Instructions: Quarter the onions and slice paper-thin. Heat butter in a heavy skillet and add the onions. Sprinkle with salt and cook over very low heat, stirring occasionally, for at least 40 or 50 minutes, until the onions turn reddish brown and become slightly crispy. Take care not to burn them. As onions cook and become dry, sprinkle in some water. When onions are caramelized, sprinkle with vinegar, spices, pepper, and sugar, and mix thoroughly.

Make 4 depressions in the onions and break an egg into each. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, cover, and cook gently until the eggs are covered with a thin transparent film. Serve immediately.

Comments: An unlikely combination of simple ingredients resulting in a surprisingly rich and colorful dish. Yellow and white rounds of eggs nestled in caramelized red onions.

This modest dish was customarily eaten by the Ottoman sultans on the fifteenth day of Ramadan. If the sultans approved of the way in which these had been prepared they would often appoint the cook head of the royal pantry.

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