Scrambled Red Shakshuka From Sami Tamimi & Tara Wigley
★★★★★
PREP TIME
15 minutes
COOK TIME
30 minutes
SERVES
2, generously
Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces
(45 grams) feta, roughly crumbled
1/4 cup
(5 grams) parsley leaves, roughly chopped
3/4 teaspoon
Aleppo chile flakes (or 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes)
5 tablespoons
(75 milliliters) olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons
coriander seeds, lightly toasted and roughly crushed in a mortar and pestle
1
yellow or white onion, thinly sliced (1 2/3 cups / 150 grams)
1
red bell pepper, seeded and cut into long slices, 1/2-inch / 1 centimeter thick (5 ounces / 140 grams)
3
garlic cloves, crushed in a garlic press or minced
1/2 teaspoon
cumin seeds, lightly toasted and roughly crushed in a mortar and pestle
1 teaspoon
tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon
paprika
5 or 6
tomatoes, roughly chopped (18 ounces / 500 grams)
2 1/2 ounces
(75 grams) cherry tomatoes
2 teaspoons
red shatta (see recipe below) or rose harissa
1/3 cup
(80 milliliters) water
4
eggs, lightly beaten
9 ounces
(250 grams) red or green chiles (with seeds), stems trimmed, very thinly sliced
1 tablespoon
salt
3 tablespoons
cider vinegar
1 tablespoon
freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Place the feta in a bowl with the parsley, 1/2 teaspoon of chile flakes, 3 tablespoons of oil, and 1/2 teaspoon of coriander seeds. Mix well and set aside (in the fridge if making in advance) until needed.
- Put the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil into a large sauté pan (with a lid at the ready) and place over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, until softened and lightly browned. Add the bell pepper and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin seeds, tomato paste, paprika, and remaining 1 teaspoon of coriander seeds. Cook for another 1 minute, until fragrant, and then add all the tomatoes, the shatta, water, 1 teaspoon of salt, and a generous grind of black pepper. Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have broken down and the sauce has thickened.
- Add a pinch of salt and a good grind of black pepper to the eggs and mix well. Slowly pour this into the tomato mixture, swirling the pan and giving it a couple of gentle folds—you don’t want the eggs to be too mixed in. Decrease the heat to medium-low, cover the pan, and let cook for 4 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat, spoon the marinated feta over the top, sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of chile flakes, and serve at once.
Shakshuka
- Place the chiles and salt in a medium sterilized jar (see note below) and mix well. Seal the jar and store in the fridge for 3 days. On the third day, drain the chiles, transfer them to a food processor, and blitz; you can either blitz well to form a fine paste or roughly blitz so that some texture remains. Add the vinegar and lemon juice, mix to combine, then return the mixture to the same jar. Pour enough olive oil on top to cover, and keep in the fridge for up to 6 months. The oil will firm up and separate from the chiles once it’s in the fridge, so just give it a good stir, for everything to combine, before using.
- Note: Sterilizing jars is a necessity when preserving foods (makdous, for example, or shatta). It ensures that all bacteria and yeasts are removed from a jar so that the food remains fresh. There are various ways to sterilize a glass jar. One is a water bath, where the jars go into water, with their lids added separately, the water is brought to a boil, and then the jars are “cooked” for 10 minutes. Another is filling the jars with just-boiled water and then rinsing and drying with a clean dish towel. We tend to just put ours into the dishwasher, though, and run it as a normal wash—it’s a simple solution that works very well.
Shatta (optional)
