Feta Shakshuka
A variant of Shakshuka — An ingredient branch from the authored reference, with its selected additions included in the quantities and method.
Contains dairy, egg · only in an optional ingredient: gluten
Restrictions
Containsdairy · eggIt is in an ingredient you cannot leave out.
Only if you add itgluten (bread)Leave that ingredient out and the dish does not have it.
Diets
VegetarianPescatarianNo porkNo alcohol
Worked out from the ingredient list. It knows nothing about brands, shared equipment or cross contamination, and it is not a certification — if you have an allergy, you still have to read the label.
Ingredients
Servings:
| 3 tbsp | olive oil |
| 1 unit | onion (sliced thin) |
| 1 unit | red bell pepper (sliced into strips) |
| 3 clove | garlic (sliced) |
| 1 tsp | cumin (ground) |
| 1 tsp | paprika (sweet) |
| ¼ tsp | cayenne pepper |
| 1 tbsp | tomato paste |
| 28 oz | tomato (canned whole, crushed by hand) |
| 1 tsp | salt |
| ½ tsp | sugar |
| ¼ tsp | black pepper (ground) |
| 4 unit | eggs |
| ⅓ cup | feta cheese (crumbled) |
Optional
Not counted above. The dish works without them.
| 1 tsp | harissa |
| 2 tbsp | cilantro (chopped) |
| 2 tbsp | parsley (chopped) |
| 2 slice | bread (thick slices, for the pan) |
Steps
- saute12 minmedium, wide skillet, 10-incholive oil + onion + bell pepper until the pepper strips slump and the edges brown — twelve minutes, not five. Peppers hold water; rush them and it leaks into the sauce later and thins it exactly when you need it thick enough to hold an egg
- saute2 minmedium, stirring constantly+ garlic + cumin + paprika + cayenne + tomato paste. Ground spices are fat-soluble and taste raw and dusty in water; thirty seconds in hot oil dissolves them into it. The paste should darken to brick red — that's the sugars caramelizing, and it's the difference between a sauce that tastes cooked and one that tastes canned
- simmer18 minmedium-low, uncovered+ crushed tomatoes + salt + sugar + black pepper, uncovered, until a spoon dragged across the pan leaves a track that fills in slowly. The sugar is not for sweetness — it offsets the acidity that canned tomatoes carry. Reduce further than feels right: a loose sauce lets the whites disperse in threads instead of pooling
- prep1 minoff heat brieflymake four wells with the back of a spoon, pushing sauce aside all the way to the pan floor and leaving a low wall around each. The wall is what corrals the white; a shallow dimple won't
- poach9 minlow, covered, bare simmercrack eggs one at a time into the wells and cover. The sauce should barely move — a rolling simmer batters the whites apart and rubberizes them from below before the tops set. Steam under the lid cooks the exposed surface. Pull the pan when the whites are opaque but the yolks still wobble as one piece under a nudge; carryover heat in a mass of hot tomato keeps cooking them for another minute off the burner, so stop early
- rest2 minoff heat, uncoveredUncover the pan off the heat and scatter all the listed crumbled feta over the sauce around the eggs. Add optional harissa and herbs to taste, then serve promptly with bread.