Shakshuka

This was Shakshuka.

J picked a recipe for our lunch/dinner from "Jerusalem" cookbook. It was this - "Tunisian in origin but has become hugely popular in Jerusalem and all over Israel as substantial breakfast or lunch fare." In fact I have been interested in Shakshuka and tried once a few years ago, but I wasn't sure whether J liked it. Now I know he does. At least with this recipe. The recipe was simple, but there was an ingredient I wasn't familiar with - Pilpelchuma, an intense chile-and-garlic paste. I could replace it with Harissa according to the recipe. I didn't have either. Recipes for both spicy paste were in the book. However, instead of making one of them from scratch, I bought a jar of Mina brand's Harissa at Wegmans, which was highly recommended by Cook's Illustrated recently. My choice was convenience and wise, I think.

Cooking eggs properly - in this case, cooked white with runny yolks - is sometimes tricky. While I tried to cook eggs gently by covering with a lid, the yolks tended to cook quicker than whites.

Some parts of yolks were still runny; other parts were very soft but not runny. Still overall Shakshuka was very tasty! The recipe says, "Serve with good white bread and nothing else." It was right. I totally enjoyed biting spicy peppery tomato stew, soft eggs, and white bread in turn.

Actually we had a side dish - pureed beets with yogurt and za'atar. The recipe came from the same cookbook. I made it once for Easter dinner's appetizers a few years ago. We love beets. This's a lovely beet dish I would like to make again and again. Shakshuka, too! It won't take long before we make Shakshuka again.