Pimentious takes on Turkish scramble eggs, Menemen

Menemen is definitely not an Indonesian recipe, it's a classic Turkish breakfast egg recipe and  it has all the things I love in it; spices, good sausages, and eggs. I fell in love on the first bite. Literally. I tasted this dish for the first time when I was traveling to Turkey last year. It was a breakfast staple at all the hotel I stayed at.  I went to the kitchen specially just to have a chat with the chef and ask him about this dish. He told me to go to the local market and visit the spice kiosk and ask for menemen spice mix, and that was exactly what I did. 

I made  this dish almost every other weekend after I returned to Quebec so my Menemen spice is going low fast. I definitely don't want to stop cooking this dish just because I don't have the spice mix any more so I tried few Menemen recipes using the spices I have in my kitchen. Here is my take on Menemen with spices from scratch. 

Ingredients: 

1 onion, finely diced

1 bell pepper, cut in cubes

1 Turkish long red pepper

1 tomato, diced

1 tbsp of tomato paste

1 tsp of Oregano 

4 smoked sausage links, cut into coins

8 eggs 

1 tbsp olive oil 

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Scallions for garnish

Cooking steps: 

1. Sautée onion and oregano with olive oil on medium heat until the onion softened, 
2. Reduce heat to low and add bell pepper, Turkish red pepper, tomato, tomato paste, and sausage continue cooking until the tomato softens and you can see a layer of red oil coming out, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper (lots and lots of it), 
3. Make small nests in the mix and crack an egg on each nest, cover your pan and continue cooking until the eggs are cooked to your liking,
4. Sprinkle scallion on top and serve immediately it with fresh bread, olives, cheeses, and your favorite black tea. 

PS: the original recipe scrambles the eggs, but I prefer it this way, it looks a lil less messy, especially for plating.