Turkish Egg Ramen
Cilbir is the Turkish dish of poached eggs over garlic yogurt with a chili butter drizzle, and if you have not eaten it, you have been missing one of the most elegantly constructed breakfasts in the world. The contrast of temperatures alone is something, warm poached eggs against cold garlic yogurt, before you even get to the Aleppo pepper butter that turns the whole surface red. Turkish cuisine has a long relationship with yogurt in savory preparations that most Western cooking doesn't share, and cilbir is the dish that most clearly demonstrates why that relationship is worth having. This bowl adds ramen noodles underneath and serves it at any hour, because food this good shouldn't be limited to breakfast.
White egg breaks open—Aleppo butter bleeds red—garlic holds the cold
Let Me Tell You...
I made cilbir for the first time on a Sunday morning when I had eggs and yogurt and not much else, which is the food equivalent of discovering that two unremarkable things become something extraordinary when you put them in the right order.
The cold garlic yogurt under the warm egg creates a temperature contrast that somehow makes both things taste more like themselves.
The Aleppo butter is what tips it from clever to essential.
It's just butter with Aleppo pepper flakes, nothing more, but the moment it hits the cold yogurt the colors and the fat and the warmth all collapse together into something you didn't expect.
Room temperature yogurt loses the temperature contrast that makes the whole dish work.
Aleppo pepper is a Syrian chili with a deep brick-red color, moderate heat, and a slightly fruity, oily quality that makes it different from any other chili flake on the market.
It's the specific ingredient in the butter and it's not easily substitutable.
If you can't find it, a mix of sweet paprika and a small amount of cayenne gets close, but the dish will taste generic in a way that Aleppo pepper prevents.
It's available online and at Middle Eastern groceries and worth keeping in your pantry for more applications than this.
Make it last, right before plating, so it's hot when it hits the yogurt.
Poaching eggs in ramen is one of those moves that seems more difficult than it is.
The key is fresh eggs (the whites hold together better), water that's below a boil (vigorous bubbles shred the white), and a splash of vinegar in the water (helps the white set faster).
The egg doesn't taste like vinegar when it's done, but skipping the vinegar produces ragged whites instead of the neat oval you want resting on the yogurt.
This gives you control over placement and lets you check for broken yolks.
Eating this bowl with ramen noodles underneath turns it from a breakfast component into something that works at any hour, and the noodles absorb the yogurt and the Aleppo butter in a way that makes each bite slightly different from the one before it.
The bowl is over in ten minutes and you'll think about it for the rest of the day.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces dried ramen noodles (2 bricks, seasoning packets discarded)
- 4 large eggs, very fresh
- 1 cup full-fat plain yogurt (not Greek), room temperature for mixing but serve cold
- 2 cloves garlic, finely grated or minced to a paste
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (for yogurt)
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1.5 teaspoons Aleppo pepper flakes (or 1 tsp sweet paprika plus 1/4 tsp cayenne)
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar (for poaching water)
- Fresh dill fronds, for serving
- Flaky sea salt, for finishing
Preparation
- Stir together yogurt, grated garlic, lemon juice, and 1/4 teaspoon salt until smooth. Taste and adjust. Keep refrigerated until plating.
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook ramen noodles for 2-3 minutes until just tender. Drain and divide between serving bowls.
- Bring a separate wide saucepan of water to a gentle simmer (not boiling) and add white vinegar. Crack each egg into a small bowl. Create a gentle swirl in the water, then slide one egg at a time into the center. Poach 3-4 minutes until whites are set but yolks are still runny. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel.
- While eggs poach, make Aleppo butter: melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. When butter is fully melted and beginning to foam, remove from heat and immediately stir in Aleppo pepper. Swirl to combine. It should sizzle and turn deeply red.
- Spoon cold garlic yogurt over the noodles in each bowl, spreading it generously. Rest one or two poached eggs on top of the yogurt.
- Drizzle hot Aleppo butter directly over the eggs and yogurt. Scatter fresh dill and a pinch of flaky sea salt. Serve immediately.