Turkish Shakshuka Recipe

A tad elaborate version of Turkish Menemen

My breakfast is always wholesome and full but 6 out of 7 days of the week my menus are understatedly boring, either oats with curd or bread with fruits. That’s nothing interesting but I like my oats with curd!! And then there’s the excuse of not much time to do something special, it takes time, hard work of chopping-cutting, then flipping with spatula etc. etc. BUT, Sunday.. Sunday has to be little special, not lot but a little. ** You think I am repeating my words too much?!

I love having eggs and breads for Sunday morning breakfast. So I was looking for some option and I found this super simple and duper delicious Turkish recipe. I was in love with this recipe and as a matter of fact, I had to try it. So here it is a Sunday Breakfast Idea for You…

Menemen and Shakshuka are quite popular in Turkey as their staple breakfast item. Where most of the ingredients used are almost similar in both the recipes, the only difference I felt was the presentation of eggs. Where in Menemen the eggs are sort of scrambled in the dish, in Shakshuka the eggs are cracked open on the vegetables and left them to steam poach. Let me give you the recipe with the changes or set of ingredients I used in Shakshuka, and you will understand my point better. Ready??

Ingredients:

• Potato: small diced pieces and per boiled
• Onion chopped
• Capsicum chopped
• Carrot chopped
• grated tomato- 3 medium sizes or 4 may be
• (My homemade) little curry powder in place of cumin powder
• Turmeric
• Little dried parsley
• salt- black pepper
• 3 eggs – as I served for 3
• Coriander leaves for garnish in place of fresh parsley
• Goat cheese/ Indian paneer
• Olive oil & little butter
• Serve with toasted bread

Lets know now How it’s Done:

• Take a small pot or pan, let it heat properly. Add little oil followed by little butter or margarine. Once the butter is melted in the oil, add chopped onions, carrots and capsicum (use vegetables of your choice, I always take whatever is available in the in-house store). Stir for a bit, let the onions turn little translucent.
• Add the grated tomatoes, little curry powder, turmeric and some pepper. Stir everything very well, now comes the waiting part. bring the heat to low or medium, add little water and some dried parsley (I prefer dried parsley more, you may use the fresh ones) in the mixture, stir again and let this mix simmer for about 15 minutes. Give it a stir from time to time.
• After about 15 minutes, the sauce will be thick and the raw smell of the tomato will be completely gone. Add salt and mix with with the sauce. Now with the convex of a spoon, make small wells on the tomato sauce, on those wells, crack the eggs or you may crack the eggs in a bowl them slowly pour them on those wells so that the yolks don’t crack (it still may crack anyway!!). Sprinkle little salt & pepper on the eggs, add some soft goat cheese (it is difficult to get feta cheese easily in India) cover the pan for about 2-3 minutes keeping the heat minimal.
  • The eggs should not be well cooked, better keep the yolks half done. Sprinkle some freshly chopped coriander leaves as I love them like anything, or you may add your favourite fresh parsley. Your Shakshuka is ready-steady to eat with crispy toasted bread. May be try some garlic bread or multi-grain breads!!

Happy eating, I know you will like this one so so so much.. You will, right? Leave some comment please…

Inspired by @Food Wishes