SHAKSHUKA

A one-pan dish of eggs poached in a spiced tomato and capsicum sauce — perfect for using up pizza-night leftovers (passata, half a capsicum, that lonely onion). Freeze the base in portions and you’ve got a 10-minute meal whenever you need it. The same tomato base also doubles as the filling for our Sweet Potato Paptert.

Ingredients

• 30ml olive oil
• 1 large brown onion, diced
• 1 red capsicum, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tsp salt
• 700g passata (or 1 × 400g tin chopped tomatoes plus 300ml water)
• 8 eggs
• Fresh parsley or coriander, to serve
• Crusty bread or sourdough, to serve
• Fermented ricotta or feta, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a wide frypan or cast iron pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes until soft.
2. Add the capsicum and cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the garlic, cumin, smoked paprika and chilli flakes. Cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
4. Pour in the passata and salt. Simmer for 10–15 minutes until thickened — you want it thick enough to hold the eggs in place.
5. Make 8 wells in the sauce with the back of a spoon and crack an egg into each one.
6. Cover the pan and cook for 5–8 minutes, until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny.
7. Scatter with herbs and crumble over fermented ricotta or feta if using. Serve straight from the pan with bread for mopping.

Notes

Add blended kimchi. Stir 1–2 tablespoons of blended kimchi into the sauce with the passata. It adds the depth and tang that distinguishes a great shakshuka from a flat one — this is the version I make most often.

Freezer-friendly. Make a double or triple batch of the tomato base (steps 1–4) and freeze in meal-sized portions. To serve, defrost, bring back to a simmer in the pan, then add the eggs and continue from step 5. A weeknight dinner in 10 minutes.

Use it as a paptert filling. The same base — particularly the kimchi version — is what fills our Sweet Potato Paptert.

Cucina povera. This is a perfect pizza-night cleanup recipe — leftover passata, half a capsicum, the end of an onion, a few garlic cloves. Use whatever’s in the crisper.

Bulk it out. Stir through a tin of drained chickpeas or black beans with the passata. A handful of chopped silverbeet or spinach wilted into the sauce works too. For meat eaters, fry off some chorizo at the start.

Substitutions. No passata? Use a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes with 300ml water, or a kilo of overripe fresh tomatoes (skinned and chopped). No fresh capsicum? Use a roasted one from a jar. Coriander instead of parsley, or both.