One of our favourite meals at home right now is Shakshuka, a Middle-Eastern dish of eggs poached in a fragrant stew of peppers and tomatoes. To make from scratch, this takes almost an hour but if you make to make the pepper/tomato stew on a Sunday afternoon or some evening when you do have plenty of time, dinner, a few days later, can be on the table in 20 minutes.
Shakshuka
(Serves 2)
Olive oil
1 onion, sliced
3 red or yellow peppers, sliced
250g tomatoes (I use cherry tomatoes)
Pinch of saffron
Pinch of sugar
2 bay leaves
1/4 tspn cayenne pepper
1 tspn cumin OR smoked paprika (either version is lovely)
1/2 tspn sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
Parsley & bread to serve
- Heat a glug of olive oil in a medium frying pan. Add the onion and cook for 5 mins over a medium/high heat. Add the peppers and cook for 10 minutes more, lowering the heat if necessary.
- Once the peppers have started to soften add all the spices, the tomatoes and about 100ml of water. Bring to a simmer then lower the heat. Let this cook gently for 20 mins, adding a splash more water if it gets too dry. Season and taste, adding more cayenne if needed.
- If you’re making the stew in advance, stop here. Turn off the heat, cool and pop in the fridge.
- Bring the stew to a slight simmer. Use a spoon to create 4 little pockets in the sauce. Break an egg into each and sprinkle with salt. Turn the heat down as low as it’ll go and pop a lid on the frying pan. Leave for 10 mins.
- When you remove the lid, the eggs should be cooked through but still have a runny yolk.
- Sprinkle the dish with chopped parsley and serve with crusty bread to mop up the juices.
Hey hey
this looks like a really good end of the weekend supper dish, so I am going to try it out next week.
Also, I hope you don’t mind, but I nominated you for a wee award. It’s a blogger for blogger type of thing, and if you like, you can check it out over at my blog (http://lalaweenworld.blogspot.co.uk/)
Cheers
Roo
Hi Roo, Thank you for the award!! Very sweet of you. x
Great minds Wendy! We have 5 hens at the moment and I’m always on the look out for a good egg recipe hence Shakshuka is a firm favourite in our house too. My usual version is similar to yours but with garlic and a pinch of sugar (& no bay tree at the moment sadly so no bay).
Have also made this non-tomato leek version which is quite nice http://www.jannagur.com/108704/Shakshuka-with-Spinach-and-Feta
Sophie – I add sugar too! Totally forgot. Off to change that now. And i’ll have to try the leek version soon.🙂
That looks wonderful! Pass the toast. No, actually toast some pitta or flatbread, mmmmmmm!
Yum, I’ve never seen this prep before. I’ll give it a try for sure. Cheers.
Hi, Wendy, my andalousian mother has been cooking this since I was so high. She calls it “huevos al plato”, and she adds little bits of jamón or chorizo, and it’s great.
This looks great! I’ve wanted to make this for a while as I love baked egg dishes. Fantastic.
Ah that looks fantastic. We try and have a couple of light, usually veggie, meals a week and I think this would definitely fit the bill. Need to give it a go sometime.
Chris
This sounds amazing! Pinning it right now!
This looks gorgeous, new to me but I’ll definitely have to try this soon. Lovely photo too!
Looks delicious Wendy. I make something similar but always with smoked paprika. Will be giving cumin a go next time, can completely imagine how that would work. Also never thought of making the stew ahead of time – thanks for the tip!
when edward came back from israel 2 years ago, he was obsessed with this dish, loved it so much he taught me how to make it. glad you love it too! x
my favourite egg dish!
We prepare eggs with tomato and pepper stew too, but the seasoning is somewhat different, so I am curious how this might taste. I guess wonderful!
I love shakshuka! Yours looks very yummy!
This seems right up my alley – yum!
i made this tonight wendy in jakarta – ta. don’t need the salt but apart from that – great dish. good luck with the baxters run.
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Thank you for this recipe. I made it last week and it was delicious. I did the cumin version. Cannot wait to try it again.