Shakshouka

This is one of those dishes with a multitude of spelling variations, but the essence of the dish is always a zesty or spicy tomato sauce in which fresh eggs are poached.

The word shakshouka means ‘a mixture’ in some Arabic dialects and there are endless variations of this versatile dish. Our recipe is great because it’s structure provides a template for experimentation. Tell us if you make something special.

Bread such as khobz or pita is often served to mop the plate.

There’s room for embellishment here. If you have some ras el hanout, a little pinch might add something special, although I wouldn’t tell a Moroccan, as traditionally this spice blend is used in only specific dishes. (We love a good laugh about ‘traditional’ food, don’t you?) Try roasting whole cumin before grinding or finely grating double the quantity of fresh turmeric. Smoked salt might be nice. Parsley is often substituted for the coriander, but what about sage or chives?

Leaving the chili pepper whole will allow you to remove it from the sauce when you feel it has added enough heat.

You need a pan with a tight-fitting lid. A tagine is perfect for 4 servings; a smaller pan with lid is necessary for fewer portions. We are working on a version of this recipe with individual serving dishes so it can be scaled with more versatility and served more conveniently.

Time

1 hour 15 minutes total: 1 hour attended, 15 minutes unattended

Difficulty

very easy

Yield

750 g (servings 2 )

Ingredients

Weight

Volume

Procedure

Olive oil

40 g

3 tbsp

Heat the olive oil in a 10" / 25.4 cm skillet or tagine set over medium heat.

Onion, 0.3" / 8 mm dice

140 g

2 small

Capsicum (bell peppers), green and/or red; 0.3" / 8 mm dice

140 g

1 large

Add to pan and sauté until tender, about 7 minutes.

Garlic, finely chopped

12 g

4 cloves

Add to pan and sauté until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Cumin, ground

3.2 g

1½ tsp

Paprika, sweet

2.3 g

1 tsp

Paprika, smoked

1.1 g

1½ tsp

Cayenne pepper

0.9 g

½ tsp

Turmeric

1.1 g

½ tsp

Salt

4.5 g

¾ tsp

Pepper, black

0.6 g

¼ tsp

Saffron threads (optional)

0.1 g

⅛ tsp

Bay leaf (optional)

0.2 g

1 leaf

Add to pan and reduce heat to low.

Stir and sauté to distribute spices and lightly toast, about 1 minute.

Tomatoes, seeded and grated

720 g

4 large whole

Chili pepper; whole (optional)

30 g

1 pepper

Add to pan, stir to combine and increase heat to bring to boil.

Cover and reduce heat to simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes cook down into a thick, rich sauce, about 20 minutes.

Coriander, chopped

9 g

4 sprigs

Sugar

5 g

1 tsp

Lemon juice

5 g

1 tsp

Add to pan and stir to combine.

Eggs

252 g

4 jumbo

Make 4 indentations in the sauce into which the eggs will be cracked.

Carefully crack the eggs into the holes without breaking the yolks.

Cover and steam until the whites are cooked through and the egg yolks are partially set, about 5 minutes.

Salt

to taste

Pepper, white (optional)

to taste

Season the eggs.

Parsley or coriander

to taste

Cumin, ground

to taste

Macadamia oil

to taste

Feta cheese, crumbled

to taste

Olives; halved

to taste

Garnish.

Notes

See Felicity Cloake’s article for a great version of this dish.

A If using a clay tagine, consider using a diffuser.

B Roasting and peeling the capsicum (bell peppers) provides an additional smokey characteristic. If using, add them in process D after the onions have been sautéd.

(Chef notes) For version 2: the cooking vessel is a problem. The original dish was probably made in a one pot, but this doesn’t work when making servings for more than 1 person. Perhaps, originally, each dish was made separately, who knows. Anyway, the principle of this dish is a tasty tomato base with baked eggs, so I think the solution is to separate those tasks. The tomato base can be made in a saucier with adequate capacity to hold the ingredients. When the sauce is finished being made, it is divided between individual oven-safe ramekins like those used for creme caramel (the terracotta version is nice) and topped with one or two eggs. The formula for ingredients is roughly ½ onion and ½ capsicum and two eggs per person along with roughly 400g of tomato (two large). The capsicum and eggs should be about the same size, about 0.3" / 8 mm pieces, and sautéd over low heat around 90°C / 194°F. They should sweat, rather than fry; although Kenji’s method encourages a mixture of onion textures by leaving the onions still for a minute before folding which provides a mixture of browned and sweated textures. The addition of the whole chilli is unnecessary as the cayenne provides the required spice. The oven temperature does not need to be very high and would suggest around 90°C / 194°F also, baking for around 6 minutes.

(Chef notes) For a modernist twist, cut some of the tomato flesh into little brunoise and set aside, cold. Purée the rest of the tomato flesh and juice without seeds—but including the spices—and warm to 82°C / 180°F. Sauté the onion and capsicum until soft. Combine this mixture. It should be velvety with nice, tender vegetables and warming spice. Add in the ice cold pieces of tomato and the fresh coriander. Make the well and put in the eggs then bake. Hopefully the tomato will still be a little colder than the rest of the mixture as a temperature contrast. Even if they are not, the texture will be nice.

Nutrition

Serving size 375 g; calories 281.5 kcal, kilojoules 1174.7 kJ, protein 12 g, carbohydrates 14.1 g, sugar 10.7 g, fat 18.6 g, saturated fat 3.8 g, unsaturated fat 21.6 g, trans fat 0 g, fiber 4.7 g, cholesterol 257.2 mg,

Type tagine

Author bhsimon

Yield

Servings

Serving size 375 g

Serve	Per serve
Energy (kcal)	281.5
Energy (kJ)	1174.7
Protein (g)	12
Fat (g)	18.6
Carbs (g)	14.1
Sugars (g)	10.7
Fiber (g)	4.7
Sodium (mg)	594.6
Cholesterol (mg)	257.2

Full details