Turkish Eggs with Mustard and Curry Leaves

This Turkish Eggs with Mustard and Curry Leaves is a fun Indian twist to the ever so delicious Turkish Eggs. I make this quite often on busy days and pretty much lick the bowl clean. It’s that good.  Make sure to have some crusty bread of your choice.

What is Turkish Eggs?

Turkish Eggs, also known as Cilbir is a tasty Turkish breakfast. It is flavorful thick yogurt topped with poached eggs and then drizzled with butter concoction. It is always paired with crusty bread.

While I love the authentic version, this Indian twist Turkish egg is my absolute favorite. I love the texture of sizzling mustard seeds and crispy curry leaves with the smooth creamy yogurt. The charred tomatoes are optional but it sure does add a pop of color.

You can surely add poached eggs, but I prefer soft boiled instead. The creamy yolk adds richness blends everything beautifully.

INGREDIENTS for Turkish Eggs with mustard and curry leaves

Plain Yogurt: I use thick plain Greek yogurt. If you see the yogurt you are about to use has a lot of water, then definitely hung it on cheesecloth for few hours.

Salt: This is a very simple dish, which calls for good seasoning. I used La Baleine Essentiel, which is the world’s first low sodium salt from the sea.  

Sea salt is better for the environment as it has a carbon footprint that is six times lower than table salt. La Baleine’s sea salt on the other hand is 13% saltier in terms of taste meaning you can use less of it to achieve the same flavor in your dishes. Their new product La Baleine Essentiel contains 50% less sodium compared to regular table salt.

Cumin Powder: I roasted cumin seeds and then crushed it using motor pestle. Freshly roasted cumin seeds give an amazing aroma to the dish.

Curry Leaves: Fresh curry leaves is what makes this dish so special. If you however cannot find it, use fresh cilantro leaves.

Black Mustard seeds: The combination of black mustard seeds with curry leaves is amazing. If you cannot find this mustard seeds, you can use whole cumin seeds instead.

Paprika or Kashmiri Chili powder: You could use either of this on hot oil. It adds a mild heat and gives that gorgeous red hue.

To give an extra oomph to the dish, I prepared some curry leaves salt using their coarse sea salt. The flavor was amazing and I sprinkled a little on top just before serving. 

Learn more about La Baleine’s sea salt!

TRY these egg dishes:

Egg and Spinach Baked Avocado

Indian Spiced Spinach Shakshuka

Turkish Eggs with Mustard and Curry Leaves

Yield: serves 2

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

This Turkish Eggs with Mustard and Curry Leaves is a fun Indian twist to the ever so delicious Turkish Eggs. I make this quite often on busy days and pretty much lick the bowl clean. It’s that good.  Make sure to have some crusty bread of your choice.

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Ingredients

• Thick greek yogurt or hung yogurt – 2 cups
• Cumin seeds - 1 tablespoon
• sea salt - 1 teaspoon ( I used La Baleine Essentiel )
• Cheery tomatoes – 7 to 8
• Sugar – 1 teaspoon
• Soft boiled eggs - 4
• Curry leaves – handful
• Black mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon
• Paprika or Kashmiri chili powder – 1 teaspoon
• Oil – 2 tablespoons

for curry leaves infused salt

• 5 dried curry leaves (just layer the clean fresh curry leaves in room temperature for a day or two and it gets dried up)
• 2 tablespoons course salt

Instructions

1. For the curry leaves salt, crush the dried curry leaves and then mix it with the course sea salt by slightly crushing it using a mortar and pestle.  Store in a clean dry airtight jar.
2. In a small pan, dry roast the cumin seeds for couple seconds. Then coarsely crush it using a mortar pestle or coffee grinder.
3. Add salt, sugar and grind cumin seeds to the yogurt and mix it around. Place it on the serving bowl.
4. In a cast iron pan drizzle little oil and bring it medium heat, Layer the cherry tomatoes and let it sizzle for few minutes. Turn it around occasionally. Sprinkle little salt on the tomatoes as it sizzle and chars.
5. Place the charred tomatoes on top of the yogurt. Peel the soft-boiled eggs and place two in each bowls.
6. Now place a small pan in medium heat and pour the oil. Once the oil heats up, scatter the mustard seeds and curry leaves. It will scatter (be careful). Switch off the heat and let the spice and herb sizzle in hot oil for few seconds. Finally sprinkle the paprika and give a mix.
7. Spoon the warm oil along with mustard seeds, crispy curry leaves on the yogurt. Be generous as you pour the oil all around.
8. Finally sprinkle little bit of the curry leaves salt.
9. Enjoy it right away with some crusty bread.