Shakshuka Recipe with Fresh Tomatoes | Aline Made (2024)

FAQs

Should you cook tomatoes before blending? ›

If you're working with an immersion blender, feel free to stick it right into the pot to purée. For a food processor or stand blender, let the cooked tomatoes cool for about 10 minutes before blending. Depending on the size of your blender, you may have to work in batches.

After breaking the eggs into the sauce, gently spoon some of the sauce over just the whites. This helps the whites cook faster so they set before the yolks overcook. Cover and rotate. Covering the skillet allows the eggs to steam-cook, which moves things along.

In this Green shakshuka recipe, in place of tomatoes, I use power greens--spinach, kale, and brussels sprouts. The greens cook down gently with a bit of garlic, onion and a few warm spices, making the perfect bed to nestle the eggs in.

Everything just needs to be roughly chopped before it heads into the blender — no need to even peel or seed the tomatoes, as the blender will do the work and break everything down into a smooth sauce.

Yes, you can leave skin on tomatoes when making sauce! Just use a food processor to transform whole tomatoes into sauce. This saves lots of time from having to boil the tomatoes first to loosen the skin enough to peel. We also figure keeping the skins on retains all the vitamins and minerals that the skin contains.

Working in batches, drop several tomatoes into the boiling water. Cook until you see the skin starting to wrinkle and split, 45 to 60 seconds.

Tomato's Acidity Can Halt The Cooking Process

To avoid a bowl full of undercooked bites (especially when cooking with fresh, not canned beans), wait to toss in those 'maters until the recipe only needs around 20 more minutes of cooking time.

Roasting tomatoes is a sure way to coax out all the flavor. Oven roasted tomatoes are so much more concentrated and intense in flavor, making them useful in so many ways (like with vegan tomato basil soup and more–lots of ideas below).

Crack in the eggs and simmer

Simmer until the egg whites are just set and the yolks are still slightly runny. Remove from the heat and let stand about 2 minutes before serving.

Options for the latter include adding flour, cornflour mixed with cold water, a beaten egg, cream cheese, or making a beurre manié from equal parts softened butter and flour. Stir well and give your thickener of choice a few minutes to work its magic.

How to make shakshuka not watery? ›

Cover the dish so that some of the liquid can evaporate by about 1/3. (~15-20 minutes). We don't want our Shakshuka to be too watery so this step is important.

Even though many people today associate shakshuka with Israel, it actually originated in North Africa and the Ottoman Empire: the only reason shakshuka is eaten in Israel is because North African Jewish immigrants brought it there.

Both Shakshuka and Menemen serve as rich, cultural embodiments of their respective cuisines. Shakshuka, with its layered flavors, mirrors the diversity of North African and Israeli culinary heritage. Menemen, by contrast, champions simplicity and freshness, epitomizing Turkish cuisine's essence.

As I mentioned before, crusty bread, naan, or pita is the ideal side to serve with shakshuka. How else will you soak up all the delicious extra sauce?

Tomatoes have long been known to be a good source of lycopene, the phytochemical which makes them red but which also has significant antioxidant properties. Now new research has shown that this antioxidant power can be boosted even more through the simple act of cooking the tomatoes.

Prepare your ingredients, making sure you cook vegetables like sweet potato and cauliflower, and then chill them so they won't be hot in the blender.

In her very direct, non-fussy way, Hazan instructs to halve your tomatoes and cook them in a covered pot for ten minutes before pureeing them in a food mill. After that they are ready to become whatever tomato sauce you prefer. You can even freeze what you have and then defrost and cook the sauce when you are ready.