February | 2016 | Lona's in the kitchen

This is a twist on the ever growing popular breakfast dish Shakshuka. A bowl or dish of eggs baked in a spicy tomato sauce. It’s hard to get a straight answer as to the origins of this dish as everyone claims it as their own so let’s just say it originated in the Middle East and everyone has their own version of it.
My sister travelled through Israel a few years back and sampled different versions of shakshuka as she went. Her conclusion – they’re all delicious.
I consider this spicy bean and tomato casserole a base recipe. To it I either add more spice and cook it out longer to serve as a filling for tacos, burritos, nachos etc. or as a topping for baked whole potatoes or as is on crusty toasted bread.

We usually have this for dinner with lots of buttered crusty bread and, depending on the mood, either a glass of red wine or a good cup of tea.

Of course any beans are suitable for this recipe but we love black beans and I added a can of mixed beans as well.

What you’ll need:-

2-3 Tblsps olive oil

5-6 big cloves garlic – grated or finely chopped

1/2 brown onion – finely diced

2-4 red chillies (depending on how spicy you like it) – finely chopped

400g can diced tomato

2 cans or 800g of whatever cooked beans you have or like

1/4C red wine (optional)

1 tsp brown sugar

2 Tblsps balsamic vinegar

1 Tblsp worcestershire sauce

2 bay leaves

1 tsp each ground cumin, smokey paprika and ground black pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

salt

eggs

a little feta cheese (optional)

In a medium saucepan heat oil over medium high heat then add the onion, garlic and chilli and saute for a minute or two. Add the tomato and wine and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add the beans, seasonings and sugar and bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer gently with the lid on for about an hour and half, stirring occasionally.

Once the beans a soft and the sauce has thickened a little stir in the balsamic vinegar and worcestershire sauce and take off the heat. If the sauce hasn’t thickened much then leave on a simmer with the lid off for another 15 minutes or so.

Ladle beans into individual heat proof deepish dishes, crack a couple of eggs on top of the beans and crumble a little feta cheese over the top of the eggs then place on the bottom shelf under a preheated grill for 2 – 3 minutes or until the eggs are cooked to your likings.