Consider making this if you have some late tomatoes that need to be used, or live in a part of the world where it's summer.
If you don't have ripe fresh tomatoes, canned ones work very well.
In Israel, shakshuka is most popular as branch or breakfast, but it can also make a lovely dinner.
This serves four.
The sauce can be made ahead, portioned and kept refrigerated for a few days, or frozen.
Base souce:
- a little oil (1/2 tablespoon)
- 700-750g ripe red bell peppers (3 large), cut to roughly 1cm (1/2")
- 650g of very ripe tomatoes (5 large), optionally peeled and roughly chopped (about 3cm, 1")
- 1-2 hot green chilies of your variety of choice (preferably vegetal and not bitter), thinly sliced into rings
- 3.5 teaspoons salt (to taste)
- about 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- A few tablespoons of chopped parsley
- A couple of tablespoons of chopped cilantro (optional)
Spice paste:
- about 2 tablespoons of good olive oil
- 8-9 cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 teaspoons of ground cumin (freshly ground if possible)
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground or whole caraway (optional)
-
2-2.5 tablespoons of Moroccan sweet paprika (more earthy and less sweet/herbal then hungarian. I think spanish style will be good as well)
- If you like extra hot, or if you don't use fresh chili, then sub hot paprika for some of the sweet paprika
Tahini sauce (makes more then needed):
- 1/2 cup good tahini (seek one which is pale, nutty and naturally sweet)
- 1/2 cup very cold water
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice (+ more to taste)
- salt to taste
- 1-2 cloves of minced garlic (optional)
-- Mix all of those, add more water if it is very thick. Can be kept up to 4 days.
To finish:
- about 8 eggs (assuming 2 per serving)
- more salt and pepper, to season the eggs
- some more parsley
- about 2 tablespoons of the tahini sauce
To serve along:
- A crusty bread with a soft crumb, unsliced (I usually opt for challah or french style bread) - make sure to slightly heat it in the oven so that it gets crisp and warm
- More of the tahini sauce
- Extra hot sauce - Filfel chuma is the best if you can buy, or make it (very easy to do so)
- Olives (or pickles)
Process:
- Prepare the spice paste:
- in a small pan, heat oil, garlic, cumin, caraway - until aromatic and lightly sizzling, about 3 minutes.
- Add paprika and stir. Cook a minute or so and remove from heat.
- Prepare the sauce:
- In a shallow wide pot, or a deep pan, saute the bell peppers with a little oil over medium-high heat.
- Add a generous tablespoon of the spice paste and stir with the peppers.
- Cook until the peppers soften, roughly 10 minutes, being careful not to burn the spices.
- Add the tomatoes.
- Lower the heat to medium-low, and cook for another 30 minutes or so, until thickened slightly (it will get thicker with the eggs).
- Add remaining spice paste.
- Add salt, pepper and herbs.
- At this point, the sauce can be portioned and refrigerated.
- If portioned, transfer the sauce to a pan of suitable (smaler) size.
- Lower the heat.
- If cooking 4 eggs or more, break them ahead of time onto a plate.
- Using a spoon, create a shallow indentation in the sauce for each egg (this will keep them from sliding).
- Place an egg in each indentation. Gently stir the egg whites with the sauce around them, only a little - do not break the yolks.
- Season the top of the eggs with some salt and pepper.
- Cover with a lid and cook on a bare simmer, until the eggs are just barely cooked (like poached eggs) - consider that they will cook some further from the residual heat of the sauce.
- Sprinkle with parsley, drizzle with tahini.
- Shakshuka is served in the pan it was cooked in! If you eat alone (or comfortable with your companion), eat directly from the pan. Otherwise, gently transfer to a plate.
- The bread is best left unsliced, rather teared and dipped into the sauce and eggs (The Hebrew language has a term for tearing of bread - לבצוע Livtzo'a).
- Add more tahini and hot sauce as pleases you.