Recipe: Shakshouka

After an extremely long hiatus, I am back! And back with one of my new loves - the single-pan Tunisian, Libya, Algerian, Moroccan, Egyptian (phew!) breakfast, shakshouka.

I saw a friend's picture on Instagram taken while making shakshouka and was instantly fascinated. I absolutely had to make this eggy delight. I looked up the recipe online and shared it with my recipe-hungry (that's a compliment) mom. And as co-incidences happen, we found ourselves making the same thing on the same day, at the same time!

This recipe is a variation of the one I found online and is not will not yield an 'authentic' shakshouka but this is the one I liked the best, after making the dish 3-4 times. Hope you enjoy this truly spectacular, and simple dish.

Pictures are from both, my mother's kitchen and mine! :)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 chillies
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, crushed then sliced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon chilli powder
• 2 tomatoes, squashed and squishy
• salt, to taste
• 4 eggs
• 3 sausages
• 1 tablespoon parsley or dhaniya patta
• Feta cheese (optional)
• Serve with bread, toast or pita bread for serving

Heat oil in a 12-inch frying pan over medium-high heat. Add chiles and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and paprika, and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft, about 2 more minutes.

 Place the tomatoes in a bowl and squish them with your fingers and hands till they are nice and pulpy. Add the tomatoes and their juice to the skillet along with 1/2 cup water, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes.

Prepare the sausages in a separate pan (either fried or boiled), cut in slices and add to the skillet with the tomatoes. Season sauce with salt.

Crack eggs over sauce so that eggs are evenly distributed across sauce’s surface.

Cover skillet and cook until yolks are just set, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle shakshuka with parsley and feta and serve with bread, for dipping.

Using a spoon, baste the whites of the eggs with tomato mixture, being careful not to disturb the yolk.

Don't forget, it's a single-pan preparation and it only tastes good if the family digs in as one!

Soupy love: A Recipe

On some days, all you need is a mug full of hot, thick tomato soup to make you feel loved, comfortable, cared for and superbly cozy. And the best bit? The soup keeps well as well - so you can enjoy the soupy goodness day after day!

For days like those, here is my favourite tomato soup recipe -

Ingredients

• 4 big ripe tomatoes
• 2 big onions, chopped
• 2 medium size carrots, chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, chopped
• 2 bay leaf
• Salt, as per your liking
• Pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Low fat fresh cream
• Water
• A pinch of sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

Preparation

• Blanche tomatoes in boiling water
• To blanche tomatoes, bring a pot full of water to a rolling boil and drop the whole tomatoes into it, cover
• After 20 minutes, remove the lid, pour out the water and run under cold water
• Peel the tomatoes, the peel should already be shrinking off the tomatoes by now  
• Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a pan and on medium heat, saute onions, carrots, celery till onions are brown and veggies are soft
• Add bay leaf
• Chop the tomatoes into chunks and to the pan with veggies and let cook till they shrink in the pan and the juice flows
• Let cool
• Once sufficiently cooled, remove bay leaf and blend in a mixer till it becomes a smooth paste
• Add the paste back to pan

• Add water and make it as thick or thin as you like your soup to be
• Bring to a boil
• Add butter and cream
• Add pinch of sugar

• Let boil and bubble for a minute and turn off gas
• Serve hot with croutons

Enjoy soupy love!! :)

Recipe: Great breakfast in under 6 minutes!

Weekday mornings are usually get ready, get out.

On such mornings, it's just so easy to miss the day's key meal - breakfast. Or, to just push down spoonfuls of cereal and scram.

One quick fix breakfast-on-the-go is grilled tomatoes on whole wheat bread. It's yum, it's filling and it's ready in less than 6 minutes!

All you need is -

• Cherry tomatoes
• Whole wheat/ brown/ multi-grain/ white... bread
• Olive oil
• Cheese (I used vintage cheddar but anything goes, including cheese slices)
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• Dried herbs - parsley, oregano or anything else you like 

Now, just cut the tomatoes and cheese into slices, put them on the slice of bread, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle herbs, salt and pepper. Pop it into the microwave and grill for 3-4 minutes.

Ta-da! Breakfast is ready in approximately the same time it takes for you to apply your make-up. :)

Breakfast guarantee: Puts a smile on your companion's face and makes you feel super efficient!

Breakfast!

This is my favourite breakfast. I really like this picture. I just had to post it!

Hard boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes with olive oil and parsley, multigrain bread.

Makes for a healthy, wholesome and filling breakfast!

What do you enjoy breaking your fast with the most? Please share some ideas! :)

Collaborative cooking

Over the weekend, a friend and I decided to make a fusion dinner at home while the husband was at work. My friend, a great cook, decided to tackle the baba ghanoush with sun dried tomatoes bread while I went with the tomato bruschetta, spaghetti aglio olio and stir fry vegetables. And all this was ready in under 90 minutes!

It is suffice to say that the husband was pleasantly surprised and the dinner a great success! :)

What do you 'rustle up' when time is short? What is your favourite go-to recipe? I would love to know!