Sucuk with eggs — a Turkish breakfast recipe with spicy sausage and eggs in a pan

Turkey’s most beloved breakfast goes by the simple name “sucuklu yumurta” — sucuk with eggs. It is a dish prepared in less than 15 minutes, but its deep, rich and spicy flavour makes every breakfast unforgettable. Sucuk, the traditional Turkish sausage filled with garlic, cumin and red pepper, is fried in a pan until it releases its aromatic fat — and it is in that fat that the eggs are then fried, absorbing all the aroma.

Ingredients (for 2 people): 150 g Turkish sucuk, cut into thin slices; 4 eggs; 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter; salt to taste; freshly ground black pepper; dried red pepper flakes (pul biber) — optional; fresh parsley for garnish — optional; warm bread for serving.

Preparation: Cut the sucuk into slices about 3–4 mm thick. Heat the pan (preferably cast iron) over medium heat and add the oil or butter. Fry the sucuk slices 2–3 minutes on each side, until they colour and release their aromatic fat. Lower the heat slightly and crack the eggs one by one over the sucuk, leaving space between them. Sprinkle a little salt over the whites (careful — the sucuk is itself salty) and black pepper. Cover the pan with a lid for 3–4 minutes, until the whites set but the yolks remain runny. Sprinkle with dried red pepper and fresh parsley. Serve immediately, directly in the pan, with warm bread.

Time: preparation 5 minutes, cooking 10 minutes — about 15 minutes in total. Servings: 2. Tip: for an even richer variant, add a tablespoon of tomato sauce together with the sucuk before cracking the eggs.