Shakshuka is a North African poached egg dish that makes up a perfect brunch. Eggs are THE perfect breakfast solution – they are easy, quick, good for you and keeps you feeling full and content for the longest time. When eggs are coupled with the tang of the tomatoes and the saltiness of the feta and the heat from the chili, that is my kind of breakfast heaven.

Ingredients:

• 4 Large Eggs
• 1 Can of whole plum tomatoes, slightly squashed
• 50g of Cured meat like bacon, salami or pepperoni (Optional)
• 1 Red Onion, sliced
• 5-6 Cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 Red bell pepper, sliced
• 2-3 Hot peppers, finely sliced (I used chili padi aka bird’s eye chili)
• 1/2 Cup of of baby spinach
• Handful of fresh coriander leaves
• A generous sprinkling of Feta cheese
• Paprika, cumin powder, salt and pepper to taste
• Olive oil to fry

How to:

1. Heat a glug of olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan and sauté the garlic, onions, red bell peppers and hot peppers until translucent. It helps to use a heavy bottomed pan or a cast iron pan for this as it helps to cook the eggs evenly.

2. Once the onions are translucent, add in the cured meat – in my case sliced up pepperoni. Though completely optional, this adds smoky flavor dimension. And who doesn’t like cured meat for breaky!

3. Cook until the onions and the peppers are slightly charred and caramalized.

4. Then season with plenty of paprika & cumin powder. I would hold back on the salt at this stage as the feta cheese would add more saltiness to the shakshuka.

5. Then mix in the can of tomatoes. Canned tomatoes contains a more concentrated flavor as opposed to fresh tomatoes. But you could experiment with using smashed fresh tomatoes with a cup or so of chicken stock as well.

6. Once the tomatoes have cooked through and reduced, mix in a bit of crumbled feta cheese & fresh coriander. Check for seasoning and add abit of salt at this stage, bearing in mind that you would be sprinkling more feta over the shakshuka at the very end.

7. Make four little ‘wells’ in the tomato mixture and gently place the eggs inside them. Slather abit of the tomato mixture over the egg whites but leave most of the egg visible. Sprinkle more feta, coriander and spinach on top.

8. Cook over gentle heat until the eggs whites are set and the yolks are gooey and runny.

9. Sprinkle the eggs with a bit more paprika and serve with a side of lightly toasted buttered ciabatta.

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Special shoutout to Seesha for inspiring me with this dish over 2.5 years ago 😉