Wild greens, sucuk and eggs - Turkish Cuisine

This is a great dish to share with the family for breakfast or a light dinner – just serve with a bowl of yoghurt and some crusty bread and let everyone dig in. If you can’t find black cabbage, then silverbeet or leafy Asian greens would work really well.

Ingredients



olive oil, for pan-frying

200 g finely chopped sucuk (see Notes)

40 g butter

2 brown onions, thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

6 stems cavolo nero (black cabbage), leaves and stems separated, stems roughly chopped

6 stems silverbeet, leaves and stems separated, stems roughly chopped

60 ml (¼ cup) sherry vinegar

1 tbsp red pul biber (Aleppo pepper)

5 eggs

Sucuk (spicy Turkish sausage)



500 g beef chuck steak, coarsely minced

125 g lamb tail fat, (see Note) coarsely minced

2 small cloves garlic, peeled

25 g sweet paprika

7 g ground black pepper

7 g ground cumin

2 tsp water

25 g table salt

 Instructions



Resting time 10 minutes



Chilling/freezing time 30 minutes



Preheat oven to 200°C.



To make the sucuk, place all the ingredients in a bowl and combine thoroughly. Roll the mixture into 15 g balls (about 3 tsp), then refrigerate until required. For this recipe, you will need 30 balls.



Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan over medium heat and cook the sucuk balls for 1 minute or until beginning to brown, then add the chopped cured sucuk and cook for 4-5 minutes or until golden and caramelised. Add the butter and cook until melted and well combined, then add the onions and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes or until starting to soften. Add the chopped stems and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the onions and stems are tender. Add the vinegar and simmer for another 2-3 minutes or until the harsh vinegar flavoured has mellowed.  



While the onions and stems are cooking, drop the leaves into a large saucepan of boiling salted water and cook for 5 minutes or until just tender. Using a slotted spoon, remove the leaves from the water and place straight into the sucuk mixture once the vinegar has cooked off. Don’t worry about draining or refreshing, as a little bit of extra water will help create the sauce. Reduce heat to low, add the red pul biber and combine well. Transfer the mixture to a shallow baking dish. Crack the eggs straight into the dish and bake for 5 minutes or until the egg whites are just set and the yolks are still a little runny. Serve with thick, Greek-style yoghurt and crusty bread for dipping.







Notes

• Sucuk (pronounced sujuk) is a cured, heavily spiced Turkish beef sausage. Available from Middle Eastern food shops and select butchers.



• Lamb tail fat must be ordered ahead from Middle Eastern butchers.