Next week, we’ll be gathering at the Brooklyn Brewery for our latest how-to event on how to prepare an Indian feast. We’ve invited some of our favorite experts to lead a panel discussion with demos and small bites. One of those panelists is local Indian food maven Chitra Agrawal of Brooklyn Delhi and The ABCDs of Cooking.
She’s a walking, talking guide for a range of traditional Indian cooking techniques, as well as ways to adapt them to our everyday lives. Get her shakshuka recipe here and come see her demo (for only $5) in person at the brewery on Wednesday, August 6!
Lately, I’ve been developing recipes using my tomato achaar over at Brooklyn Delhi. Ben and I are also designing some recipe cards to give to our customers, which I’m really excited about.
I thought I’d share one of our favorite recipes with you. It’s for tomato achaar shakshuka. I first had shakshuka, eggs cooked in spicy tomato sauce, in Egypt when I was visiting a friend in Cairo years back. Since then, I have remembered it fondly and reinvented it in my own kitchen in several ways. What makes this recipe so easy is that by using tomato achaar in this recipe, you don’t really have to add that much else to flavor the sauce because it already has a lot of the spices — turmeric, red chili powder, fenugreek seeds and so on.
For those unfamiliar, achaar in Hindi means pickled fruit or vegetable so that is why sometimes it is referred to as “Indian Pickle.” In Kannada, my mom’s language it’s called uppinakayi. The fruits and vegetables are preserved with salt, oil and spices, which result in a delicious condiment that has a spicy, sour, sweet and savory kick — I like to think of it kind of like a flavor bomb for food. It instantly makes a dish pop!
It’s a perfect match for shakshuka, which is visually vibrant with the color of the yolks, tomatoes and parsley. I also like mine with a bit of feta crumbled on top. Traditionally, it’s served at breakfast time in the Middle East, but I think shakshuka is fit for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It goes best with a crusty piece of bread, but on this day, I had it with a few warm tortillas. Enjoy!
And if you want to get more recipes using our tomato achaar, I’ve posted some here.
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Tomato Achaar Shakshuka
Makes 1 serving
Ingredients
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 1/2 cups tomato, diced
3 tablespoons Brooklyn Delhi tomato achaar, more if you’d like
2-3 eggs
Salt and pepper, to taste
Parsley, chopped
Feta, crumbled
Heat the oil in a pan on medium. Add the onions and red bell pepper and saute until soft. Add the garlic and fry for a minute. Add the tomatoes, tomato achaar and salt and pepper to taste. Bring the sauce to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low, stirring from time to time until the tomatoes are soft, 12-15 minutes.
With a spoon, make 2 indentations in the pan. Break one of the eggs into a small bowl and carefully slide it into one of the indentations. Repeat this same process with your other egg. Cover the pan and cook on low for about 5 minutes, until the egg whites are set and the yolks are still soft and runny. Turn off the stove.
Garnish with parsley and feta. Serve immediately with crusty bread or warm tortillas and more tomato achaar on the side.
