Shakshuka

Name: Shakshuka
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 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

Breakfast · African & Middle Eastern

13 ingredients · 40 minutes · 2 servings

Cook Now

Variations

Feta ShakshukaAn ingredient branch from the authored reference, with its selected additions included in the quantities and method.View recipe →

459kcal18.3g protein31.2g fat30.7g carbs~$3.05/ serving*

Contains egg · only in an optional ingredient: gluten, dairy

Restrictions

ContainseggIt is in an ingredient you cannot leave out.

Only if you add itgluten (bread) · dairy (cheese feta)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

Optional

Not counted above. The dish works without them.

1 tsp	harissa
⅓ cup	feta (crumbled)
2 tbsp	cilantro (chopped)
2 tbsp	parsley (chopped)
2 slice	bread (thick slices, for the pan)

Steps

Saute12 min
medium, wide skillet, 10-inch
- onion
- eggs
olive 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 min
medium, 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 min
medium-low, uncovered
- black pepper
+ 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 min
off heat briefly
make 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 min
low, covered, bare simmer
crack 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 min
off heat, uncovered
uncover immediately so condensation stops dripping onto the yolks, then scatter feta, harissa dotted around the edges, and herbs. Serve straight from the pan with bread — the sauce is the vehicle and it stiffens as it cools