Israeli cuisine is an amazing mixture of European and Oriental motifs. From Mediterranean gastronomy, she got an abundance of vegetables, fruits, herbs, olive oil and fish. From the East, spices and sweets came into it. If you put it all together, you get an amazing mix. One of the most traditional dishes is Israeli shakshuka, the recipe of which is known on the promised land both old and young. A simple ingredient composition and speed of preparation is the key to an excellent breakfast!
What is shakshuka?
An interesting name in Russian is interpreted differently, most often - fried eggs with tomatoes. Agree, it no longer sounds so intriguing, and it does not quite correspond to the truth. Indeed, tomatoes and eggs are the basis of the dish, but this is far from all. This simple food is a matter of national pride for the Israelis. Shakshuka scrambled eggs, the recipe of which goes back centuries, has come to Israel from the cuisine of North Africa, namely from Tunisia, and is characterized by a spicy and spicy taste. In the traditional version, it is a rich breakfast, but you can prepare a dish for lunch or dinner. The basis of shakshuki (without adding eggs) is called matbuha and is itself a separate element.
The ingredient composition of the dish can vary greatly depending on the region of the country, the district of the city, and even individual families can offer you their own recipe. Shakshuka, a step-by-step recipe for cooking which is extremely simple, is really a great dish. Therefore, we will focus on preparing the basis of a hearty breakfast - matbuh sauce, and also offer you three options of shakshuki.
What is needed for Moroccan sauce?
Matbuha will be enjoyed by absolutely everyone, the only question is how much you will add it to the main dish. This sauce is quite spicy, it makes no sense to make it less piquant, from this it loses its charm and essence. To cook it, you will need:
- tomatoes - 500 g;
- onion (large) - 3 pcs.;
- Bulgarian red pepper (large) - 2 pcs.;
- red and green hot peppers - 1/2 pod;
- garlic - 2 large cloves;
- sweet ground paprika - 2 tsp;
- coriander - 1 tsp;
- ground cumin - 1 tsp;
- olive oil - 100 ml.
Shakshuka is prepared on the basis of this sauce. The recipe and cooking steps are simple. Having studied them once, in the future you can easily cook a quick and satisfying breakfast.
Cooking steps
Take a cauldron with a thick bottom and heat olive oil in it. Next, send chopped onions and ground sweet paprika. From this, it acquires a beautiful shade. Next, add all the other components: hot red and green peppers, cut into rings with seeds (if you want to lower the degree of sharpness, then remove them), chopped garlic, cubes of sweet paprika and tomatoes. Stew the vegetable mixture over medium heat until soft for another twenty minutes, then add spices and salt to taste. At a time when there were no blenders and mixers, Moroccans prepared mambuhu for 5 hours. Vegetables during this time turned into a homogeneous aromatic mass. Now three hours of languishing over low heat and the subsequent grinding by miracle technology are quite enough.
The sauce is primarily used for making shakshuki, however you can try it in other combinations, diversifying the daily menu.
Shakshuka: Israel recipe
As already mentioned, the basis of the dish is sauce, the recipe of which and the cooking technology are given above. It is clear that there will be too much of such volume for an ordinary family breakfast. Therefore, reduce the amount of ingredients several times. For a large portion, one large tomato and half an onion are enough.
The cooking steps remain the same, but the time is significantly reduced, 10-15 minutes are enough for stewing vegetables. Then simply spread the mixture with a spatula, making a kind of pits, and break the eggs into them. Close the pan with a lid and cook for another 5-8 minutes over low heat. Before serving, sprinkle everything with your favorite greens, for example cilantro, dill, and here is shakshuka in front of 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 homeland of the dish).
Of course, you need to know the basic basis, but why not experiment sometimes? This is exactly what the chef offers. Your attention is a recipe using shoug and baarat. But first, you should find out what these exotic components are.
Cooking shug and baarat
It is quite difficult to find many mixtures of spices and spices traditional for Israel in our country, so it would be nice to cook them on your own. Shug is another sauce originally from Yemen and is based on hot peppers. Baarat is a mixture of spices. So, to cook a shug, immerse in a bowl of a blender green chili pepper (3 pcs.), 4 large garlic cloves and 1 tsp. salt, and then grind everything until smooth. More than one shakshuka can be obtained from this mixture, 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 leaf, cloves and black pepper. Thoroughly grind the dry mixture in a mortar and store in the refrigerator.
Chef Shakshuki Recipe
Such a hearty breakfast is prepared and served in a large pan. In the recipe, the ingredients are indicated for 3 servings.
- eggs - 6 pcs.;
- tomatoes - 400 g;
- onions (diced) - 100 g;
- tomato paste - 2 tbsp. l .;
- baarat - 0.5 tsp;
- shug - 0.75 tsp;
- parsley to taste.
Put tomatoes into cubes in a deep cold frying pan and sprinkle with salt, add shug and baarat. Mix the mixture slightly and set on fire. After the boil begins, add the tomato paste. Pre-dilute it in 0.5 cups of water. Let the mixture boil again and then simmer over low heat until the liquid evaporates twice, as a result, you should get a dense viscous mass.
Next, make indentations in the resulting sauce and break the eggs into them, after the proteins have set slightly, close the lid and cook for another 10 minutes. Sprinkle the finished dish generously with greens and black pepper, serve with hummus and fresh cucumber salad.
Shakshuka, the recipe of which is offered by the chef, turns out to be more rich in spicy taste than traditional. It is worth noting that adding spices is 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 breakfast, but also as a full lunch or dinner. To prepare it, you will need:
- eggs - 3-4 pcs.;
- tomatoes - 300 g;
- onion (large) - 1 pc.;
- Bulgarian red pepper (large) - 1 pc.;
- eggplant - 300 g;
- red and green hot peppers - 1/4 of the pod;
- garlic - 2 large cloves;
- sweet ground paprika - 2 tsp;
- coriander - 1 tsp;
- ground cumin (cumin) - 1 tsp;
- olive oil - 4 tbsp. l
Heat vegetable oil (olive) in a pan and fry the onion and garlic, sprinkled with ground sweet paprika, until golden brown. Then add the chopped eggplant eggplant, bell pepper into cubes and bring the vegetables over low heat until soft. Next, add the tomatoes and spices, simmer the mixture for another 20 minutes over low heat. The following process steps are similar. Make small "holes" and break the eggs into them, bring to readiness under the lid for 8-10 minutes.
In conclusion, it is worth saying that shakshuka, the recipe for cooking 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 fried eggs or omelet for breakfast.