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!