- Hey, I'm John Kanell.
And today on Preppy Kitchen.
We're making Shakshuka.
So let's get started.
First off, we have a little bit of chopping to do
so grab one big onion or one and a half small ones
and just get that skin off and give it a good dice.
Shakshuka is a delicious, cozy dish
that you can have for breakfast,
you can have it for lunch or dinner.
This comes from North Africa and the name Shakshuka,
which I love saying,
roughly translates to like mixed it up or mixed.
It's because you have all these delicious ingredients
is mixed together in a pan.
And it is like the easiest hearty meal you can make anytime.
Shakshuka has thousands of variations all over the world.
Like, I think almost everybody loves this dish.
And, they've made it their own with different spices
different peppers, different additions.
And, you can make this at home
with so many different ingredients.
You don't have to use what I'm showing you here.
You could add your favorite things.
And, if there's something that you think
that really needs to be in Shakshuka,
let me know in the comments.
For example, I love a little bit more spice in this dish
but because I have the kids and Brian at home
we're sticking with a bell pepper today.
You can use like any peppers that you love
and make it as spicy as you want.
I'm getting four cloves of garlic,
a smash, then we're gonna mince them up.
This releases that papery skin, and it also
gives all those oils a chance to get out. Extra flavor.
When we went over the ingredients
I didn't show you any bread, but like,
this is the dish that you want to have,
like some nice crusty, like bread or pita with.
Just like, soak up all that tomatoey goodness.
I'm almost done with my prep.
I want to talk about the pan for just a second.
Get a large one out.
Could be stainless.
Oh, it could be cast iron.
Either one will work.
If you're using cast iron,
just make sure it's well seasoned.
And, most of you are gonna make this
and enjoy it right away.
You don't wanna let the acidic tomatoes
sit in cast iron for too long.
It'll like, start messing with your season
and also leak some stuff out.
With that being said for the pans,
it's time to get our oil nice and hot.
Pan over medium heat.
About three tablespoons of olive oil or so.
Little extra olive oil never hurt anybody.
All right. While that's getting nice and hot
I wanna see that oil shimmering in the light.
That's how you know it's ready.
We're gonna chop up our bell pepper.
And like I said earlier, if you like things spicy,
go ahead and like, you can add into your jalapeno,
like whatever you want.
My four-year-old boys are not that into the spice.
So, they're good sports and they'll give it a try
but they'll think it's too hot for me, it's too spicy.
I was like, okay. Thank you for trying.
Get those ribs out.
We do not want the seeds.
It's always a good idea to cut skin-side up.
If you do it the opposite way,
I swear, unless your knife is very sharp
or freshly sharpened, it's gonna stick together. So.
Skin side up.
My oil is dancing in the pan.
It's time to add
our onions in.
You want your onions
to be nice and translucent.
So just keep mixing them up occasionally.
Not burnt, not charred,
just mellow and delicious.
I'm also gonna add
the bell pepper in right now.
This will intensify the flavor
as it cooks and really soften it up.
I like the textures in this to be really soft
and we have it with that crisp bread.
Oh, it's so good.
This can cook for about 10 to 12 minutes
or until everything is nice and soft.
The onions are translucent.
Maybe just starting to take on some color.
You can stir this occasionally.
It's not a constant hovering over situation.
So go ahead, have a cup of coffee
and just stir once in a while.
While this is cooking,
I'm just gonna open up my can of tomatoes.
Today, I'm using whole peeled tomatoes
but you could definitely use crushed tomatoes,
the fire roasted, really like, almost anything works.
One thing I will do with the whole tomatoes
is pour off just a little bit of the liquid.
I don't need that much.
Your Shakshuka has to have a certain consistency
that's a bit thicker.
It shouldn't be like very watery because like,
what are you gonna do with that?
Like, watery tomato juice?
You want full flavors.
A lot of the liquids in to get reduced off.
If you wanna make your own version of this,
go ahead and raid the fridge,
see what veggies you have available.
Like, just give them a smaller chop
and put them in with the bell pepper
so they're nice and tender.
I swear almost anything will work.
And it's really up to you.
Like, what do you wanna add to this.
Make it your own dish.
This is just like a template for you to follow
but you can go in any number variations.
Right now, you can see my onions
are starting to become translucent.
They're taking on a little bit of color
and we're almost there.
I do want them to be just a bit more so.
So take a look here and see once it's at this stage
you're getting close.
Now, it's time for spices.
One teaspoon of Paprika.
A teaspoon Chili powder.
Two teaspoons of Ground Cumin.
Let's mix this up right now.
It smells so good.
I'm also gonna add the garlic in.
Now, it's time for the garlic and some serious stirring,
so it doesn't burn.
It's gonna be over heat for about two minutes
with just the garlic and the spices in there.
And just like I said about the vegetables,
this is the same deal for the spices.
You can add any of the spices that you love in here.
It'll just bring more flavor.
So some other spices you could enjoy here,
like Ras El Hanout, like the list goes on.
Let me know in the comments, what you would add.
I'm adding my tomatoes now
and you see, their whole tomatoes.
So we're just gonna use our wooden spoon to break it up.
But they're gonna also break down with the heat.
Now, I can add some more of my tomato juice in here.
I just wanted to have control.
Sometimes you open up a can of tomatoes
and it's a lot of liquid in there.
So it's better just to add it in
as you want for your consistency.
Tomatoes are broken up.
Hope they get back together.
And this isn't gonna come to a boil.
Right now, just the edge is bubbling,
but the center is not close.
So leave it over medium heat.
Once it comes to a boil, then we're gonna reduce to a simmer
until we get like a thicker or just delicious consistency.
Once we get to the right consistency,
you'll see why we actually need that consistency
in order to cook the eggs properly.
This can't just smell good.
It has to taste good.
So I'm gonna add in
half a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper.
I'm using Kosher salt
which has like larger grains than fine table salt.
So, if you see in my palm,
there are like big pieces of salt over here.
If you're using table salt, I would add in a quarter
and then up it to taste.
Freshly cracked black pepper.
I'm reducing it to a simmer
and this can just bubble away
for like 15 to 20 minutes or until it's noticeably thicker.
The cook time really helps the flavors
melt and make delicious things happen.
My mixture's really reduced.
It smells amazing.
And right now, I actually want to give it
a quick taste just to see if the salt and pepper is right.
Oh my gosh. It's really good.
Okay. Good handful of your Cilantro, Parsley, whatever.
And I'm saving a little bit for the top.
Now, it's time for the eggs.
This dish is so delicious because it has like our veggies
but it has protein from the eggs.
That's really one of the reasons you can enjoy it
any time of the day and it's just like delicious.
I have my wooden spoon.
I have a little bowl, you could use ceramic in too.
I'm gonna crack an egg into the bowl.
Now,
create a well,
it's like a little depression in the sauce,
with the back of your spoon,
and
slide your egg in there.
You don't want your egg
to go all over the place.
It should be pretty contained.
And as you go along, you can kind of just make
a little wall to hold it in and cover it a bit.
It'll help it cook.
Repeat that process for the remaining eggs.
If you wanted to add like less eggs, that's fine too.
If you wanna add more,
you might be able to fit in one more egg.
My eggs are baking already
but here's the deal, you want a soft, runny yolk.
My favorite thing.
And a firm egg white or almost firm.
So go ahead and cover it up.
This will take about 10 to 12 minutes
but everyone's burners are a bit different.
So go ahead and give it a check after 10 minutes
and then we'll baby it from there.
So this is a very important note.
I'm actually on propane here at the house
and it is hot.
If you're using electric, oh my gosh,
you're gonna take a little bit longer.
Gas, less time.
Propane,
it's done.
So, these eggs are actually perfect
after just like four minutes or so.
It's really fast.
You can see here, the whites are set.
And the yolks, I'm not gonna burst them yet
but the yolks are still nice and runny.
So, much less time. It's all ready to go.
We're gonna take this off heat.
So I'm finishing this off
with a sprinkle of Cilantro.
You could use Parsley.
And a little bit of Feta,
just crumbled over gives you some creaminess
and extra flavor.
Scoop it up, plate it and get that crusty bread ready.
Oh my gosh. Let's take a bite.
Whether you're having this for breakfast, lunch or dinner,
this might just be the perfect meal.
I hope you get a chance to make this recipe.
And if you like this video, check out my breakfast playlist.