Wednesday 28 November 2012

Shakshouka

This typical Middle Eastern dish makes for excellent, warming comfort food on a cold day. Spicy, warm and mindbogglingly full of flavour this dish seems to originate in Tunisia but is rather popular throughout swathes of the middle East going all the way to Israel where it has become pretty popular. The recipe was originally brought to my attention by my friend Sara who found it over on smittenkitchen, I toyed with quantities added some green peppers and changed the consistency and voila, my recipe was born! Keep in mind that the eggs are absolutely necessary to counter the acidity of the tomatoes, enjoy!




Serves 4
-1/4 c. olive oil
-3 Jalapeno peppers
- 2-3 Yellow onions
-1 Green Pepper
-4 cloves garlic, crushed
-2 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin (or to taste)
-1 1/2 tablespoons paprika
-1 Teaspoon coriander
-1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
-2 raw tomatoes, chopped, for texture (optional)
-Salt/pepper to taste
6 eggs
- feta cheese, crumbled to taste
-Fresh parsley or cilantro to taste ( Although not traditional, I rather like cilantro on it!)
Fresh bread or warm pitas for serving

1) Crush garlic, slice onions and chop pepper into large chunks, mince jalapenos (seed them if you would like to make it less spicey)
2) Heat oil until hot, add onions, garlic, pepper and jalapenos, cook until soft and fragrant
3)In a separate pan, toast whole cumin until fragrant, grind down with paprika and add to the vegetables
4) Add the tomatoes and their juice to the mix, simmer for about 20-30 minutes until reduced, thick and brown, season to taste and let simmer a few minutes
5) Break eggs into the vegetable mix and bury them in the tomato sauce being very careful not to break them (you can cheat by putting a lid over it as if making eggs sunny side up)
6) Serve accompanied by bread with a dusting of feta and parsley or coriander

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