çılbır (turkish poached eggs with garlic yoghurt and burnt butter dressing)

Çılbır (pronounced “chilber”) is basically the Turkish version of poached eggs — it’s just that you don’t have it for breakfast.

It is the divine combination of lightly cooked eggs, served with garlic yoghurt and tempered with warm spice and butter dressing.

Çılbır is traditionally consumed as a starter. But that’s not the case in our house. My husband prefers to have it for lunch and sometimes we both prefer to have it as a light dinner — maybe with a little bit of bread.

My husband also thinks the garlic yoghurt in Çılbır takes away the heaviness of egg yolks. For me, it’s an absolute comfort dish –starter of otherwise.

I’ve recently noticed that Çılbır is gaining popularity in the West. I think Peter Gordon and Nihella Lawson are respinsible for its popularity.

I believe Çılbır dates back to Ottoman palace kitchen. It is known that it was made for one of the Sultan’s in 15th century and showed up on a menu prepared for another Sultan in the 17th century.

During my hotel management days, I remember our cook making Çılbır for the hotel guests. It was always a crowd pleaser. My recipe below is based on his recipe. Only with a twist.

Çılbır
Serves 2

Ingredients:
4 fresh free-range eggs, at room temperature
2 tablespoons white vinegar or apple cider vinegar

For Garlic Yoghurt:
1 cup plain yoghurt, preferably Greek style (definitely unsweetened; don’t even think about it)
1 clove garlic, crushed

For Burnt Butter Dressing:
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon ground sweet paprika
1 teaspoon or maybe a bit more dried mint

Directions:
· Fill a wide saucepan with water until approximately 5cm deep. Add vinegar and bring to a boil.
· Meanwhile, crush the garlic and mix with yoghurt. If the yoghurt is too thick, thin it down with a little bit of water. Garlic yoghurt needs to be a bit runny to make it easy to spread over the eggs.
· Melt the butter in a small saucepan. When it starts foaming, add the paprika and dried mint. Swirl it around and remove from the heat.
· Crack eggs individually into a ramekin or a small bowl. You could process two eggs together if you want to. When the water starts boiling, reduce the heat down to medium. Water should be just simmering. Slowly, tip the eggs into water. Poach the eggs for 2 minutes and remove with a slotted spoon. Divide the eggs between plates.
· Return the burnt butter to the heat and heat it up a little. Top the eggs up with garlic yoghurt first and then drizzle with burnt butter.
· Serve Çılbır immediately.

Afiyet Olsun! (Bon Appetit, in Turkish)

Recipe Notes:
· Mop Çılbır up with some Turkish bread.
· I used ground sweet paprika in my recipe. However, most people back in Turkey has Çılbır with Turkish chilli flakes. So, there’s a thought.