 1 clove of garlic, minced (optional)
• Dried mint leaves - a couple of fat pinches (I did not have any hand so had to skip!)

In a bowl, whisk together the yogurt and minced garlic. You can skip the garlic if you want, but the garlic-y yogurt tastes so good. 

Heat a pan and melt the butter in it on medium-low heat. Once the butter starts sizzling, add the paprika and let it cook for about 30 seconds. Set it aside.

Bring the water, vinegar and salt to boil in a medium saucepan. Once it starts boiling. reduce the heat. Crack each egg into a small bowl and gently slide them in one by one into the hot water. Make sure that the water is not boiling. Cook it for 3 or 4 minutes if you prefer your yolks runny. For a more cooked yolk, cook for at least 5 minutes or so. Using a slotted spoon fish out the eggs. Shake off as much water as possible (very gently) and transfer onto a plate.

Spoon the yogurt on top of the poached eggs and pour the butter on it. Crack some black pepper, sprinkle a little sea salt and serve with warm Pita or Turkish Pide Bread. 

Recipe adapted from here: Almost Turkish 

I am sending this to Know Your Blogger event