Shakshuka is a traditional dish, popular in North Africa and the Middle East. Shakshuka, which means mixture or mixed, is a spiced pepper, onion and tomato stew, with eggs poached in the sauce.
Traditional spices are cumin, coriander, paprika or chilli, and garlic. In my version, I still use the spices and garlic but have also added cubes of cooking chorizo, which adds another depth of flavour to the dish.
However, If you want to make it vegetarian, simply omit the chorizo, and add an extra teaspoon of paprika.
It's delicious as a brunch, lunch or dinner, served with flat breads or chunks of crusty bread to mop up the lovely sauce.
2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
I large white onion
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
400g fresh tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
130g cooking chorizo
Seasoning
3-4 eggs
Fresh parsley
- Peel the onion and then cut into 2-3cm dice.
- Deseed the peppers and cut into 2cm dice.
- Cut the chorizo into 2cm dice.
- Cut a small slit or cross in the skin at the bottom of each tomato.
- Place the tomatoes in a layer at the bottom of a heatproof container and cover with boiling water. Leave for 5 minutes.
- Remove the tomatoes from the water and carefully remove the skin.
- Dice the tomatoes.
- Peel and finely grate or crush the garlic.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan and sauté the onion and peppers over a low heat until the onions are translucent.
- Add the spices and garlic and stir to combine. Let it cook through for a few minutes, being careful not to let the garlic burn.
- Add the chorizo and increase the heat to medium. Stir to combine and then continue to sauté for a few minutes.
- Add the chopped tomatoes and seasoning and stir well. Cover and leave to cook on a low heat until the tomatoes have disintegrated.
- Make a well in the mixture and crack in an egg, and then repeat for the remaining eggs. Note that if you do it all at once the wells will simply fill up with the sauce! Cover the pan and leave to cook until the egg whites are set.
- Remove from the heat and scatter over chopped fresh parsley.
