Çılbır

Name: Çılbır
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 18 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Türkiye
Ingredients: 2 large eggs; 200 g thick plain yoghurt; 1 small garlic clove, finely grated; 20 g butter; ½ tsp pul biber or Aleppo pepper; ¼ tsp salt; 1 tsp white vinegar, optional; Bread, to serve

Poached eggs on garlic yoghurt with warm pepper butter.

Türkiye · Runny, Creamy · Easy · Researched

Prep: 10 min
Cook: 8 min
Serves: 2

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Equipment

Wide saucepan · Small frying pan · Slotted spoon · Mixing bowl

Ingredients

2 large eggs
200 g thick plain yoghurt
1 small garlic clove, finely grated
20 g butter
½ tsp pul biber or Aleppo pepper
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp white vinegar, optional
Bread, to serve

Method

Mix the yoghurt

Mix yoghurt, garlic and salt. Divide between two plates and leave them out while you cook, so the yoghurt loses its chill.

Look for: The yoghurt is smooth and spread into a shallow bed.

Heat poaching water

Bring 7 cm water to a gentle simmer in a saucepan; reduce until barely bubbling. Add optional vinegar. Crack eggs into separate small cups.

Look for: The water surface is calm.

Poach the eggs

Lower eggs into the water separately. Cook for 3–4 minutes until the whites set. Meanwhile, melt the butter gently in the small pan, take it off the heat and stir in the pepper. Lift the eggs out and drain them on a clean towel.

Look for: Whites are opaque around soft yolks.

Plate and spoon over the butter

Put the eggs on the yoghurt and spoon the pepper butter over them. Serve at once with bread.

Safety: For this soft-centred preparation, use pasteurised eggs if available. Firm whites and yolks carry the lowest risk. Children, pregnant people, older adults and people with weakened immunity should choose the fully cooked option unless local guidance says otherwise. Colour and texture do not prove that an egg is safe.

Look for: Red butter pools over the eggs without burnt pepper flecks.

Equipment & heat

Induction, gas and electric all work. Bring the water to the stated state, then reduce the heat to maintain it. Start timing when the eggs go in; a larger pan, higher altitude or extra-cold eggs may need adjustment. A rolling boil is not a shortcut. Remove the butter from any hob before adding pepper; retained electric heat can burn it.

Nonstick: The butter can warm in any small pan over gentle heat.

Troubleshooting

Wet eggs thin the yoghurt. Drain on a clean towel before plating. Burnt pepper tastes bitter; add it after the butter leaves the heat.

About this version

A garlic-yoghurt and poached-egg preparation. Use pul biber if available; hot chilli flakes need a smaller quantity.

Unless stated otherwise, use large chicken eggs, approximately 60 g in the shell, refrigerated. Timings are starting points: use the visual checkpoints and any stated temperature check.

Sources

This guide was written from the references below. Egg Atlas has not kitchen-tested it.

Illustrations by Egg Atlas. They show the method; they are not photographs of a tested result.