Breakfast: Azerbaijani Gozlemeh

I am quite fussy about breakfast. I need it in order to function upon waking, but I am also particular about what I will have. Growing up on Weetabix made with hot milk, cereal was the go to choice for many years, but living alone brought along with it a myriad of possibilities. Of course, as a child we did have the regular Full English on a Sunday, the unsavoury odour of bacon rising to my bedroom, The Chart Show booming 90s hits through the house. On some occasions, we would have Indian variations thrown in: tiny pooris with dry potato curry and rice pudding; chai, gaathiya and jalebi; crisp parathas and crunchy sambhaaro; and once or twice in my lifetime, fresh masala dosa with all the trimmings, made with the help of our neighbour Shashi Auntie.

It is these latter sorts of breakfasts that I have found myself craving for as the years have mounted living away from home. They are hearty and substantial, yet light and full of flavour. Jalebi and gaathiya may sound too heavy and cloying for some to eat at breakfast, but this is surprisingly not the case. The ideal jalebi should be thin and crispy, with the finest coating of sticky, rose-perfumed syrup; gaathiya, deep-fried chickpea flour savoury snacks, are delicate and flaky, with coarsely ground black pepper running through them for gentle piquancy. In Gujarat, these are usually served alongside a carrot or papaya sambhaaro. This is a warm salad consisting of finely shredded carrot, cabbage, or raw papaya stir-fried in mustard seeds, green chillies, and turmeric. It is seasoned with salt and lime juice to give you fresh, crunchy, sour, and spicy all at once, and all of these different flavours are brought together with a warm mouthful of sweet masala chai.

Jalebi and gaathiya (Source)

Being able to obtain good quality gaathiya and jalebi is a bit of a mission, since most jalebi I have tasted across the capital have been disappointing, to say the least. I feel that I have perfected most breakfast dishes over the years: breakfast breads like stuffed and plain paratha, poori, and bhakri, and the aforementioned sambhaaro, which is especially quick and easy to rustle up. Since before I left home, I always made an effort to discover and understand Iranian culture, and this is how my taste for Persian and Central Asian cuisine developed. I regularly make Iranian quince moraba alongside Indian amla murabba when these fruits come in season during the winter months, relishing the quince for breakfast with Bulgarian white goats cheese, warm Turkish bread, and sweet black Iranian tea. From late spring, when robustly flavoured Greek basil and heavily fragrant rose petal moraba become available, I begin to enjoy these seasonal treasures as part of a sabzi khordan platter with cheese, bread, a host of fresh herbs and vegetables, and soft boiled eggs.

My quince moraba, served with white cheese, Tabrizi bread, and Iranian tea

Sabzi khordan

Always on the hunt for varied breakfast ideas, I came across Azerbaijani gozlemeh. This godsend of a recipe came from the Turmeric and Saffron food blog, a page that specialises in Persian recipes and stories. I must warn you that this recipe is far from Ayurvedic. It follows incorrect food combinations and is far too heating, with the inclusion of eggs, yoghurt, and raw garlic. I overindulged in this one summer and, being someone with a slight heat imbalance, developed nosebleeds and bleeding gums as a warning sign to curb my enthusiasm. Regardless, it is, without a doubt, one of the easiest and most satisfying breakfasts I have discovered in a while.

The blogger, Azita, explains having stumbled upon this recipe in an old Iranian cooking manual, and modifying it to current tastes and cooking methods. The original Farsi recipe serves six, and calls for 500ml of oil, twelve eggs, a kilo of strained yoghurt, and a single clove of garlic. Two of the eggs are required to be mixed well into the yoghurt and cooked over a gentle heat before adding the mashed garlic clove. This is the sauce of the recipe, and is served over flatbreads with fried eggs laid on top. It specifically states that a liberal use of oil makes for a tastier dish. My recipe turns the yoghurt sauce into a Turkish cacık of sorts, with salt, garlic, and dried mint, and layers the uncooked sauce and fried eggs over a thin, buttered roti. The garlic is very lightly cooked in ghee before being added to the yoghurt, in order to balance its heating potency. I did try the recipe with the ramazan pidesi bread that is always found in abundance at the Turkish shop nearby, but found it to be too thick. There are other types of flatbreads like lavash, and even thin Turkish pide, that would work just as well as roti.

I like to tell myself that the mint imparts a cooling quality to the dish, and the ample use of butter balances the yoghurt, but I could be clutching at straws. Nevertheless, this is a deeply satisfying breakfast to treat yourself to over the colder months.

Azerbaijani Gozlemeh (Fried eggs with yoghurt sauce)

(Serves 2)

Ingredients:

50g strained yoghurt (Greek style yoghurt will suffice, but homemade works best)

½ tsp salt

½ tsp dried mint (optional extra: 1 tsp finely chopped parsley)

1 – 2 garlic cloves, finely minced

4 eggs

1 Tbl ghee / butter

2 rotis (frozen or fresh)

6 – 8 black olives, halved
Dried oregano

Slices of cucumber, radish, and tomato, to serve

• First prepare the rotis. If using frozen rotis, allow to defrost before cooking on the stove. Fresh rotis can be prepared and kept warm.

• Mix the salt, herbs, and garlic into the yoghurt, stirring well. A few drops of water can be added at this stage to loosen the sauce, depending on personal preference.

• Heat the ghee or butter in a frying pan. Add the garlic and cook for a few seconds, or until the raw smell only just begins to soften. Tip into the yoghurt with half of the melted fat and whisk well. 

•      Crack two of the eggs into the  remaining ghee in the pan, season with salt, and allow to fry until they are cooked with slightly runny yolks. I tend to finish my fried eggs off under the grill in order to cook the tops to perfection.

•       Spread a spoonful of the yoghurt mixture onto a generously buttered roti, and top with two fried eggs. Garnish with the olives, a sprinkling of oregano, and serve with a salad of your choice.

Azerbaijani gozlemeh