Billie's Kitchen

A fiery, flavour-packed journey into one of Tunisia’s most beloved dishes.

Shakshuka is the kind of dish that proves you don’t need complicated ingredients or elaborate techniques to make something incredible. Shakshuka is part of a wider North African food culture, with versions found across Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya. It was also one of the easiest dishes I’ve made so far on my journey around the world, coming together in a single pan with some familiar ingredients.

What has shaped Tunisian Cuisine?

Tunisian cuisine has developed through centuries of cultural exchange. At its foundation are the food traditions of the indigenous Amazigh people of North Africa, later shaped by Arab, Andalusian, Ottoman, Jewish, Italian, French, and wider Mediterranean influences. Tunisia’s position on the Mediterranean also made it an important crossroads between North Africa and Europe, with ingredients, techniques, and people moving through the region for centuries.

The result is a cuisine built around relatively simple but intensely flavoured ingredients: olive oil, tomatoes, peppers, grains, seafood, dates, garlic and aromatic spices. Chilli is particularly important to Tunisian cooking, with harissa becoming one of the country’s defining ingredients.

What is Shakshuka?

Shakshuka is a popular North African dish of eggs gently cooked in a rich sauce of tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, and spices. The name itself reflects the dish’s character: shakshuka is generally understood in Maghrebi Arabic in connection with the idea of a mixture or something being mixed together.

Shakshuka is found across the Maghreb region of North Africa, particularly in Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, and Morocco. Tunisian versions often feature chilli and harissa, giving the dish its characteristic heat.

As such, shakshuka did not develop in isolation, but within a North African food culture where vegetables were cooked slowly in olive oil, heavily seasoned, and served with bread. Tomatoes and peppers themselves are relatively recent additions to North African cooking: both originated in the Americas and only became established in the region after the sixteenth-century Columbian Exchange.

My experience with Shakshuka

Shakshuka is one of those dishes I’d actually made before starting this project – I’ve cooked it with friends a few times and it’s always been one of those dishes we tend to come back to. I have always associated shakshuka with social eating — simple enough to cook together, but best eaten straight from the pan.

Making it for this project felt a little different. Although I already knew and liked this dish, this time I wanted to pay more attention to where it came from and the traditions behind it. It was a nice reminder that even dishes I think I know can have more to uncover.

Tunisian Shakshuka

Recipe by Billie Delpino

5.0 from 2 votes

Course: Breakfast, DinnerCuisine: TunisianDifficulty: ★★☆☆☆

Servings

2

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Eggs gently cooked in a rich, spicy tomato and pepper sauce, flavoured with garlic, aromatic spices and fiery Tunisian harissa.

Ingredients

• 1 white onion (diced)

• 4 garlic cloves (minced)

• 1 tsp – 2 tbsp harissa paste (see note 1)

• 2 tbsp tomato puree

• 1/2 tsp cumin

• 1/2 tsp black pepper

• 1/2 tsp paprika

• 1/4 tsp ground coriander

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 100 g cherry tomatoes (quartered)

• 1/2 medium courgette (diced)

• 1/2 red pepper (diced)

• 100 ml vegetable stock

• 4 eggs

• 40 g feta

• 1 small bunch coriander (chopped)

• 1 small bunch parsley (chopped) (see note 2)

Directions

• Heat up a little olive oil in a deep frying pan and fry the onions until golden and caramelised. Add in the garlic and fry until aromatic (~30 seconds).
• Add the tomato puree, harissa paste, and dry spices, and stir until the onion and garlic are coated.
• Add the stock, tomatoes, courgette, and red pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5-10 minutes (until the vegetables start to soften).
• Use a wooden spooon to make a small well in the sauce, and crack an egg into the well. Use a spoon to cover up some of the egg whites, but leave the yolk exposed. Repeat for the other eggs.
• Cover the pan and let the eggs cook for 5-6 minutes, or until the egg whites look just set, leaving the yolk runny.
• Sprinkle over the feta, coriander and parsley. Serve while warm, with crusty bread!

Notes

• Note 1: The amount of harissa used can be adjusted to suit your tastes and spice tolerances. Equally, if you have no harissa, you can use a red chilli and/or chilli flakes instead.
• Note 2: Various herbs can be used on a shakshuka – I usually use coriander and parsley, but equally I sometimes use whatever I have to hand!