I love world cuisines. It feels like I am travelling. Food and travelling are a perfect couple. In my book, you can’t fully understand the country without trying its cuisines. Through the lens of food, we can get a glimpse of local and regional culture and even the history behind it.
Recently I have gotten to love Middle Eastern cuisine. It is a clean but delicious food utilising wholefoods such as spices, herbs, legumes and beans. One of many Middle Eastern foods I frequently use at the moment is Labneh. Labneh is a strained yogurt with a cheese-like texture that has removed whey (watery part of dairy product). It is thicker and more concentrated than Greek Yogurt that is also a strained yogurt with creamy and smooth texture. For this recipe, creamy Greek Yogurt is perfect. If you have plain yogurt in your fridge, just remove whey by straining over cheese clothes till you get desired consistency as creamy yogurt. Viola, Greek Yogurt is born.
I love Labneh because it has many different applications. Spread labneh on toasted banquette or sourdough bread like cheese. And sprinkle a pinch of salt or homemade almond dukkah on top. It will make you moan. Simply delicioius!
Quick and easy breakfast with poached egg
This recipe is one of the dishes using strained yogurt. It was a perfect breakfast – simple, quick and easy. The creamy and soft poached egg was in perfect harmony with labneh. At the same time, roasted hardy vegetables gave a good texture to the dish and layers of flavours.
Yogurt is a perfect base for the dish that can hold all the elements together perfectly. If your Greek or natural yogurt does not have much liquid, no need to strain. Mine was a little runny so it might disperse on a plate. I would like the dish to be aesthetically beautiful even before it touches the taste buds. So, I quickly let it strain while preparing other ingredients.
How to cook poached egg, vegetables and other elements
Poached egg:
- Use good quality free range or organic egg
- Really soft poached egg takes about 2-3 mins while a soft-to-firm one takes about 4-5 mins in boiling water.
Roasted vegetables:
- Vegetables of your choice.
- Hardy vegetables are ideal for roasting or air-frying.
- For this dish, I used brussels sprouts, big red chilis and carrot.
- Air Fryer or oven roast the vegetables at around 190c for about 15-20 mins.
Labneh/strained yogurt or Yogurt:
- Use unflavoured Yogurt. Greek yogurt or plain yogurt is ideal.
- For vegans, use non-dairy such as plain flavoured soy, oat or coconut yogurts.
- Straining yogurt is optional (unless it is watery). Just for good visual presentation and different mouth-feel. It does not change the taste of the dish.
- It looks more like cheese once whey (watery part of yogurt) is removed. So you can play with it with ease. The texture becomes firmer but smooth.
Almond dukkah:
- Check out my instagram reel video for the recipe
- Optional, but adding homemade one takes the dish to the next level.
- It is a spice mix of spice and seed mix of Egyptian origin.
- It includes roasted sesame seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and fennel seeds.
- It goes well with pretty much everything – traditionally with bread.
- It is a perfect spice mix sprinkle for roasted vegetables.
Ingredients
- Free range or organic egg 1
- Red chilli 1
- Carrot 1
- Brussels sprout 4
- Greek Yogurt or unflavoured yogurt of your choice 3/4 cup
- Vinegar 1 tbs
- Salt
- Olive oil
- Dukkah spice mix - pinch
Instructions
Yogurt Prep
- Strain yogurt over a fine mesh strainer or cheese clothes to remove excess whey
Vegetables Prep
- Julienne vegetables - carrot and red chili
- Cut brussels sprouts in half or quarters
- In an air fryer basket or a roasting tray, place the prepared vegetables
- Sprinkle olive oil and a little of salt
- Roast in a preheated oven at 190c or air fry
Poached Egg
- Bring water to a boil in a pan
- crack an egg into a small bowl (easier to create a rounder and cleaner poached egg)
- Reduce to a low heat to simmer once water is boiling
- Stir water in a whirlpool motion (optional).
- Drop the cracked egg into the middle of whirlpool.
- Simmer it for 2 - 4 mins depending on the degree of softness
- Take it out with a slotted spoon and place it on a kitchen paper to remove water
Plating the dish
- Create a round yogurt base with a spoon
- Add roasted vegetables on top of the yogurt base
- Place poached egg on top of vegetables
- Sprinkle with extra virgin olive oil
- Add salt or dukkah to taste
Notes
*Almond dukkah spice mix recipe is not listed here. Please go to the above link for the recipe.
*Whirl pool motion helps egg to create rounder as the motion helps egg white to wrap around the yoke.
