I am super excited about today’s recipe. It just ticks all of the boxes for a quick, uber tasty and healthy recipe.
It is the perfect recipe to keep up your sleeve for:
- A cold night where you want a quick and hearty protein filled meal.
- A morning pre quelling a long physical day.
- A lunch at home which needs to make up for a small breakfast, or make up for a rushed supper later on.
But first: What is a Shakshuka?
The basis of a shakshuka is eggs poached in a sauce of tomato, chillies, onions and other optional ingredients. Shakshukas are often thought of as a breakfast food, but really can be eaten for any meal. I usually make mine for supper when the pantry is low and I do not have energy for a lot of cooking.
The shakshuka originated in Northern Africa where it was typically an Arabian dish of meat and vegetables. At some point the shakshuka made its way to Israel, where it changed shape and took on the more European ingredients of tomato, onions, eggs and often sweet peppers. Nowadays people are making shakshukas with whatever they fancy, such as baked beans, black beans etc.
For this shakshuka recipe I used lentils. I also added in some cheese for extra heartiness.
Shakshukas are the kind of dish which you can add in almost anything. So feel free to incorporate extra veggies. If you have any ideas for extra ingredients – give me a shout in the comments and I will try and say if it might be a good addition and when to incorporate it : ).
Basics of How to Make a Shakshuka
There are loads of recipes out there to make all kinds of scrumptious shakshukas – but this is the basic process.
Dice your ingredients. Heat a pan and gently fry any onion, garlic, other veg or chilis. Add in the fresh or canned tomatoes. Simmer gently. Crack in desired amount of eggs. simmer gently until eggs are the desired ‘cookedness’
What to Have with Shakshuka
Before I leave you with the recipe, one last thing.
Bread
Crusty bread makes a GREAT side for a shakshuka. You can use hunks of it to soak up the extra sauciness! Serving bread up can also stretch the dish if you have extra visitors or an unexpectedly hungry family member.
Salad
If on the other hand you want something fresh and light to balance out the filling power of a shakshuka – a green salad can go well as a side too.
Cheesy Chili & Lentil Shakshuka
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Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion
- Chilis to taste - either fresh or in flakes
- 1 teaspoon dried and crushed cilantro seeds
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1 cup of thinly sliced sweet peppers
- 2 cans tomatoes (whole or chopped) (You can also use fresh tomatoes combined with a couple tablespoons tomato paste)
- 3 cups of cooked lentils
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 4-5 eggs
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a deep skillet.
- Add chopped onion and fry gently until the onion starts to soften.
- Add the chopped peppers, chilli and spices, simmering for about 30 seconds.
- Add in the tomato, salt and pepper and lentils and simmer for about 3-5 minutes. If the lentils are slightly overcooked – rather add them after simmering the tomato – and do it just before you add the eggs.
- Now crack the eggs gently onto the top. I like to create slight depressions with my cooking spoon first, to drop the eggs into. This way they really cook in the tomato and sauce – not just on top of it
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