Shakshuka- Tunisia Style
If there is one food that I cannot go a week without aside plantain, it is eggs! I love love eggs and coming across Shakshuka is a great elevation to how I cook my eggs. So if you're an egg lover, you will love this.
'Shakshuka' in Arabic means 'all mixed up'- this explains the dish as it is basically a one pan dish of eggs, tomatoes, vegetables & spices. There are different claims of where it originated from- Middle East (Yemen), Turkey, North Africa (Tunisia) are all the different places it is said to have originated from. Anyways, regardless of the origin, it is a popular dish in North Africa and this recipe is how it is made, Tunisia style.
It is a very easy recipe to make and most of the ingredients are things you most likely already have in your kitchen cupboard or fridge. You can have shakshuka for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner! It's commonly served however as a brunch dish, but of course you can have it whenever you desire. Enjoy it with breads such as pita, or sourdough bread. Right, let's get into this delicious recipe!
Recipe
Ingredients
-4 large tomatoes (or 1 canned tomatoes if not using fresh tomatoes)
-4 Eggs
-2 Bell Peppers
-1 Tbsp Harissa paste (or powder)
-1 Tbsp Cumin Powder
-1 Tsp tomato paste
-1 Onion
-3 Garlic cloves
-4 Tbsp Olive oil
-3 Bay leaves
-1 Green chilli
-1 Tsp Thyme
-Salt to taste
Process
1) Heat up the olive oil in the pan and then add in the onions & garlic, and then sauté for few minutes. Then add the cumin powder. Mix altogether and cook for about 3 minutes.
2) Add the green chilli pepper& bell pepper and then mix together. Then add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and harissa paste/powder, bay leaves & thyme. Mix altogether and allow to cook. This should take around 5- 7 minutes.
3) Make a hole in the sauce, and then the egg- do this for each egg in different parts of the sauce. Cover the pan and allow it to simmer on low heat for 5 mintues. The egg is meant to be runny but if you don't like yours like so then allow it to simmer until how well cooked you want it to be.
4) Enjoy as you desire!
Check out the reels section of my Instagram page for a quick video showing the process here. Any questions, feel free to send an email or message on any of my social media platform.