Shakshouka Explained

Shakshouka
Image Alt:Shakshouka with five cooked eggs on top of tomato sauce in cast iron skillet
Alternate Name:Shakshuka, chakchouka
Type:Main dish
Main Ingredient:Tomatoes, harissa, eggs, olive oil
Place Of Origin:Ottoman North Africa

Shakshouka (Arabic: شكشوكة : šakšūkah, also spelled shakshuka or chakchouka) is a Maghrebi[1] dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, olive oil, peppers, onion, and garlic, commonly spiced with cumin, paprika and cayenne pepper. Shakshouka is a popular dish throughout North Africa and the Middle East.[2]

Etymology

The word shakshouka (Arabic: شكشوكة) is a Maghrebi Arabic[3] term for "a mixture".[4] [5] [6] [7] According to Mary Fitzgerald, the word is allegedly believed to come from the Berber languages,[8] although most sources agree on the term's Arabic origin. In Morocco, it is referred to as ("egg and tomato").[9] The term shakshouka may have derived from "shak", another Arabic word meaning "to combine things together", as the dish combines tomatoes, chilies and eggs.

History

Gil Marks, while noting some similarities with the Ottoman dish menemen, suggests that shakshouka evolved from şakşuka which spread to the Maghreb through the influence of the Ottoman Empire. Anthony Buccini noted similarities between a wider range of vegetable stews. He and Noam Sienna conclude that both shakshouka and menemen, among other dishes like piperade and ratatouille, are members of a wider family of vegetable stews of common ancestry appearing throughout the western Mediterranean.[10] [11]

The migration of Maghrebi Jews in the 1950s brought the dish to Israel, where it was subsequently widely adopted despite not being previously present in Palestinian or Levantine cuisine. Shakshouka began appearing in Israeli restaurants in the 1990s.

Variations

Many variations of the basic sauce are possible, varying in spice and sweetness. Some cooks add preserved lemon, salty sheep milk cheeses, olives, harissa or a spicy sausage such as chorizo or merguez.[12] Shakshouka is made with eggs, which are commonly poached but can also be scrambled, like in the Turkish menemen.[13] [14]

In Algeria, shakshouka is commonly eaten as a side dish, and there are countless variations of it, each with their own unique blend of ingredients. One such variation is hmiss, which is often served alongside traditional kesra bread. Hmiss typically includes grilled peppers, tomatoes, and garlic. In Tunisia, a similar dish called slata meshouia is enjoyed, but it differs from hmiss with the addition of onions, cumin and tuna.

Some variations of shakshouka can be made with lamb mince, toasted whole spices, yogurt and fresh herbs.[15] Spices can include ground coriander, caraway, paprika, cumin and cayenne pepper.[16] [17] Tunisian cooks may add potatoes, broad beans, artichoke hearts or courgettes to the dish.[18] The North African dish matbukha can be used as a base for shakshouka.[19]

Because eggs are the main ingredient, it often appears on breakfast menus in English-speaking countries, but in the Arab world as well as Israel, it is also a popular evening meal,[20] and like hummus and falafel, is a Levantine regional favorite.[21] On the side, pickled vegetables and North African sausage called merguez might be served, or simply bread, with mint tea.[22]

In Jewish culture, a large batch of tomato stew is made for the Sabbath dinner and the leftovers used the following morning to make a breakfast shakshouka with eggs.[14] In Andalusian cuisine, the dish is known as ; this version includes chorizo and serrano ham.[23] In Italian cuisine, there is a version of this dish called (eggs in purgatory) that adds garlic, basil or parsley.[24]

Vegan variants replace the eggs with tofu.[25]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: Gil Marks. Encyclopedia of Jewish Food . 2010. HMH . 978-0-544-18631-6. 1673.
  2. News: Salah . Maha . 14 February 2020 . Shakshuka . .
  3. Book: Ellis, Robin . Mediterranean Cooking for Diabetics: Delicious Dishes to Control or Avoid Diabetes . 2016-03-03 . Little, Brown Book Group . 9781472136381 . en . 2017-11-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171116081410/https://books.google.ch/books?id=-fIqCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT42&dq= . 2017-11-16 . live .
  4. Book: Ly, Linda . The CSA Cookbook: No-Waste Recipes for Cooking Your Way Through a Community Supported Agriculture Box, Farmers' Market, Or Backyard Bounty . 2015-03-20 . Voyageur Press . 9780760347294 . en . 2017-11-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171116131555/https://books.google.ch/books?id=tyrvBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA41&dq= . 2017-11-16 . live .
  5. Book: Planet, Lonely . The World's Best Superfoods . 2017-03-01 . Lonely Planet . 9781787010369 . en . 2017-11-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171116081803/https://books.google.ch/books?id=L3BCDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT187&dq= . 2017-11-16 . live .
  6. Book: Bilderback, Leslie . Mug Meals: More Than 100 No-Fuss Ways to Make a Delicious Microwave Meal in Minutes . 2015-09-01 . St. Martin's Press . 9781466875210 . en . 2017-11-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171116131301/https://books.google.ch/books?id=NWmWBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA43&dq= . 2017-11-16 . live .
  7. News: Jakob . Ben . 2017-06-06 . How Shakshuka, Israel's Famous Breakfast Dish, Took the World By Storm . Culture Trip . live . 2017-11-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171116084248/https://theculturetrip.com/middle-east/israel/articles/how-shakshuka-israels-famous-breakfast-dish-took-the-world-by-storm/ . 2017-11-16.
  8. Web site: Shakshuka: All mixed up over a brilliant breakfast . The Irish Times . Apr 24, 2021 . Mary . Fitzgerald . 2021-09-09.
  9. Web site: 2012-10-16. وداعا "البيض ومطيشة". 2022-01-26. Hespress - هسبريس جريدة إلكترونية مغربية. ar.
  10. Book: Sienna, Noam . Making Levantine Cuisine: Modern Foodways of the Eastern Mediterranean . 2021 . University of Texas Press . 978-1-4773-2457-8 . Gaul . Anny . 170–183 . Shakshūka for All Seasons: Tunisian Jewish Foodways at the Turn of the Twentieth Century . 10.7560/324578 . 10.7560/324578 . Pitts . Graham Auman . Valosik . Vicki . Vicki Valosik.
  11. Book: Buccini, Anthony F. . Authenticity in the Kitchen: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2005 . Prospect Books . 2006 . Hosking . Richard . 132–145 . Western Mediterranean Vegetable Stews and the Integration of Culinary Exotica.
  12. News: Shakshuka recipe . February 18, 2012 . The Guardian .
  13. Joel Lurie Grishaver (2008). Artzeinu: An Israel Encounter.
  14. Gil Marks, Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010,, s.v., p. 547
  15. News: 0261-3077. Gordon. Peter. Peter Gordon's lamb shakshouka recipe. The Guardian. 2018-07-21. 2018-06-03.
  16. Web site: Shakshouka Recipe – Tunisian Recipes. PBS Food. 2018-07-21. 2015-03-12.
  17. Web site: Clark. Melissa. Shakshuka With Feta Recipe. NYT Cooking. 2018-07-21.
  18. Book: Roden, Claudia . The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York . Knopf . 1996 . 9780394532585 . 512 .
  19. Book: Gur . Janna . Jewish Soul Food: From Minsk to Marrakesh . 2014.
  20. News: Three of a kind ... shakshouka . Stephanie . Clifford-Smith . 2011-06-07 . . 2017-08-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170808074827/http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/restaurants-and-bars/three-of-a-kind--shakshouka-20110603-1flpc . 2017-08-08 . live .
  21. News: Josephs . Bernard . 2009-10-08 . Shakshuka: Israel's hottest breakfast dish . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170808035018/https://www.thejc.com/lifestyle/food/shakshuka-israel-s-hottest-breakfast-dish-1.11723 . 2017-08-08 . 2017-08-07 . The Jewish Chronicle.
  22. Book: Ashkenazi, Michael . Food Cultures of Israel: Recipes, Customs, and Issues . 2020 . 89.
  23. Book: Tish . Ben . Moorish: Vibrant Recipes from the Mediterranean . 2019 . Bloomsbury . 46 . 9781472958082 .
  24. Web site: Uova in purgatorio. 2023-06-24. La Cucina italiana. 20 August 2015. it.
  25. Web site: Tofu 'Shakshuka' . 2024-06-29 . Washington Post . en.

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