Shakshuka, Israel.

Shakshuka is a delicious Weekend Breakfast Favorite in Israel. It’s really tasty, filling, comforting, displaying joyful colors, and if your recipe meets the right balance of spices it’s all bursting in flavors and fragrances, plus it adds a yummy yet healthy touch to your weekend brunch. With my Shakshuka, you’re definitely going to be travelling on a plate.

Open your mind (and your palate) to a delicious trip in the Middle-East, though you may want to keep in mind as well that the mix of ingredients may originally be inspired from the cuisine of Tunisia (say so some of the Shakshuka aficionados).

The whole idea of Shakshuka is to serve a dish that you can share while chatting. It is a sort of casserole, though not exactly prepared the same way. One usually can eat it with a fork in one hand, and grilled bread or pita bread in the other hand. If you want your Shakshuka to be perfectly tender, the bell pepper strips must be sliced equally, not too thick (or they won’t cook properly) nor too thin (or they will burn in the pan).

To cook the eggs and give the final touch to the dish, I chose the option of oven-baking my Shakshuka. The eggs are simply displayed over the Shakshuka in the pan, and directly popped in the oven for about 3 to 4 minutes. The alternate option is to cook the eggs on the Shakshuka in the pan over the gas stove on medium fire for 8 to 12 minutes or until the egg whites are cooked, with the lid on. In both cases, the important thing is to check that the whites are cooked through but the yolks remain runny. Otherwsise, in what would you be going to dip your bread to accompany the delicious bell pepper strips?

INGREDIENTS

2 tbsp of olive oil
1/2 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 red bell pepper, cut in medium-long strips
1 yellow bell pepper, cut in medium-long strips
1 can of peeled tomatoes with their juices
a pinch of sugar
1 tbsp of cumin
1 tsp of ground coriander
1/2 tsp of Cayenne pepper
salt, black pepper
100g of Feta cheese, roughly diced (optional but so much better with it)
fresh parsley
2 eggs

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven at 190 degrees C if you intend to pick my option 2 for the final step of this receipe.
In an oven-baking pan, heat oil over the stove.
Cook the onion.
After two minutes, add the minced garlic, cumin and Cayenne.
After one short minute (before the garlic starts to brown), add the bell pepper strips and cook for 2 minutes.
Dice the peeled tomatoes in the pan with their juices, add a bit of water and the pinch of sugar to reduce acidity of the tomatoes.
Sprinkle with the ground coriander, salt and pepper. Stir well.
Let simmer for at least 10 minutes on medium heat, so that most of the liquids evaporate.
Before that happens, roughly display the Feta over the dish.
Form 2 small wells in which you can directly break the eggs, taking care of not damaging the yolks.
Option 1: Cover the pan immediately with a lid, and cook till the whites turn solid. The yolks must remain quite runny.
Option 2: Pop the pan in the oven, put it on the griddle on the lowest possible level. Bake for about 10 minutes, and remove immediately when the whites look almost cook through so that the yolk keeps runny. Your eye will be a better judge than the clock though!
Sprinkle with fresh parsley all over.
Serve the shakshuka immediately with bread or pita, and eat directly in the pan.