Shakshuka. Eggs with tomato sauce

How to make shakshuka .

Surely, like me, you are saturated with so much celebration and food here and there.

I bring you a healthy, tasty and cheap recipe, perfect for your weekly menu.

The Shakshuka is a vegetarian dish prepared from Middle East stews, spices and eggs tomatoes. A dish very similar to the Turkish menemen  or to the famous ranch eggs  of Latin American gastronomy.

In Israeli cuisine we find this recipe regularly, we can eat shakshuka (which means “all mixed”) in most Israeli or Sephardic restaurants, as they say in Yottam Ottolenghi’s book “The Vegetarian Gourmet”

“In one of the alleys in the old town of the Israeli city of Jaffa there is a small restaurant with old tables outside that is always crowded with people eating more or less the same. This restaurant is called Dr. Shakshuka, in honor of the star dish that is what everyone eats, the Shakshuka . It is a North African dish that cannot miss bread to accompany it. ”

You can vary this dish with the ingredients you have on hand, such as green peppers, carrots, pumpkin, leek or with other spices, or even substituting the eggs for tofu, in case you want a 100% vegan dish.

The original Israeli recipe is usually quite spicy although in the one that I present today I have only given it a touch, you can increase it to your liking.

It is usually made with eggs, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and spices (they often include cumin, turmeric, and chili).

It is accompanied with pita bread or the bread that you like the most, the pleasure of dipping a little white bread in the egg yolk and then in the sauce that is formed with the vegetables.

I assure you it is there to repeat over and over again. A complete, healthy and delicious recipe, a perfect brunch for the weekend or to eat any day of the week, I hope you like it.

Shakshuka base preparation

1. In a large saucepan or pan add the extra virgin olive oil and heat over medium heat. In that same oil, roast the cumin seeds over high heat for 1 minute.
2. We wash the peppers very well and cut into strips of 1 cm. Wide. Add them to the saucepan and sauté for 5 minutes over medium heat.
3. Peel the onions and the garlic cloves, cut the onions in julienne strips and the garlic cloves into small pieces.
4. We put both in the saucepan with the peppers and fry over high heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until the mixture is colored.
5. Add the sugar and all the herbs (parsley, bay leaf and thyme). We continue to fry over low heat for 5 minutes until the flavors come together.
6. We wash the tomatoes and cut into cubes of approximately 2 cm. We add them to the casserole with the cayenne, the saffron, a pinch of salt and the freshly ground pepper.
7. We lower the heat and continue to fry for 10-15 minutes. Depending on how the tomatoes are, it may be necessary to add water to the cooking, but if they are ripe they will not be necessary, they will be perfect.
8. The appearance it should have is similar to that of the Spanish-style ratatouille , it is going to be stewing in the tomato juice and in the case of not having juice or having little. Only then do we add the water and correct it with salt.
9. We remove the bay leaves and right at the end is when we are going to prepare the eggs. We will make them in the center of the low casserole or in the pan.

Preparation of the eggs and final presentation of the shakshuka

1. We crack the eggs and place on top of the sauce. We cover the casserole and with the fire to the minimum we let cook about 5 minutes, or until they are set.
2. With a spoon, remove the egg whites with the sauce mixture so that it curdles earlier. But being careful not to disturb the yolk, we want it whole and little curdled.
3. Salt the yolks with a pinch of salt. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.
4. It is very good if we add a little chopped parsley and the coriander is also not even painted.
5. We serve with hot pita bread for dipping or with the bread that you like the most. Simply delicious.

You can see all the photos of the step by step of this recipe for Shakshuka or egg with tomato  in this album.

A little history of this dish. Its origin

• This simple recipe is said to be a delicacy for the kings of the Ottoman Empire. That is why it is so popular, especially in North Africa. It quickly spread to other nearby towns and today both Israelis and Turks enjoy this recipe.
• The Shakshouka (Shakshuka, shaqshuqa, chakchouka)  means “all mixed up “.
• The dish is mainly made up of poached eggs with a sauce made of tomatoes, peppers, onions and seasoned with cumin, salt, pepper and whatever you feel like.
• There are two important rules that go hand in hand with Shakshouka: It must be served in a cast iron skillet and bread must be used to absorb the sauce.