Poached eggs in a tomato base sauce with flavours of spices and freshness of herbs that’s Shakshuka! Serve this amazing one-pot dish with your choice of bread. Shakshuka is typically served for brunch or breakfast and can be eaten straight out of the pan. Such an easy recipe that is bursting with flavours and a must-try dish if you love the Arabic Cuisine.
Table of contents
1. About the recipe
2. Ingredients
3. Step-by-step method
4. Tips
1. About the recipe
Shakshuka is a very simple dish that is easy to cook without pitfalls. Garlic, onion, bell pepper and fresh tomatoes are cooked along with some spices and fresh herbs. Once the tomatoes and bell peppers are softened and turned into the sauce, Raw eggs are cracked directly into them and poached in the sauce. You can top it with crumbled feta cheese or fresh herbs. This is the classic version of Shakshuka, but you can vary it greatly. Using fresh herbs and cumin gives this dish its typically Middle Eastern taste.
Let’s start cooking!
Serving Suggestion: 2 to 3
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
2. Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1 onion minced
- ½ green bell pepper diced
- ½ red bell pepper diced
- 5 large ripe tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon of tomato paste (optional)
- 2 clove garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- ½ tablespoon of cumin powder
- ½ tablespoon of black pepper powder
- ½ bunch of mint leaves
- ½ bunch of parsley leaves
- 1 tablespoon of water
- Salt
3. Step by Step method
- Heat olive oil in a skillet or a large-sized pan on medium flame.
- Add minced garlic onion and saute for a few seconds. Now add diced green and red bell peppers. Saute for a few minutes until fragrant.
- Stir in tomato paste, cumin powder, and black pepper powder, and cook for another 5 minutes on low flame.
- Add diced tomatoes,1 tablespoon of water, half of the mint, parsley leaves, and salt. Cook for 15 minutes on low flame. Stirring occasionally.
- When tomatoes turn softer, use a spoon to make 3 wells in the sauce and crack an egg into each well.
- Cover and cook for another 5 minutes on low to medium flame, until the eggs are almost cooked through(or done to your liking) Egg will still cook a little more once you take the skillet from the heat.
- Sprinkle with a little salt pepper and with the remaining fresh herbs.
- Serve it with pita or your favourite bread.
4. Tips
- The tomatoes should be ripe, sweet, juicy and fresh for the dish to turn out to be more flavourful.
- You can use canned tomatoes if you don’t have ripe tomatoes.
- As you serve it directly in your pan, it will keep the temperature quite long. Remember that the egg will still cook a little more once you take the skillet from the heat. Therefore, reduce the cooking time if you love your eggs runny like me.
- Use big size skillet for this dish.I recommend using a 24cm skillet for this recipe.
- Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 to 3 days.
