So today in Asya’s Ottoman Kitchen, I am going to show you something that is absolutely essential and very simple and also inexpensive. There is a good chance you may have made something like it before. I grew up with a variation of this that we call menemen and Aboud called jezmez. Most often the dish is associated with Tunisia or Palestine and called shakshuka. There are many regional and personal variations. Today we made something quite simple.
(This is actually a very good meal to make in hostels as all ingredients are typically easy to find at unfamiliar markets and hostels will have a pan and oil.)
tomatoes (we used roma tomatoes but any kind are ok)
garlic (although i don’t personally like packaged or *made easy* foods, i make exception for already minced garlic in a glass jar because i think it is very good and makes thing easier)
salt and pepper (if you can find the jars which let you break the peppers/salts, they taste more like what we have in the “mediterranean”)
eggs
optional: green peppers (and/or yellow, red, etc), sliced onion (and which these additions will make it more ‘turkish’ ;)
How to make?
Today we made shakshuka for 3 people at breakfast using three eggs. Typically we eat this with pita bread or mana'aesh, cheese, fruits, salmon, and avocado. (The last additions are not necessarily traditional, but healthy and taste good with breakfast.) And again, what is traditional varies a lot. So make your own judgement with the amounts. It’s very easy to customise.
to remove the outside from the tomatoes:
I used 5 roma tomatoes. I put these into a pot of boiling water for about 5 minutes or until it looked as if the outside of the tomato could easily peel. I poured the hot water out of the pot and added very cold water. The tomatoes can sit here until they are okay for you to touch.
Get out your cutting board and put the tomatoes on it. Peel the outside tough layer from the tomatoes and cut any stem that you don’t want. Then cut the tomatoes into small squares.
In a cooking pan on the stove (in Turkey we have specific pans made for this dish!) and add a soup spoon (at least) of olive oil. Make sure that when it becomes warm, the oil covers the pan. Add the tomatoes. (It should be medium to high heat.) Add a spoon of garlic (as seen in the photo but how much you add is up to your taste). Add salt and pepper.
(If you are making this with onions and peppers, add those right after the olive oil and allow them to cook a little before you add the tomatoes and garlic.)
This should simmer until it thickens and becomes somewhat mushy. Depending on how much you have, it can take 15 minutes and I usually use the time to make the rest of breakfast.
After 10-15 minutes, break your eggs into the mixture and cover with a lid. Add a bit more salt and pepper to each egg. Allow this to cook until the eggs are how you desire.
I hope you’ll enjoy making this (let me know if you do!) and if you’re interested I will make a post about making breakfast in general.
