Shakshuka Recipe - DWC Magazine

Shakshuka Recipe

Shakshuka Recipe 

By Mike Devlin

Shakshuka is a Maghrebi dish (Northern Africa) has been adapted throughout the Middle East and as far into Europe as Greece. 

Essentially it is a mildly spiced dish of tomatoes, onions, peppers, and garlic. And it's regularly eaten at breakfast times or evening. It's rather good, can be made in bulk, and frozen for later when you suddenly remember how yummy it is, and you really can't be bothered to cook anything.

What I am going to offer for you here is to give you my version of it (basically an algamation of styles from different countries), but a couple of things can be ommited if you happen to be a vegan. Are we ready to begin? 

Ingredients 
Feta cheese
Slice of good quality bread 
2 eggs
Salt 
Pepper
Smoked paprika 
Cayenne pepper
Coriander/Cilantro
Cumin
Caraway seeds
Oil
Tomato paste
Two large onions 
6 tomatoes 
5 cloves of garlic 
2 bell peppers 
Handful of mushrooms 
Vegetable stock 
Plus any of the following if you wish: 
Leek
Courgette 
Basically any veg you can get (no, not potatoes, that would be silly)

Here we go! 

Grab a frying pan, and that slice of bread. Rip the bread into small chunks (if you are forced to use one of those cheap terrible loaves, use a knife to cut it up), and throw them into the pan with a little oil. Yup, we are making croutons. If you wish you could throw some garlic granules in there for extra flavour. Crisp them up - golden is what we are going for here, so don't leave them alone because they will burn, and you'll have to start again - toss them or flip them, your choice. The oil will be soaked up so you may need to add more.

Now in another frying pan, we are going to put all the spices in it. How much? S&P you should know, but the others a decent pinch, but if you want it slightly more spicy put more Cayenne in. No oil though! We are dry roasting here. The temp has to be around medium, and you will know when it's done because you will be able to smell it.

As soon as you can, remove them from the pan, but don't clean it. A splash of oil, and add your sliced onions (turn the heat down) along with any hard vegetables you have decided to use.

Sweat them off, then add the garlic, and the rest of the chopped vegetables, the paste, stock, and those spices.

Simmer (occasionally stirring) for around 30 minutes. Harder veg? Okay. 15 minutes. 

Now then. The eggs.

Traditionally you can just crack a couple into the shakshuka, and the heat will cook them. If you don't trust yourself to do this, then poach them the usual way then add them to the mix, just placing them on top. 

Crumble up some feta for a contrasting taste, and then throw some croutons for a different texture. Finally top it all off with fresh coriander/cilantro.

Shakshuka can be frozen, so once made, cool it down and add the eggs, and croutons when defrosted and heated back up.

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