Vegetarian Shakshuka
Shakshuka is a popular Middle Eastern and North Africa dish, seen as a staple in Israeli cuisine. Super quick to put together and downright delicious!
Song suggestions:
Vanille Fraise - L’Impératrice
Wolves - Azure Ryder
Here are a few ideas on how to make this dish vegan
To substitute the eggs, try using:
dollops of dairy-free yoghurt with a tiny bit of mustard in the centre
roasted sweet potato/aubergine slices
mix both to make an 'egg' - add dollop of dairy free yoghurt as the egg white and add some roasted sweet potato cubes in the middle as the yolk
dairy-free feta
cut out slices of tofu, fry until golden and add a dollop of sriracha mayo as an egg yolk
The marmite and cinnamon add incredible depth of flavour to any tomato based dish (like lentil bolognese/ragu etc). I wouldn’t skip it, if you can avoid doing so!
Ingredients:
1 onion
8 garlic cloves
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red pepper
1 tin chickpeas
1 tin chopped tomatoes
4 eggs
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp marmite
Pinch of salt
Pinch of chilli flakes (optional)
Garnish: spring onions/chopped parsley and feta cheese
Recipe:
Peel and dice the onion. Crush, peel and chop the garlic. Deseed and dice the pepper. Rinse the chickpeas clean.
In a pan on a medium heat, add the olive oil, onion and garlic and sauté until soft.
Add the red pepper and seasonings, and cook for a further few minutes until aromatic.
Add the chopped tomatoes, marmite and chickpeas. Simmer for 10/15 minutes until the pepper is soft. If you notice the mixture drying out, add a splash of hot water.
Using a spoon, make 4 small 'wells' in the tomato mixture. Gently crack the eggs into the wells, put a lid on the pan and turn the heat down. Let simmer for 5-7 minutes until the whites are only just cooked and the yolk will still be runny.
Sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese and chopped spring onions on top.
A Bite Out of Life
It was our housemate Maria who discovered shakshuka and basically changed the game for us back at university! On this day, we were a month into the first coronavirus pandemic and not that we were bored of what we used to eat at all but trying new foods is always exciting - it was a very welcomed change. We got to eat it outside under a semi-blue sky and had a really nice lunch catching up, listening to music and enjoying our first shakshuka. We served it over toasted rye bread and Maria wilted some spinach into the mix which was a brilliant addition to the dish. For a student, this is such an easy meal and one we made many a time after this!
