Eggs Poached in Tomato Sauce (Shashuka)

When I saw this recipe on Shannon's blog I just could not wait to try it. Never mind that I didn't have all the ingredients required. Eggs, I have for sure, that's my main breakfast food and an important ingredient for baking. I vaguely remembered the three tomatoes including some cherry tomatoes sitting in the fridge.

Upon further investigation, gasp! The three tomatoes had already "expired" but the cherry tomatoes were fine. As I was very determined to cook Shashuka, I decided to go ahead albeit modifying the recipe a little bit.

My ingredients. Not enough tomatoes.

I also did not have green capsicum and I left that out. Instead, I substituted it with cili padi (bird's eye chillies). And oops, instead of slicing the big onions, I diced it. I should have checked the recipe again. I also left out the oregano because I did not have any and substituted tomato paste with some tomato ketchup.

I love the colour!

I must say that this dish is very flavorful and aromatic. And it was absolutely delicious. It made for a very hearty meal. I had it for breakfast and I was very pleased. The only thing is that my Shashuka didn't look as beautiful as Shannon's. There wasn't enough tomatoes and the eggs kind of took up  a lot of space in the pan and drowned the tomatoes :(

The tomatoes didn't stand out and was flooded with eggs.

And I also made the mistake of cooking the eggs for too long. The yolks are supposed to be soft cooked.

The yolks were overcooked. Sigh.....

For anyone who loves eggs, make this dish. It's good for breakfast or lunch. Or even dinner. It is good either on it's own or with toast.

Eggs Poached in Tomato Sauce (Shashuka)
Recipe Source : Just as Delish

Ingredients :
- Olive Oil
- 1 big onion, sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 600g (about 4 large) ripe tomatoes, roughly diced 
- 1 small green capsicum, roughly diced
- 100ml tomato paste
- 4 large eggs 
- 1 teaspoon Paprika powder
- 1 teaspoon Cumin powder
- a pinch of Oregano/Thyme
- Sea salt and freshly cracked Black Pepper to taste
- Parsley for garnish

Method :
- In a medium frying pan, add olive oil and fry onions until translucent.
- Throw in garlic.
- Add tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add in the rest of the ingredients except parsley and eggs. Cook for 15 minutes on low flame. If it is dry and sticks to the pan, add some water and mix well. Shahshuka is supposed to be dry, not watery.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Minutes before serving, make 4 gaps in the vegetable mixture and crack in the eggs, one at a time.
- Cover the pan and cook on low flame for 5 minutes. The egg yolks shoudl not be hard but soft cooked, so be careful not to overcook the eggs.
- Garnish with parsley and serve immediately with bread or just on it's own.