When I lived in Israel, I discovered this great vegetarian dish. In Israel they eat it for breakfast, but I find it perfect for a lazy Sunday brunch as well. You can be very creative with this dish which basically is a very rich spicy tomato-vegetable sauce with eggs on top. Use all the leftover vegetables you have as long as you keep the base of onion, garlic, tomatoes and eggs. In this version I have added fennel and some feta as special features.
It’s easy to make this dish for more people, count on 2 eggs per person, and 2-3 people per pan. Eat the shakshuka with some pita bread or Libanese flatbread, and scoop the sauce and eggs straight from the pan using the bread!
Ingredients: (for 2 pers)
- 1 large normal or red onion, cut
- 3 cloves of garlic, sliced
- Selection of vegetables, I like to use red pointed sweet peppers and fennel, but some leftover eggplant or grilled bell peppers from a jar would also work
- Spicy red pepper, finely cut (use half if you don’t like it too spicy)
- 1 teaspoon of cumin
- 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds, crushed in the mortar
- can of diced tomatoes, use two if you are using a large pan
- teaspoon of sugar
- feta, cut in cubes
- 4 eggs
- Fresh parsley, basil or oregano
- Libanese flat bread of pita bread
- Optional, some hummus
Duration: 30-45 min, depending on your patience with the sauce
Preparations:
- Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan
- Fry the onions in the pan for about 5 minutes until soft, add the garlic, spicy red pepper and all other vegetables that you use, fry for another 10 minutes.
- Add the cumin and fennel seeds to the pan, fry for 1 minute and then add the canned diced tomatoes, the sugar and some pepper and salt
- Let the sauce boil gently for about 10-15 minutes, the more patience you will have with this sauce the more the flavors will mix and the better it becomes. Add some more diced tomatoes or put a cover on the pan if the sauce is becoming too dry
- Add the feta cubes to the sauce
- Taste the sauce, it should already taste great. Add some salt, pepper, chili or other herbs to adjust it until you are happy with the way the sauce tastes.
- Then, make a small hole in the sauce with a spoon, and break an egg in it. Do this also for the other eggs.
- Cover the pan with a lid and keep checking if the eggs are ready. The egg white should be solid, but the yellow part should be still soft and running, this takes around 3-5 minutes
- When the eggs are ready, add some salt and pepper on top of the dish, together with some cumin, paprika powder and the fresh parsley, basil or oregano
- Serve in the pan with the flat bread and some hummus, betehavon!
What to drink with this:
No wine suggestion this time, strong black coffee is the way to go with this dish!
Leuke en lekkere recepten Jo!!!! Ik krijg graag je nieuwe updates!!!!
Can’t wait to try your version of shakshuka!!
One of my favorite Sunday brunch dishes 🙂