Egg

Çilbir

April  3, 2017
4
1 Ratings
Photo by Tamara Shopsin & Jason Fulford
  • Serves 2
Author Notes

Çilbir—poached eggs on a bed of garlicky yogurt, drizzled with spiked butter—is a Turkish egg dish. This is Filiz Hosukoglu's recipe. She is a culinary researcher from Gaziantep, Turkey, who has worked with chefs like Paula Wolfert, Claudia Roden, Anissa Helou, and Rick Stein on cookbooks and TV shows. She talks about resting the eggs on top of the yogurt (rather than hiding them beneath), to show them off, and I get her entirely—everything sits on this whipped white backdrop; the yolks are the stars. Çilbir’s uniqueness rests on the sourness of the yogurt and the softness of the whole thing—there is nothing to crunch. If you love to sop up an egg yolk with some bread at the best of times, this bowl of creamy, yolky wonder is for you.
—Laura Goodman

Reprinted from All About Eggs: Everything We Know About the World’s Most Important Food. Copyright © 2017 by Lucky Peach, LLC. Photographs and illustrations copyright © 2017 by Tamara Shopsin and Jason Fulford. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC.
Lucky Peach

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 3/4 cups whole-milk yogurt
  • 4 poached eggs
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon Aleppo chili flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Mint leaves (optional)
  • Pide or pita bread, for serving
Directions
  1. Crush and pound the garlic to a paste in a mortar and pestle; mix it in with the yogurt. They must be properly mixed. These two ingredients are good company— leave them alone.
  2. Meanwhile, combine the butter, chili flakes, and paprika in a small saucepan. Set over medium-high heat to melt and froth a little, about 2 minutes.
  3. To assemble, spread the garlic yogurt on a plate and place the poached eggs on top, so you can see the beauty of the eggs.
  4. Drizzle with chili butter, and season generously with salt and pepper. If you like, tear some mint leaves over the top for some extra color and texture. Serve with bread.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • S. Rodriguez
    S. Rodriguez
  • Winness
    Winness
  • Homemadecornbread
    Homemadecornbread
  • Ali Slagle
    Ali Slagle

4 Reviews

S. R. January 18, 2018
Just reading the recipe and I am in love! I make a white sauce by blending up cottage cheese with smashed garlic (5-6 cloves) with salt, if I do not have yogurt do you think I would be able to use the cottage cheese?
 
Winness May 22, 2017
Once I tried Aleppo pepper, I never looked back. It's mildly hot, not quite as fierce as red pepper chili flakes. I use it in many dishes where I want a "wake up call" that doesn't bite back.
I'm intrigued enough by this recipe to want to try it. I'll halve the recipe and see what happens. Thanks!
 
Can you suggest a substitute for Aleppo pepper?
 
Ali S. May 19, 2017
Any red chili flake will work!