Tunisian Poached Eggs in Spicy Tomato Sauce: Chakchouka

Also spelled shakshuka, this is a Tunisian dish, but common in other parts of North Africa and the Middle East, with many variations in recipes. It is eggs poached in a spicy, chunky tomato sauce.
Serve with pita bread or toast.

If you don't have fresh tomatoes, you can use canned tomatoes with their juice.

 

Ingredients (4 servings):

 

2 cans (14 to 15 ounces each) tomato sauce

1/3 cup chopped fresh tomatoes (or halved grape tomatoes)

1 or 2 hot chilies (if you don't like much heat, use just 1/3 teasoon of ground cayenne pepper)
4 eggs

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

1/2 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 medium green bell pepper or anaheim pepper, thinly sliced 

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 heaping tablespoon sweet (smoked) Spanish paprika

1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons chopped cilantro (also called coriander)

(optional) 1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

 

In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat, then add the onion slices and saute for 2 to 3 minutes, then add the garlic and saute for about a minute, stirring or shaking the skillet around. Add the red and green pepper slices and the hot chilies; saute a further 2 minutes. Add the fresh tomatoes and saute a couple of minutes, then add the tomato juice, cumin, sweet smoked paprika and just 1/2 teaspoon salt (at this time; you can add more later if you prefer) and continue cooking and stirring occasionally for a few minutes, then add 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (also known as coriander). Continue cooking until the sauce begins to thicken (don't let it get too thick). Use a spoon to make some depressions in the sauce and crack an egg into each depression. Turn the heat to low and let the eggs poach in the sauce. Optionally, you can sprinkle some crumbled feta cheese over the finished dish. 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Noise (Nausea)-For what has become a common word, the origin of this word is shaky, but I am convinced that this history has the strong possibility of being accurate; in which case, "noise" is related to "nautical," a word of Greek derivation borrowed by Latin and then borrowed by English via French, and to "navy," a word of Latin derivation borrowed by English via French. "Noise" goes back to Indo European "nau(s)," which meant "ship, boat." This gave transliterated Greek "naus," also meaning "ship, boat." This then produced transliterated "nausia/nautia" (by dialect), which meant "seasickness," and this was borrowed by Latin as "nausea," with the "seasickness" meaning, but seemingly also with the more general meaning, "uneasy feeling in the stomach, stomach discomfort;" thus also, "disagreeable situation;" thus, "quarrel, commotion, uproar." This passed into Latin-based Old French as "noise" meaning "fight, brawl, commotion, loud disagreement," but later expanded to "loud sound, generally unpleasant sound," not necessarily from a fight or disagreement; thus, "noise" (Old Occitan, also known as "Old Provençal," had "nauza" meaning "loud sound, quarrel"). English borrowed the word from French circa 1200, as "noice, noyse, noise." The meaning then added "nasty rumor, scandal" in the 1300s, and this was accompanied by a verb form "noisen," meaning "to gossip, to spread rumors," and the more general, "to make noise," but the usage declined along with the general meaning of "to gossip." By the way, "nausea" was borrowed by English directly from Latin in the early 1400s.