The Origin Story
Shakshuka is a breakfast dish that has become emblematic of Israeli cuisine, but its roots lie in North Africa — Tunisia, Libya, Morocco — where Jewish and Arab communities have been cooking eggs in spiced tomato sauce for centuries.
The dish made its way to Israel with waves of North African Jewish migration in the mid-20th century, where it was adopted, adapted, and became a national breakfast staple. Today, every café in Tel Aviv serves shakshuka, and every family argues about whether it should have cumin or caraway, capsicums or just tomatoes, feta or nothing but eggs.
I learnt this version from Yael Ben-Ari, a friend I met backpacking through Israel. She cooked it in a hostel kitchen in Tel Aviv at 2am after a night out — eggs cracked into bubbling tomato sauce, bread torn for dipping, everyone gathered around the pan. She told me: "Shakshuka is not fancy. Shakshuka is what you make when you're hungry and you have eggs and you have tomatoes and you want to feel at home."
A Note on Tradition
Shakshuka is a pan-Mediterranean dish with endless regional variations. In Tunisia, it's spicier and often includes merguez sausage. In Libya, it's simpler — just tomatoes, eggs, and olive oil. In Israel, it became a cultural touchstone, a dish that bridges communities. The name comes from Arabic, meaning "a mixture" — which is exactly what it is, and exactly what Israeli food culture is: a glorious mixture.
Ingredients
- 2 tbspOlive oil
- 1 largeBrown onion, diced
- 1Red capsicum, diced
- 3 clovesGarlic, minced
- 1 tspGround cuminYael swears by cumin; others use caraway — choose your side
- 1 tspSweet paprika
- ½ tspChilli flakes (optional)
- 800g tinCrushed tomatoesGood quality tinned tomatoes are better than bad fresh ones
- 1 tspSugar
- To tasteSalt and black pepper
- 6Eggs
- HandfulFresh coriander or parsley, chopped
- To serveFresh bread (pita, sourdough, or challah)
- OptionalFeta cheese, crumbled
Method
Cook the base. Heat the olive oil in a large, deep frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and capsicum and cook for 8–10 minutes until soft and sweet. Add the garlic, cumin, paprika, and chilli flakes (if using) and cook for another minute until fragrant.
Add the tomatoes. Pour in the crushed tomatoes, add the sugar, and season generously with salt and pepper. Stir well, bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat and cook for 10–12 minutes until the sauce has thickened and the flavours have melded. The sauce should be rich and thick enough to hold the eggs.
Make wells for the eggs. Using the back of a spoon, create six shallow wells in the tomato sauce. Crack an egg into each well. Season the eggs with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Cook the eggs. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for 6–8 minutes, depending on how you like your eggs. For runny yolks, cook for 6 minutes. For set yolks, cook for 8–10 minutes.
Finish and serve. Remove from the heat, scatter with fresh herbs and crumbled feta (if using). Serve immediately, straight from the pan, with plenty of bread for dipping.
Where This Came From
This recipe is Yael's, which she learnt from her mother, who brought it with her from Tunisia in the 1960s. Yael made it for me in a hostel kitchen in Tel Aviv at 2am, and it was one of those meals that felt less like food and more like friendship.
She told me that in her family, shakshuka is breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late-night comfort food. It's what you make when you're broke, when you're hungover, when you're homesick, when you're happy. It's eggs in tomato sauce, and it's also everything else.
