Israeli Shakshuka: the recipe for cooking

Israeli cuisine is an amazing mixture of European and oriental motifs. From the Mediterranean gastronomy she got an abundance of vegetables, fruits, herbs, olive oil and fish. From the East came spices and sweets. If you put it all together, you'll get an amazing mix. One of the most traditional dishes is the Israeli shakshuk, whose recipe is known on the land of the promised and old, and young. Simple ingredient composition and speed of cooking is the guarantee of an excellent breakfast!

What is a shakshuka?

An interesting name in Russian is interpreted in different ways, most often - scrambled eggs and tomatoes. Agree, it sounds not so intriguing, and the truth does not quite match. Indeed, tomatoes and eggs are the basis of the dish, but that's not all. This simple food is a subject of national pride of the Israelis. Shaishuka scrambled eggs, the recipe of which goes back centuries to its history, came to Israel from the cuisine of North Africa, namely from Tunisia, and is characterized by a spicy and pungent taste. In the traditional version - this is a hearty breakfast, but you can prepare a dish for lunch or dinner. The basis of shakshuki (without the addition of eggs) is called matbukha and in itself is a separate element.

Ingredients of the dish can vary greatly depending on the region of the country, the district of the city, and even individual families can offer their own recipe. Shakshuka, the step-by-step recipe of which is extremely simple, is really a great dish. Therefore, we will focus on preparing the basics of a hearty breakfast - the matebuch sauce, and also offer you three variants of shakshuki.

What will be needed for the Moroccan sauce?

Matbukha will taste to everyone, the only question is how much you will add to the main course. This is a fairly sharp sauce, making it less piquant does not make sense, from this it loses its charm and essence. To prepare it, you will need:

• Tomatoes - 500 g;
• Bulb (large) - 3 pcs .;
• Bulgarian red pepper (large) - 2 pcs .;
• Red and green hot peppers - 1/2 pod;
• Garlic - 2 large cloves;
• Paprika ground sweet - 2 tsp;
• Coriander - 1 tsp;
• Ground thistle - 1 tsp;
• Olive oil - 100 ml.

Based on the name of this sauce, a shakshuk is prepared. The recipe and stages of preparation are elementary simple. Having studied them once, in the future you can easily prepare a quick and hearty breakfast.

Stages of preparation

Take the cauldron with a thick bottom and warm up the olive oil in it. Next, send the onions cut into half rings and ground sweet paprika. From this he acquires a beautiful shade. Then add all the other ingredients: hot red and green peppers, cut with ringlets along with the seeds (if you want to lower the degree of sharpness, then remove them), chopped garlic, cubes of sweet paprika and tomatoes. Vegetable mixture simmer on medium heat until soft for another twenty minutes, after which add spices and salt to taste. At a time when there were no blenders and mixers, the Moroccans were preparing matbuhu for 5 hours. Vegetables during this time turned into a homogeneous fragrant mass. Now it is quite enough three hours of languishing on low heat and the subsequent shredding by miracle equipment.

Sauce is primarily used for making shakshuki, however you can try it in other combinations, diversifying the daily menu.

Shakshuka: recipe "for Israel"

As already mentioned, the basis of the dish is a sauce, the recipe of which and the technology of cooking are given above. It is clear that for a normal family breakfast of such a volume will be too much. Therefore, reduce the number of ingredients several times. For a large portion, one large tomato and half a bulb is sufficient.

Stages of cooking remain the same, but the time is considerably reduced, enough time for extinguishing vegetables is 10-15 minutes. Then just spread the mixture with a spatula, making some kind of pits, and break the eggs into them. Close the frying pan with a lid and cook for another 5-8 minutes over low heat. Before serving, sprinkle everything with your favorite herbs, for example, coriander, dill, - and here is a shakshuk before you. The recipe is the easiest. If desired, you can add your own ingredients. Be sure to serve it with fresh bread, crispy baguette or pita (as in the home of the dish).

A basic basis to know, of course, is needed, but why not experiment sometimes? This is what the chef offers. Your attention is a recipe with the use of shuga and baarat. But first you need to find out what exotic ingredients are.

We prepare shug and baarat

Many traditional for Israel mixes of spices and spices in our country to find it is difficult enough, therefore it will be quite good to prepare them by own strength. Shug is another sauce originating from Yemen, it is based on hot pepper. Baarat is a mixture of spices and spices. So, to prepare the shuga, dip a green chili pepper (3 pcs.), 4 large garlic cloves and 1 tsp into the blender bowl. Salt, and then grind everything to a homogeneous state. From this mixture it turns out not one shakshuk, the recipe requires the addition of only 1.5 tsp. The rest of the sauce can be stored for a week in the refrigerator in a tightly closed jar.

For baarat you will need one teaspoon of cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaves, cloves and black pepper. Thoroughly rub the dry mixture in a mortar and store in a refrigerator.

Shakshuka recipe from the chef

Such a hearty breakfast is prepared and served in a large frying pan. In the recipe, the ingredients are listed in terms of 3 servings.

• Eggs - 6 pieces;
• Tomatoes - 400 g;
• Onion (cubes) - 100 g;
• Tomato paste - 2 tbsp. L .;
• Baarate - 0.5 tsp;
• Schug - 0.75 p. L .;
• Parsley - to taste.

In a deep cold frying pan put the tomatoes diced and sprinkle with salt, add shug and baarat. Blend the mixture lightly and place on a fire. After the boiling starts, add the tomato paste. Preliminarily dilute it in 0.5 glasses of water. Allow the mixture to boil again and then simmer until the liquid evaporates twice, as a result, you should have a thick, viscous mass.

Next, make a deepening in the resulting sauce and beat the eggs in them, after the squirrels lightly grasp, close the lid and cook for another 10 minutes. Finish the dish generously sprinkle with herbs and black pepper, serve with hummus and fresh cucumber salad.

Shakshuka, the recipe of which the chef offers, produces a more spicy taste than the traditional one. It is worth noting that the addition of spices - it's generally a matter of taste, so you can safely experiment.

Shakshuka with eggplant

This version of the traditional recipe can safely act not only as a breakfast, but also a full dinner or dinner. For its preparation you will need:

• Eggs - 3-4 pieces;
• Tomatoes - 300 g;
• Bulb (large) - 1 piece;
• Bulgarian red pepper (large) - 1 pc .;
• Eggplant - 300 g;
• Red and green hot peppers - 1/4 pod;
• Garlic - 2 large cloves;
• Paprika ground sweet - 2 tsp;
• Coriander - 1 tsp;
• Ground thyme (cumin) - 1 tsp;
• Olive oil - 4 tbsp. L.

Heat the vegetable oil (olive) in a frying pan and fry the onion and garlic, sprinkled with ground sweet paprika, until golden. Then add the eggplant cut into strips, the Bulgarian pepper into cubes and bring the vegetables on low heat until soft. Then add the tomatoes and spices, simmer the mixture on low heat for another 20 minutes. The following stages of the process are similar. Make small "holes" and break the eggs into them, bring them to readiness under the lid for 8-10 minutes.

In conclusion, it should be said that the shakshuka, the recipe of preparation and the ingredient composition with the possibility of many variations of which we proposed, will pleasantly surprise all those who are tired of the usual eggs or omelets for breakfast.