Shakshuka! With a Nod to India Recipe

Active time: 26 minutes

Total time: 30 minutes

Serves 4

Eggs cooked in tomato with aromatic spices make a dish famous in North Africa and the Middle East as well as — in different form — India. Our version is a bright, happy, Mediterranean-Indian mash-up. It brings toasty mustard seeds, garam masala spice, ghee, and curry leaves to the party for a vibrant dish that’s even more delicious served with Indian breads.

If you want to add bread, look for frozen parathas, which are unleavened layered flatbreads, in your local Indian supermarket or Trader Joe’s. The layered flatbreads can be placed directly on a hot unoiled griddle while still frozen. They puff and brown to a rich treat — crispy outside, soft within.

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Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
• 3 tablespoons ghee
• 1 tablespoon minced or grated peeled ginger
• 1 clove garlic, minced or grated
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• ½ medium onion, minced
• 1 tablespoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon Kashmiri mirch, hot paprika, or other ground hot chile pepper
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cans (14 ounces each) fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
• 8 to 12 curry leaves
• ½ cup hot water (optional)
• 4 large eggs
• ½ cup minced fresh cilantro
• 8 parathas, or 4 pitas

Directions

Courtesy: Workman Publishing

Heat a large skillet over medium heat for 1 minute. Add the mustard seeds and toast until they are aromatic and popping, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the ghee, ginger and garlic; cook until fragrant, stirring constantly, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the bell pepper and onion; cook, stirring frequently, until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add the garam masala, Kashmiri mirch and salt, and cook until very fragrant, stirring frequently, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and curry leaves and cook until the tomatoes start to break down, about 3 minutes more. If the mixture is thicker than a watery gravy, add 1⁄2 cup hot water. Carefully crack the eggs into the tomato sauce and cover the pan; cook until the yolks have a white film and are cooked, but the yolks are still wobbly, about 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and use a large spoon to scoop out egg and sauce into four shallow bowls. To make the dish prettier, break each egg yolk gently with a fork. Garnish with a bit of cilantro and serve with your chosen bread.

Tip: To get the egg white properly cooked, we cook this dish with the lid on, so still-runny yolks gain a slight whitish film when the eggs are done. You can pretty up each serving this way: Dole egg and tomato into serving bowls and then gently break a yolk with a fork to loosen some yellow.