Turkish Şakşuka (shakshouka), a flavourful medley of sautéed vegetables with eggplants as the star, zucchini, peppers, and tomatoes. A culinary masterpiece!
Is Turkish Şakşuka Different?
For Turks Şakşuka is one of the reasons summer is anxiously awaited as tomatoes will be at their best season and it will taste even better.
While both Shakshouka and Turkish Şakşuka share a base of sautéed vegetables like tomatoes and peppers, their key distinction lies in the presence of eggs. Shakshouka typically features poached eggs nestled within the savory mixture, creating a hearty and protein-rich dish. In contrast, Turkish Şakşuka deviates from this by excluding eggs, offering a lighter alternative. Another popular Turkish dish, Menemen, resembles Shakshouka more closely, incorporating eggs into the vegetable medley for a delightful and satisfying combination. Each dish showcases the diverse and delicious ways Mediterranean cuisines celebrate vibrant flavors.
The other major dietary difference between the dishes is that the Shakshouka is vegetarian, whereas the Turkish version is vegan. Both are gluten free.
Traditionally the vegetables are supposed to be fried. However as in many other dishes, using an air-frier, or frying in the oven with less oil will make the dish lighter. Just chop the vegetables, either storey or brush with oil lightly and bake until well done.
How to Make it Lighter
The best wake to make this amazing dish lighter is to skip deep frying. You can use less oil by using the oven or an air fryer. Once you chop the vegetables just sprinkle with some salt and oil and bake until ready.
Which Vegetables can be Added?
Most authentic ones:
- Eggplants – pick slim ones to avoid seeded parts.
- Tomatoes – best when in season.
- Potatoes
- Peppers – either Turkish green peppers or peppers with variety of colours.
Other possible additions:
- Zucchini
- Onions
- Garlic
- Parsley
How to Serve Şakşuka
It is best to chill the Şakşuka in the fridge first. This will let the flavours blend even better.
You can serve it as you like, there are so many options.
Serve for breakfast, as a snack, as a starter or meze with kebabs, fish. One thing you should consider is to serve bread with it so one can dip into the sauce of this delicious dish.
Enjoy!
Shakshuka
Ingredients
To fry
- 2 eggplants
- 2 zucchini
- 1 green pepper
- 2 potatoes
For the sauce
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 3 tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon vinegar apple, grape or similar
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
To garnish
- 6 stalks parsley
Instructions
To fry:
- Wash and peel the eggplants in stripes. Cut to cubes. Soak them in salted water for about 20 minutes to get rid of the black water. Drain, wash and tap out with clean kitchen towel to dry.
- Peel the potatoes, cut to cubes and wash them with plenty of water and dry them up with paper towel.
- Peel the zuchinis, cut to cubes.
- Try to make all the vegetables be about the same size. It will look better on the plates and one vegetable will not be overruling the others like this.
- Cut the peppers into two and take out the seeds and this time cut to two dimentional cubes.
- Fry the vegetables in heated olive oil at medium heat. First the potatoes, then the zucchinis, then the eggplants and finally the peppers separetly. After taking out each party keep them on paper towels to soak up the excess oil. For the potatoes sprinkle some salt to keep them crispy.
For the sauce
- Chop or grate the onion.
- In another pan heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Saute the onions until translucent.
- Then grate the tomato and add together with the tomato paste.
- Then crush the garlic and add.
- Add the vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar. Cook about 15 minutes with covered lid.
To serve
- Put all the fried vegetables in a serving dish. Gently mix, without harming their shapes.
- Pour all the tomato mixture on top.
- Just before serving add chopped parsley.