Favorite breakfast - Shakshuka

A few years ago, a friend gave me a cookbook called Plenty as a hostess gift.  As I was flipping through that book I recognized a familiar recipe, shakshuka. As I was reading the recipe I found that it is a North African dish with many variations.
When I got married, my mother-in-law used to make a similar recipe using onions, curry leaves, green chilies, tomatoes, and eggs but she did not use any other herbs such as parsely or thyme, which we were not familiar with at that time. Mother-in-laws recipe didn't have bell peppers either. She used to serve that dish with rice. However, it was not called shakshuka. The recipe from Plenty calls for a lot of herbs, such as parsley, bay leaves, thyme and cilantro which are grown in my herb garden. I decided to make this recipe for breakfast. Since then, it has become our favorite breakfast dish. I made a few changes to the recipe. It is a combination of my mother-in-law's recipe and the recipe from the Plenty cookbook.

Serves 4

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1 Serrano chili, sliced into 2
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
• 1 yellow bell pepper, cut into strips
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 bay leaves
• 10 curry leaves
• 6 thyme sprigs
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 2 pounds vine ripened tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon saffron
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup water
• 6-8 eggs
• chopped parsley and cilantro to garnish

In a large pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add cumin seeds and fry for a minute. Add onion and Serrano chili and saute for 5 minutes. Add peppers, ginger, sugar, and the herbs. Continue cooking on high heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until the peppers are almost cooked. Add tomatoes, saffron, cayenne, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. During the cooking, keep adding water so that the mix has a pasta sauce consistency. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Remove the bay leaves. Make indentations for each egg with a big spoon in the tomato-pepper mixture. Crack the eggs into each indentation or gap. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Cover the pan with a lid. Cook on gentle heat for 10 to 12 minutes or until the eggs are set. Sprinkle parsley and cilantro and serve with white bread. I used toasted cracked wheat sourdough bread. Use the bread to mop the sauce. You will see why this has become my family's favorite weekend breakfast.

Harvest from the garden. What ever I harvest from the garden becomes our meal. In this case harvest from the kitchen garden and eggs from the chicken coop transformed into breakfast.

Fresh herbs from the garden

Curry leaves

For more memorable centerpieces, tablescapes, and recipes (including vegetarian, gluten free and vegan recipes),please check out my books, Entertaining From an Ethnic Indian Kitchen and Trader Joe's Simply Indian at my website komalinunna.com.

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