There’s a dish born from a Berber word meaning “mixture,” that crossed North Africa, arrived in Israel with Jewish immigrants from Libya and Tunisia in the 1950s, and decades later became one of the icons of Mediterranean breakfast: shakshuka.
Eggs poached slowly in a spiced tomato sauce, often enriched with peppers, onion, cumin and paprika. A humble dish, born out of economic necessity, that today appears on menus around the world, helped along by chefs like Yotam Ottolenghi.
Behind its simplicity there’s also some interesting science. A study published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Fielding et al., 2005, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 131-136) found that cooking tomatoes with olive oil increases plasma lycopene absorption by 82% compared to cooking without oil: the tomato-and-olive-oil combination, typical of Mediterranean cuisine, isn’t just about flavor, it makes the dish nutritionally more effective. And eggs, the centerpiece of shakshuka, remain one of the top-recommended protein sources under the 2025-2030 dietary guidelines, as well as one of the main food sources of choline, a key nutrient for liver and cognitive health at every age (Nutrients, 2025, 17(7):1129).
The recipe, serves 4
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 800 g (28 oz) canned peeled tomatoes (or 6 ripe fresh tomatoes, chopped)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon sweet (or smoked) paprika
- a pinch of chili flakes (optional)
- 4-6 eggs
- salt, pepper, fresh chopped parsley or cilantro
- crumbled feta (optional)
Method: heat the oil in a wide pan and soften the onion and pepper for 6-7 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin and paprika and toast for 1 minute. Pour in the tomatoes, season with salt, and simmer for 15-18 minutes until the sauce thickens. Use a spoon to make wells in the sauce and crack an egg into each one. Cover and cook over low heat for 5-8 minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks stay runny. Garnish with fresh herbs and serve with warm bread.
You don’t need to be a chef to bring to the table a dish that has crossed continents and generations. Just one pan, twenty minutes, and the wish to share something warm with the people you love.
Sources
- Fielding JM, Rowley KG, Cooper P, O’Dea K. “Increases in plasma lycopene concentration after consumption of tomatoes cooked with olive oil.” Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2005;14(2):131-136.
- “Modeling the Substitution of One Egg Increased the Nutrient Quality of Choline and Vitamin D in Exemplary Menus.” Nutrients, 2025;17(7):1129. DOI: 10.3390/nu17071129.
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