Shakshuka for Sunday Brunch

Shakshuka is a delight to eat but a bugger to pronounce. I first had it courtesy of my friend Bryan who whipped this up one very lazy Sunday in South London. Bryan is a modern day Renaissance Man – artist, poet, singer, songwriter, author and all-round nice guy. 

He makes a superb cup of coffee, too.

This recipe is designed to be a sharer – one pan between two people with a shed load of bread to dunk in the eggs and to mop up the sauce. If you’re social-distance conscious, maybe this isn’t for you…

It’s a one-pan dish that you build up to its tangy and spicy climax. So use a pan that looks as good on the table as it does on the stove. You alter the cayenne to suit your heat levels – I like mine relatively mild.

Music to listen to while preparing this dish: ‘Right Beside You’ by Sophie B Hawkins

Ingredients

• A glue of olive oil
• 1tbsp Cumin seeds
• 1tbsp Fennel seeds
• 2 Cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 Large onion, chopped
• 1 Red pepper, sliced thinly
• 1tbsp Paprika (plain or smoked, your choice)
• 1/2tsp Cayenne pepper
• 1 Can chopped tomatoes
• Splash of vegetable stock
• 1 large bunch coriander chopped
• 4 large eggs
• Salt and pepper
• Crusty bread to serve

Method

1. Over a medium heat, warm your oil and fry off the cumin and fennel seeds for a minute.
2. Add the onions and garlic, season well with salt and pepper and fry down for around 10mins, stirring often. You want them golden and translucent not browned/charred.
3. Once they’ve been sweated down, add the peppers and fry off for another five minutes.
4. Add your paprika and cayenne pepper, stir through the onion-pepper mix and fry for a minute. Add your tomatoes and a generous splash of your stock and mix well.
5. Cover and simmer gently for around 10 minutes, then remove the cover and reduce a little.  You should have a firm but loose mix.
6. Saving some for garnish, add all your coriander and mix through. 
7. Now you need to add the eggs – make a well in your mixture and crack the egg in. Repeat for the other eggs.
8. Cover the dish and reduce the heat a little. Check your eggs after 5 minutes – you want the white to be cooked and the yolk to be runny.
9. Garnish with the last of the coriander and serve with crusty buttered bread.

Even though it’s brunch, this goes really well with a margarita on the rocks.