Shakshuka (Sephardic / Mizrahi)

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely sliced
• 1 large red bell pepper, deseeded, finely sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, finely sliced
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
• ½ tsp ras el hanout or baharat
• 1 tbsp harissa paste
• 800 g ripe tomatoes, briefly blanched, peeled, and roughly crushed; or 800 g canned whole tomatoes, hand-crushed
• 1 tsp fine salt, or to taste
• 8 large eggs, cracked individually into small bowls before service
• Optional — Libyan-Israeli tradition
• 100 g feta cheese, coarsely crumbled
• Optional — Tunisian-Jewish variant
• 200 g waxy potato, peeled, cut into 1 cm dice, par-boiled until just tender
• Optional
• 200 g merguez lamb sausage, sliced into rounds
• To serve
• 4 pieces fresh pita or flatbread
• 100 g labneh, on the side

Method

1. 1
   Set a wide, shallow pan over medium heat and warm the olive oil. Add the onion and red pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until completely softened and beginning to colour at the edges — the onion should be translucent and the pepper yielding with no raw crunch remaining.
2. 2
   Add the garlic, cumin, coriander, paprika, and ras el hanout or baharat. Stir for one minute over the heat. The spices should smell fully bloomed and fragrant against the oil — no raw, powdery note should remain.
3. 3
   Add the harissa paste and stir to coat. If using merguez, add the sliced sausage now and cook until lightly browned on both sides. If using the Tunisian variant, add the par-boiled potato at this stage.
4. 4
   Add the crushed tomatoes and salt. Raise the heat briefly to bring the sauce to a brisk simmer, then reduce to medium. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is deeply concentrated and a spoon dragged through it leaves a clean trail that holds for two seconds. A watery sauce at this point will produce rubbery eggs and cannot be corrected after they are added — this is where the dish lives or dies.
5. 5
   If using feta, scatter the crumbled cheese evenly across the surface of the reduced sauce and allow it to begin settling into the sauce for one minute before proceeding.
6. 6
   Reduce the heat to medium-low. Working from the individual small bowls, pour the eggs one at a time into evenly spaced wells across the sauce, taking care not to break the yolks. Each yolk should sit intact and domed within its white, clearly separate from its neighbours.
7. 7
   Cover the pan immediately. Cook on medium-low heat, without lifting the lid for the first three minutes. Remove the lid: the whites should be fully opaque and set at their edges while the yolks remain visibly trembling when the pan is gently tilted. Remove from heat. The residual heat of the pan will complete the final stage of cooking. Serve directly from the pan with pita and labneh alongside.