1. SHAKSHUKA/SHAKSHOUKA
“Oh my gooooooosh, Ammu, that look absolutely delicious.”- That’s what I said to my middle daughter when she cooked the dish-shakshuka. It was her first time cooking the dish, and she completely nailed it. It turned out so good that even our kittens were eyeing it. Well, they eye any food at any time of the day, but it turned out super good. So there you go, daughter, your father praises your food secretly on his website 😛
Ammu is a word that we use in our culture to refer to someone we love. It means mother. So I lovingly call all my daughters that, but I don’t think they like it very much. 😂
Coming back to the topic of shakshouka, it is a dish whose origin is a bit of controversy. My wife thinks it’s from somewhere in the Middle East. “Google it babe”, was her response when I asked her. 🙂 So after a bit of digging, I found out that it is quite popular in countries like Morocco,, Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey. Shakshuka is a Maghrebi Arabic term for mixture since the dish itself is a mixture of tomatoes, chillies, and eggs. Well, at least that’s what some of the ingredients are.
It is a very simple and easy meal (yummy too, don’t worry), and once you have eaten it, you will go back to making it over and over again. It is a delicious combination of tomatoes, garlic, onions, spices, herbs, and slightly poached eggs. My wife and daughter might disagree since, in theory, they are the better cooks, but I know these are the main ingredients,
The first time I had shakshuka was a year ago, when my wife made it for me, turned out really good and spicy. I remember instantly falling in love with the dish because of its bursts of flavours and spices. Even for a Southeast Asian like me, who is used to his spices, the flavour felt surreal. I tried the food a lot of times after that, once in a cafe called Kaffiend, in East London, it looked and tasted good. My recommendation would be to try to eat it with sour dough bread. The combination is good.
Now people can make shakshuka various ways, adding different ingredients to make different versions of it. Last week, my daughter added spring onions and crafted the recipe with her own style. Some add spinach and brussels sprouts to make a “greeny” version of the dish. After adding the tomatoes for the base, it looks reddish, though. You can even add feta and goat cheese to it to make it a bit different.
The main common ingredients for shakshuka are-
The base of shakshuka is a mixture of tomatoes, onions, peppers, and peeled garlic.
Then we add our favourite old spices, such as cumin, paprika, chilli powder, or flakes, for a nice aroma.
And the eggs, which will be gently poached among the mixture of our tomatoes and herbs. The eggs taste nice when it remain bit soft and runny.
The addition of chopped parsley or coriander leaves on top of the whole dish makes it more pleasing to the eyes. I personally favour coriander leaves because of their aroma and taste. Just think of all the layers of flavour.
It is very easy to make shakshuka. You can use both canned or fresh tomatoes-I personally go with fresh tomatoes. Then chop a bit of onion, add pepper, hit up a pan and stir fry them for about 5 minutes, on medium heat. After that, add the garlic and spices and stir for another couple of minutes until the room is filled with a nice aroma.
Then add your chopped tomatoes on the veggies and smash the tomatoes and wait for them to start simmering, and then add your eggs on top of the simmering mix. Add as much egg as you can fit. Then cook the eggs on top of the mixture on low heat for another 7 minutes, or up to how you like your eggs cooked.
Then, just before serving, you can sprinkle some salt and herbs to your liking on top of the shakshouka, (I will normally add some chopped coriander or parsley), and voila, your dish is ready 😀