Shakshuka...cooked to perfection

I made "Shakshuka" with an Indian twist today. So my husband had been trying to urge me to make this dish for sometime now since he loves my cooking, and I was ducking the idea as I had been shying away from cooking off-late.

Finally, I gave into his persistence and ended up replicating (almost) this interesting dish but not before I added a hint of Indian-ness to it. Wonder what life would be without these Indian spices - tasteless and boring!

Now till you try this out, you won't know what you have been missing out on. This is an amazingly simple yet delicious and healthy egg preparation of Middle-eastern origin that you can actually have for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Shakshuka literally means "a mixture" in Arabic, and what a good-looking mixture it is - of tomatoes, peppers, spices and poached eggs.

The art of cooking "Shakshuka" lies in your patience, as any rush can kill this delicately flavored dish. I think this dish should come with a tag - "handle with care". We are a family of 2 only, so decided 3 eggs each would be quite sumptuous for a heavy Sunday morning breakfast.

So on a heated skillet, I poured a bit of olive oil, and added a small cup of finely chopped onions. Sauted it till translucent and then added a tablespoon of minced garlic to it. The aroma arising from a mixture of garlic and onion can be quite an astronomical delight for some foodies. To this translucent mix,  I then added an assortment of green and red bell peppers, about 1 cup full of each. After a quick stir, I added very finely chopped blanched tomatoes (roughly 4 medium sized). I know the recipe actually wanted me to blend it in a mixer, but blanched and chopped finely saved on some extra effort and the outcome added a lot of character to the dish, so I preferred keeping it this way. At this stage the Indian spices added the required drama to my Shakshuka - cumin powder, chilli powder, cayenne pepper and salt. Left this to simmer for about 7-10 minutes, and then came the most interesting part of this preparation - adding the eggs. This takes a bit of skill, and the best way to do it is to make small sections in the pan for as many eggs you intend to put in. I had six so I made 6 hollows in the dish as it was simmering way, and then broke 1 egg each into these hollows. Gentleness is the key else you mess up with all your hard work. Sprinkle some salt overall and cover and cook these on slow heat for about 15 minutes till the eggs poach well. Sprinkled some finely chopped cilantro, though the original dish recommended parsley. However, since the former is easily available in Indian markets, I went for it. No fuss whatsoever.

It was a beauty to look at and we devoured it with some toasted bread on the sides. My take is, kids would love a dish like this, as its really pleasing to the eyes and interesting enough to catch their fancy! So what are you waiting for, go try it out this weekend :)