Shakshuka

Ingredients

• Tinned tomatoes800 g
• Red peppers2
• Onion1
• Garlic4 clove
• Eggs6
• Ground cumin2 tsp
• Smoked paprika1 tsp
• Harissa1 tsp
• Olive oil3 tbsp
• Feta and corianderto taste
• Saltto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Fry the onion and peppers in the oil for ten minutes, until the pepper is soft and sweet.

   10 min

2. 2

   Add the garlic, cumin, paprika and harissa and warm them for a minute — to the smell, not to burning.

   2 min

3. 3

   Pour in the tomatoes, crush them and simmer for fifteen minutes. The sauce is ready when a spoon leaves a track on the bottom.

   15 min

4. 4

   Make hollows with a spoon and break an egg into each. Cover and give it five to seven minutes: the whites set, the yolks stay loose.

   7 min

5. 5

   Scatter over the feta and coriander and serve it in the pan with bread.

About the dish

Shakshuka reached Israel from North Africa with Tunisian and Libyan Jews. What separates it from Turkish menemen is the spicing, and that the eggs stay whole: the yolk is meant to run into the sauce when it is pierced.

The sauce has to reduce until a spoon leaves a track on the bottom of the pan. A loose sauce spreads, the eggs sink and cook unevenly.

The spices are fried in oil before any tomato arrives. Cumin and paprika open up in fat; in water they stay dusty.

Worth knowing

• — The lid is not optional — without it the top of the yolk stays raw while the bottom overcooks.
• — Break each egg into a cup first and pour it into the hollow: the yolk is far less likely to tear.
• — The sauce keeps a week in the fridge. The eggs go in only when you are ready to eat.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

340 kcal

Protein

18 g

Fat

22 g

Carbs

18 g

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• Hummus — Chickpeas whipped with tahini, lemon and iced water to a cream. The skins come off.