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Sweet Potato Shakshuka

Eggs poached in a spiced tomato and sweet potato base, cooked and served in one cast iron skillet, finished with feta and parsley and scooped up with bread.
Keyword sweet potato shakshuka
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

For the Sauce

  • 3 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large onion diced
  • 4 cloves garlic chopped
  • 2 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 ½ teaspoon sweet paprika
  • ½ teaspoon hot paprika or to taste
  • 1 lb sweet potato peeled and cut into ½ inch dice
  • 28 oz canned whole peeled tomatoes crushed by hand
  • ½ cup water
  • 1 teaspoon salt

To Finish

  • 6 large eggs
  • 3 oz feta crumbled
  • 1 handful fresh parsley chopped

Instructions

Build the Sauce

  • Warm the olive oil in a 12 inch cast iron skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion for 8 minutes until soft and translucent, then add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
  • Add the tomato paste, cumin, coriander, sweet paprika and hot paprika. Stir constantly for 60 seconds until the paste darkens to brick red and the spices smell toasted.
  • Add the diced sweet potato and stir to coat it in the spiced oil. Pour in the hand crushed tomatoes and the water, add the salt, and bring to a simmer.
  • Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sweet potato is tender and the sauce is thick enough to hold a track behind a spoon.

Poach the Eggs

  • Use the back of a spoon to make six wells in the sauce, pushing all the way down to the pan floor so each egg sits in the sauce rather than on top of it.
  • Crack each egg into a small cup, then slide it into a well. Cover the skillet, reduce the heat to low, and cook 6 to 9 minutes.
  • The eggs are done when the whites are opaque all the way in to the yolk and the yolks still wobble when you nudge the pan. Remember they keep cooking in the cast iron after you take it off the heat.
  • Off the heat, crumble the feta over the top and scatter the chopped parsley. Serve straight from the skillet with torn crusty bread.

Notes

  • Whole tomatoes, crushed by hand: paste loosened with water makes a thin sauce that will not hold a well. Hand crushed whole tomatoes give you body and texture.
  • Make real wells: push the sauce aside until you see the pan floor. A shallow dent lets the egg cook on top of the sauce like a fried egg.
  • Low heat with the lid on: the trapped steam sets the surface of the whites. High heat sets the bottoms hard and overcooks the yolks.
  • Feta goes on last: added during cooking it weeps and turns stringy.
  • Make ahead: the sauce keeps 4 days in the fridge and freezes 3 months. Poach fresh eggs into reheated sauce, never reheat cooked eggs.
  • Bread is the utensil: crusty white bread, pita or challah. Soft sandwich bread collapses.