Shakshuka Recipe: Eggs in Tomato and Pepper Sauce in a Skillet

Step-by-step recipe

1. Homemade shakshuka is all about vegetables, and they should be fresh and fully ripe. That goes double for the tomatoes: ideally they should be fleshy, without white parts inside. Choose thick-walled bell peppers. They are a key part of the sauce and give the dish the delicate flavor I love so much. I also recommend adding some chili to the sauce, it is delicious.
   
2. Before you start cooking, chop all the ingredients and put them in separate bowls. Peel the onion and dice it finer than you would for a salad. Seed the bell peppers and cut the flesh into cubes. Dice the tomatoes. If they have a lot of seeds, remove at least some of them. Slice the chili into rings, seeding it if you like. Roughly chop the garlic or cut it into thin slices. Roughly chop the basil leaves as well.
   
3. Shakshuka is often made for a crowd, and a large cast-iron skillet or roasting pan is handy for that. The usual rule is 2-3 eggs per person. For a family at home, an ordinary frying pan with a lid will do. Pour the olive oil into the pan and heat it. Fry the chopped onion in the oil for 2-3 mins. Then add all the diced red bell peppers.
   
4. After 10 mins the peppers and onion will have softened nicely. They will start to brown a little, and the onion will take on some of the color of the peppers. Now add the chili and garlic to the pan and fry for another 4-5 mins, stirring. Many people like this dish quite spicy, so feel free to add more chili if you want.
   
5. The tomatoes go in next. In season that is no problem, but in winter we usually use canned tomatoes, roughly chopped. Fresh tomatoes do not always give that wonderful tomato flavor, so when I use them I add 1-2 tbsp of tomato paste to the onion and peppers. It is important for the tomato flavor to come through fully. Stir the tomato paste into the vegetables and fry for 2-3 mins.
   
6. Add all the prepared tomatoes to the pan and stir. Season the vegetables with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add 1 tsp of sugar: tomatoes love a touch of sweetness, and the shakshuka will taste much better. Also add 0.5 tsp of sweet paprika for an intense aroma. A special spice here is ground cumin, which is very tasty and pleasant. Finally, toss in the chopped fresh basil, an important part of the sauce.
   
7. Mix the vegetables with the spices and pour 0.5 cup of water into the pan. Bring the sauce to a boil, then turn the heat down to medium-low and cover the pan with a lid. Simmer the vegetables for 15 mins, stirring occasionally. Then remove the lid, raise the heat slightly and cook off the moisture until the sauce is thick enough and there is almost no free liquid left. If the tomatoes were not very juicy, you may not need this step.
   
8. This sauce, often called a sauce-salad and served as an appetizer, is actually ready now. All that is left is to cook delicious eggs in it. Use a spatula or spoon to make four wells in the sauce and crack the eggs into them, trying not to break the yolks. Gently stir the whites around the yolks so they blend a little with the sauce. You can do this with a teaspoon, moving it in a circle around each yolk.
   
9. Cook the eggs in the sauce over low heat until the whites set and the yolks begin to firm up. Season the yolks with just a little salt and pepper. The eggs can cook in the sauce for up to 10 mins, so keep an eye on them until they reach the doneness you like. Do not cover the pan, or the yolks will turn white.
   
10. Shakshuka is usually brought to the table in the pan it was cooked in. Sprinkle it with finely chopped parsley and, if you like, a few fresh basil leaves. You can eat it straight from the pan, or set out plates and serve it with a spatula, since the sauce is thick enough not to run.
    
11. Serve with pita or unleavened lavash, the dish tastes best with this kind of bread. If you are cooking for a crowd, scale up all the ingredients proportionally. If you add extras such as potatoes, sausages or beans, take their cooking time into account so they do not end up raw.