Çılbır (Turkish Poached Eggs in Garlic Yogurt)

Ingredients

• 300 g Greek yogurt, taken out of the fridge in advance
• 1 garlic, crushed to a paste with a little salt
• ½ tsp salt
• 4 egg, as fresh as you can get
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 50 g butter
• 1 tsp aleppo pepper
• ½ tsp paprika
• 1 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 2 pita bread, warmed

Method

1. 1.

   Warm the garlic yogurt — Whisk the yogurt with the crushed garlic and half the salt until smooth and just pourable. Set the bowl over a pan of freshly boiled water for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice, so it loses its chill without ever getting hot — fridge-cold yogurt under a hot egg is the classic mistake.

2. 2.

   Poach the eggs — Bring a wide pan of water to the barest simmer — a few bubbles only — and add the vinegar and the rest of the salt. Stir a gentle whirlpool, slide the eggs in one at a time and poach for 3 minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks still wobble under a fingertip.

3. 3.

   Make the chilli butter — While the eggs poach, melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat until it foams and smells nutty. Take it off the heat and stir in the aleppo pepper and paprika — they should sizzle for a second and stain the butter bright red without darkening.

4. 4.

   Spread the yogurt and settle the eggs — Spread the warmed yogurt across two shallow bowls, pushing it out to the rim with the back of a spoon to leave a shallow well in the middle. Lift the eggs out with a slotted spoon, blot them on a clean cloth so they don't water the yogurt down, and settle two into each bowl.

5. 5.

   Finish with the red butter — Spoon the red butter over the eggs and let it pool at the edges, then scatter with dill and black pepper. Serve at once with warm pita torn into strips for scooping — the yolk, the yogurt and the butter are meant to be mopped up together.