Eggs baked into a thick red pepper and tomato base spiked with harissa and cumin, finished with feta and coriander. One pan, thirty-five minutes.
Prep
15 mins
Cook
30 mins
Servings
4
Per serving
£1.35
Difficulty
easy
The difference between a good shakshuka and a watery one is how far you reduce the base before the eggs go in. It should be thick enough that a spoon leaves a trail. Making wells for the eggs and covering the pan gets the whites set while the yolks stay liquid.
Heat the olive oil in a wide, deep frying pan with a lid. Add the onions and peppers with a pinch of the salt and cook over a medium heat for 12 minutes until soft and starting to catch.
Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes, then stir in the harissa, cumin, paprika and caraway seeds and fry for 1 minute until fragrant.
Tip in the tomatoes, the sugar and the remaining salt. Simmer briskly, uncovered, for 12 to 15 minutes.
Keep going until the sauce is genuinely thick and a spoon dragged across the base leaves a clear channel that fills in slowly.
This is the step people rush. A loose sauce means the eggs sink and poach unevenly.
Taste and adjust for salt and heat, remembering the feta will add saltiness later.
Make eight shallow wells in the sauce with the back of a spoon and crack an egg into each one.
Cover the pan and cook over a low heat for 6 to 9 minutes, until the whites are just set and the yolks still wobble when you shake the pan.
Scatter over the crumbled feta and coriander and serve straight from the pan with gluten free bread or rice.