Jamie Oliver Meliz’s Halloumi Spiced Scrambled Eggs

Meliz Berg’s halloumi spiced scrambled eggs, adapted for Jamie: Fast and Simple, cooks a slow-caramelised onion base with Turkish green peppers and sweet red pepper paste, simmers in grated fresh tomato with dried mint, then pours in unwhisked eggs and swirls them through just until set. Crispy fried halloumi cubes and finely grated halloumi go on top. It serves four in 25 minutes.

The recipe is adapted from Meliz’s Kitchen by Meliz Berg (Ebury Press, 2022) for Channel 4’s Jamie: Fast and Simple. Meliz is a Turkish-Cypriot cookbook author, and this is her twist on menemen, the classic Turkish scrambled egg dish. Her version adds halloumi two ways: cubed and fried crispy for texture, then finely grated raw over the top for a salty, melting finish.

The 12-15 minute onion is the detail most people will rush and shouldn’t. Meliz cooks the chopped onion low and slow until it’s jammy and caramelised, not just softened, which builds a sweet, deep base that everything else sits on. The Turkish sweet red pepper paste (tatlı biber salçası) stirred in with the peppers adds a concentrated, slightly smoky sweetness that’s completely different from chilli heat.

Jamie Oliver Meliz’s Halloumi Spiced Scrambled Eggs

Recipe by Pinch Perfect

5.0 from 1 vote

Course: SidesCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

15

minutes

Calories

370

kcal

Total time

25

minutes

Meliz Berg’s Turkish-Cypriot scrambled eggs from Jamie: Fast and Simple: a menemen-style dish with caramelised onion, Turkish peppers, sweet red pepper paste and grated tomato, finished with crispy fried halloumi and dried mint. Adapted from Meliz’s Kitchen. Serves four.

Ingredients

• 6 large free-range eggs

• 4 large ripe tomatoes

• 200g hellim (halloumi cheese)

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 large onion, peeled and very finely chopped

• 2 large Turkish green peppers (such as charleston) or 150g padrón peppers, chopped into rounds

• ¼ teaspoon sea salt flakes

• 1 tablespoon Turkish sweet red pepper paste (tatlı biber salçası)

• ¼ teaspoon dried mint (reserve a little for garnish)

• ½ teaspoon coarse black pepper (reserve a little for garnish)

• optional: pul biber, for garnish

• optional: extra virgin olive oil

• 1 large lemon, cut into 4 wedges

• fresh parsley, for garnish

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Directions

• Prep:Crack the eggs into a large bowl and leave to one side. Do not whisk them. Halve the tomatoes and grate them flesh-side down into a dish, discarding the skins and hard cores.
• Fry the halloumi:Cut 175g of the halloumi into 2cm cubes, reserving the remaining 25g for grating. Pat the cubes dry. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and fry the cubes on all sides until golden and crispy. Remove to kitchen paper, keeping as much oil in the pan as possible.
• Caramelise the onion:Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the same pan on medium heat. Add the onion so it sizzles, then turn the heat right down and cook for 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until jammy and caramelised.
• Build the base:Add the peppers and salt, cook for 4-5 minutes until softened and charring at the edges. Stir in the sweet red pepper paste for a couple of minutes, then add the grated tomatoes, most of the dried mint and the black pepper. Simmer for a couple of minutes.
• Add the eggs:Pour the eggs straight from the bowl into the pan and quickly break them up by swirling through with a wooden spoon. Let them just cook through, then remove from the heat.
• Serve:Divide between bowls, top with the fried halloumi cubes, finely grate over the remaining halloumi, sprinkle with pul biber, dried mint and black pepper, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, squeeze over the lemon and scatter with parsley. Serve with fresh bread for dipping.

Notes

• Note: Meliz uses her mum’s trick of rubbing a little lemon juice on the chopping board before chopping onions to prevent the tears.

FAQs

What is menemen, and how is this different?

Menemen is Turkey’s version of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and peppers, cooked in one pan and eaten for breakfast, brunch or a quick dinner. It’s in the same family as shakshuka (where eggs poach in the sauce rather than scrambling) and is one of the most common home-cooked dishes in Turkey.

Meliz’s version adds halloumi, which traditional menemen doesn’t include, and uses sweet red pepper paste for a deeper, more concentrated flavour than raw peppers alone. She also grates the tomatoes rather than chopping them, which gives a smoother sauce that coats the eggs more evenly. It’s her personal twist on the classic, not a strict traditional recipe.

What is Turkish sweet red pepper paste?

Tatlı biber salçası is a thick, dark red paste made from concentrated sweet red peppers, slow-cooked and preserved with salt. It’s a Turkish storecupboard staple, used the way Italians use tomato purée but sweeter, smokier and more complex. It adds depth and colour to the base without adding chilli heat.

You’ll find it in Turkish or Middle Eastern grocery shops, and increasingly in supermarkets. It comes in jars and keeps for months in the fridge once opened. If you can’t find it, a mix of sun-dried tomato paste and a pinch of smoked paprika approximates it, though neither is quite the same.

Why not whisk the eggs before adding them?

Meliz’s technique is to pour the whole, unbeaten eggs into the hot pan and break them up by swirling with a wooden spoon as they hit the sauce. This gives a looser, more rustic scramble with visible streaks of white and yolk running through the tomato base, rather than the uniform yellow of pre-whisked eggs.

It’s a deliberate texture choice: the eggs set in thick, creamy curds that hold their shape rather than turning into a fine, even scramble. Remove the pan from the heat the moment they’re just set, since the residual heat finishes them. Overcooked eggs in menemen go rubbery and dry.

What is pul biber?

Turkish red pepper flakes, sometimes called Aleppo pepper, with a fruity, mildly spicy, slightly oily character that’s completely different from the sharp heat of standard crushed chilli flakes. Meliz marks it optional here, but a sprinkle on top adds colour and a gentle warmth.

It’s the finishing spice on many Turkish dishes, sprinkled over eggs, dips, grilled meats and salads. A small bag from a Turkish shop lasts months and transforms anything it touches. If you can’t find it, a pinch of sweet paprika mixed with a tiny pinch of cayenne approximates the flavour.

Can I use regular halloumi if I can’t find hellim?

Hellim is the Cypriot name for halloumi, and in practice, the two are the same cheese. Meliz uses hellim to honour her Turkish-Cypriot heritage, but any standard halloumi from the supermarket works identically. The key is to pat it dry before frying so it crisps rather than steams.

Using halloumi two ways, cubed and fried then finely grated raw, gives two different textures from one block: crispy, golden, squeaky cubes on top, and a fine salty snow that melts into the warm eggs. Both matter for the finished dish.

What bread should I serve with this?

Turkish flatbread (pide or yufka) is the traditional partner, torn and used for scooping. Warm pitta or a good sourdough also work well. The bread is for dunking into the tomatoey, eggy sauce, so something pliable and absorbent is better than anything too crusty or rigid.

For a full Turkish-inspired meal, this pairs naturally with Oliver’s tomato and feta lentils from 20-Minute Meals (similar warm-spice, fresh-topping format) or his pea paneer curry for a South Asian take on the same “spiced eggs and cheese” territory.