Israeli Shakshuka for Passover is traditional shakshuka in its simplest form—eggs on a delicious, savory tomato sauce—kosher for Passover. It’s dairy-free, vegetarian, and gluten-free.
Israeli Shakshuka for Passover is a healthy and filling meal, rich in flavor. It is a healthy and filling meal that that can be eaten by Ashkenazim and Sephardim alike as contains no kitniyos (kitniyot), and is perfect for any time during the week of Passover and even on the day of the seder!
Shakshuka is not a beautiful looking meal by any means and is very hard to photograph in a way that makes the dish look attractive and appetizing (ever wonder why there is often parsley all over it in most images when the dish itself is not served with parsley at all?), but it is healthy, simple to make, and tastes terrific!
And…the tomatoes and eggs have health benefits!
Love eggs? Here are two kosher for Passover egg recipes: Deviled Eggs for Passover and Scrambled Eggs for Passover.
General information regarding cooking:
The following information may not particularly pertain to this recipe but rather answers general useful questions related to cooking.
What are the different oils used in cooking?
“High-heat” oils have neutral flavors and have been processed in order to handle high temperatures and are good for sautéing, searing, and frying. These include canola oil, vegetable oil, avocado oil, and grapeseed oil, each with its own “best for” with chefs.
Some oils have their own flavor and are good for sautéing and roasting and add a little extra to the dish. These include extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, and peanut oil. Extra virgin olive oil works well with roasting or sautéing, but not for deep frying.
Coconut oil is good in dishes where a slightly coconut flavor enhances the dish, and peanut oil is good for deep frying and will add a subtle nutty taste and smell. Many Asian dishes call for peanut oil in the ingredients.
Then there are oils that are not used with heat but rather for dressing up foods, such as sesame oil, flaxseed oil, and walnut oil, among others.
What does it mean when recipes say “to taste” about an ingredient?
When recipes say “to taste,” it means that you can put in as little or as much as you like to your own taste. Some recipes have many ingredients that a cook can adjust to their own taste when cooking (not so much when baking though).
The best way to calculate what your taste is with a recipe that you are not yet familiar with is to first taste the dish and then add the “to taste” ingredient GRADUALLY, a little at a time—a splash of this or a pinch of that—until the dish is just the way you like it. Make sure to stir the ingredient after each time you add it so that the flavor will distribute evenly and become part of the dish. Then taste again. Repeat until you reach your personal preference.
Note: If you plan on using the recipe again, it is highly recommended to make a note of what and how much you added so that you can refer to it next time.
What does it mean when a recipe says that an ingredient is “optional”?
If an ingredient is “optional,” it means that you can add it in or not based on your own preference. An optional ingredient can be flavor related (i.e., salty, sweet, spicy, etc.), appearance related (garnish), or even something like nuts or chocolate chips in baking.
What does “savory” mean?
“Savory” refers to foods that are not sweet, such as foods that taste salty, spicy, or herbal.
What cooking measurement expressions mean:
Drop – ¹/₆₄ teaspoon (or less—it’s however a literal drop comes out)
Smidgen – ¹/₃₂ teaspoon
Pinch – ¹⁄₁₆ teaspoon (what you can grab between your finger and thumb)
Dash – ⅛ teaspoon (what comes out when you shake out of a shaker or bottle)
Tad – ¼ teaspoon
Dollop—a glob on a spoon (like with mayonnaise or ice cream)
Scant—a scant cup is almost a cup, just below the line.
Heaping—above the line of the spoon (teaspoon, tablespoon)*
Some useful cooking terms:
Sauté: Cooking quickly in a small amount of oil or fat in a frying pan on a relatively high heat that causes a slight browning of the food on the outside.
Sear: Browning the outside of meat at a high temperature.
Sweat: Cooking vegetables (often onions) in a little oil or fat on a low heat until they become soft and translucent (no browning).
Simmer: Heating liquid to just below the boiling point (has slow bubbles).
Boil: Cooking food submerged in water hot enough to have rapid, rolling bubbles.
Poach: Cooking in a liquid, or partially submerged, on low heat.
Roast: Cooking with consistent dry heat in an enclosed space, over 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Bake: Cooking with dry heat in an enclosed space, under 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Broil: Cooking with intense heat from above.
Grill: Cooking with heat from below, typically over a flame or coals.
Braise: Cooking already-seared meat in a small amount of liquid in a covered pot.
Blanch: Quickly submerging food into boiling water and then immediately into ice water to stop the cooking.
Steam: Cooking with vapor from hot simmering water from below.
Shred: Creating long, thin strips (not necessarily uniform) of vegetables, like in coleslaw.
Grate: Scraping food against a surface with rough, tiny holes that break it down into very small, fine pieces.
Zest: The scrapings of the colorful outer skin of a citrus fruit.
Mince: Cutting into the smallest pieces possible.
Dice: Cutting into small cubes.
Chop: Cutting into small (bite-size) pieces.
Julienne: Cutting into long, thin strips (like matchsticks).
Glaze: a thin liquid with high-sugar or high-fat coating applied to food or baked goods that gives a shiny look and adds flavor.
Fold in: To gently combine a light ingredient into a heavier one.
Al dente: Cooking rice or pasta to the point before it gets soft (is slightly firm).
Emulsify: Forcing two liquids together that don’t normally combine (like oil and vinegar) into a smooth sauce or dressing.
Deglaze: Adding a liquid to a hot pan after searing meat to loosen the browned bits (called fond) that got stuck.
Slurry: A mixture of liquid and dry starch, such as cornstarch or potato starch, into a paste that is used to thicken sauces and soups. One can use flour to make a slurry as well.
Roux: (pronounced “roo”) is a cooked mixture of fat and flour.
A little about Israeli cuisine
Some people complain about cultural appropriation in cuisine when food from one country is attributed to another country.
However, national cuisine in itself is often a mingling of food from a variety of cultures, often due to a change of ruling countries and a shifting of borders.
Turkish cuisine, for example, goes back to the Ottoman Empire and was a combination of several cultures under Ottoman rule.
When people move from country to country, they will take their cultures with them, and their descendants may adapt their traditional cuisine with that of their new home, and if they don’t, others might.
Chinese food in US restaurants is quite often not really authentic Chinese but Cinese-American.
Americans have created a whole variety of types and styles of pizza, and pineapple pizza was apparently created in Canada by a Greek immigrant. Yet, everyone still calls them all “pizza,” which originated in Italy.
Spaghetti is thought to be an Italian food, but many historians believe that it was brought back to Italy from China by Marco Polo.
Apparently, battered fried fish was from the Portuguese Jewish community as a Sabbath food and ended up in England via Holland during the Spanish Inquisition, yet everyone attributes the food to the British.
…and don’t get me started on Hummus.
When one lives in a melting pot, such as the US or Israel, it is just unrealistic to expect that food from a particular culture won’t mingle with that of other cultures.
That being said, “Israeli cuisine” is basically Middle Eastern (as opposed to Eastern European food) that was brought to Israel by Jews when they fled or were expelled from Muslim countries and moved to Israel mostly after the declaration of the State of Israel (collectively known as Mizrahi Jews).
Recipes were passed from generation to generation, and although decades have passed, the foods are still known by the culture they came from, and everyone seems to have their own way of making them.
That said, there are many variations of pretty much any “Israeli” recipe because of background, custom, or even just taste. When choosing a recipe, one has to know what actually constitutes a main ingredient—what makes the dish what it is—and what is left up to individual taste.
I personally find it very arrogant and quite irritating when a blogger (not naming names) will put “authentic” in the title of an “Israeli” recipe, as if all the rest of the variations are mere imitations. What’s worse is when that blogger makes the recipe with her own twist and then calls it authentic!
Adding more or less of a spice or adding a spice that is not in the recipe does not make it less authentic, but calling it “authentic” and then adding unnecessary extra ingredients above and beyond what needs to be there is misleading.
For example, “authentic” Israeli salad (what Israelis call Israeli salad) is diced tomatoes and cucumbers. Sometimes, they will add some oil, salt, and pepper, but THAT’S IT. Anything else does not have to be there, but if you leave out the cucumbers or the tomatoes, you no longer have an “Israeli salad.”
So, find the recipes you like with the ingredients you prefer, add your own twists, and בתאבון (pronounced: b’te’ah’vone, literally translated, “with appetite”)!
A little about shakshuka
There are MANY suppositions as to where shakshuka originated, but all agree that it originated somewhere in the Middle East or North Africa.
Shakshuka is very popular in Israel. It was brought by Jews who took refuge after the establishment of the State of Israel, fleeing Muslim countries.
While this dish is no stranger to Middle Eastern ethnic restaurants, in more recent years it has become a welcome addition to menus in some of the hip restaurants in the United States and Europe as well.
Shakshuka is a vegetarian, tasty, healthy breakfast, however it obviously can be eaten at any time of the day.
Why do I see variations of shakshuka online?
The recipe I have posted is in it’s simplest and original form, however many people add red and/or green pepper (one or two of either or both, depending on how much you like peppers), mushrooms, chili powder or paprika (sweet and/or hot), cumin, termic, pepper, etc.
Like pretty much every other recipe out there, everyone makes dishes according to their own tradition and taste, the sabich is no different. I like to keep my recipes as simple to allow anyone who wants to make a quick dish without straying from the basics to do just that.
You certainly can any any, all, or none of the above to taste.
You do not need garnish at all, unless you want to impress. It is shown that way in pictures, because the dish itself doesn’t photograph well, so the green helps to detract. I have yet to actually have seen the dish served garnished.
Tips for making Israeli Shakshuka For Passover
I use canned tomatoes rather than fresh whenever possible, just to save time, and one 28 ounce can is equal to approximately 2 pounds or 3 cups of fresh diced tomatoes.
If you have tomatoes or onions that are still good, but are going soft, feel free to use them. I am a big proponent of using what you have and saving what you can.
If you want your shakshuka more saucy, feel free to use more tomatoes, just make sure to adjust the herbs/spices so that you don’t lose flavor and, of course, feel free to add all of the flavoring embellishing you like to your own taste.
Tomato sauce helps to give a little stronger tomato flavor. This can be left out if need be, but if you want more of the flavor, add.
If you like your eggs poached, cover the pan, however if you prefer sunny side up, cook the eggs uncovered.
The longer you leave the eggs on the heat, the more cooked they will be. If you want runny eggs, make sure not to overcook. However, if you like your eggs more on the cooked side, just make sure that the sauce doesn’t dry out (add a little water while cooking).
I find that using powdered chicken consommé for sides and main dishes just adds a little more flavor that salt and use the non-meat or vegan variety (any store that carries kosher items may have some by Osem or another such brand).
Many recipes call for red peppers that cook with the tomatoes, so feel free to add diced red pepper. In fact, many recipes call for the addition of quite a few other veggies, so don’t be ashamed to add them. This recipe is just the basic.
A little about eggs
For many years eggs were considered a source of high cholesterol and a possible cause of heart disease, and people were warned against them and recommended to have only a few per week in their diets.
It is true that one large egg yolk has 200 mg of cholesterol. However, the additional nutrients that eggs contain may actually help LOWER the risk of heart disease by raising the “good” cholesterol in one’s body.
Eggs are high in protein and filling but low in calories. They have nutritional value and contain a large variety of vitamins as well as some antioxidants.
The color of the yolk depends on the diet of the hen, and different types of chickens may lay different colored eggs; white or brownish.
Egg white consists primarily of approximately 90 percent water and contains almost no fat or carbohydrates.
The yolk of a new egg is firm, but then it absorbs water from the egg white, which causes it to increase in size and become loose.
You may be surprised to know that raw egg white is sometimes used in the preparation of vaccines.
Many people believe that since eggs are found in the refrigerated section of the supermarket, and very frequently near the dairy section, they are also dairy.
Nonetheless, eggs are NOT DAIRY. You CANNOT milk a chicken!
Food on Passover
Torah-observant Jews do not eat chametz (the fermented products of five grains: wheat, spelt, barley, oats, and rye).
In addition, Torah-observant Ashkenazi Jews do not eat kitniyot (or kitniyos as pronounced in Ashkenazi Hebrew). These include legumes, corn, rice, and similar foods that were deemed forbidden to eat by rabbis in the medieval period and are still not eaten today. Sephardi and Mizrachi Jews do not follow this tradition.
Many observant Ashkenazi Jews will not even eat the derivatives of these kitniyot, while others do (each family holds their own traditions regarding this).
Then, there are Ashkenazim who don’t eat “gebrokts” (or gebrochts).
Gebrokts (gebrochts) means “broken” in Yiddish, and in this case refers to matzo that has absorbed liquid. Not eating gebrokts is observed by many in the Hasidic Jewish community and Ashkenazim who have taken on this tradition, where they basically don’t mix anything wet with matzo.
So, things like matzo sandwiches, fried matzo, and even matzo balls are a no-no for them.
There is a joke that sums it all up:
On Passover, we should remember people who have little to eat on this holiday. They are called Ashkenazim.
Over the years, I have learned to adapt “normal” food for Passover so that my family won’t complain about boring, tasteless, or repetitive meals.
I find that having good food and variety makes the week of Passover a very pleasant experience, and I hope this recipe will help make yours just that!
Israeli Shakshuka for Passover
Kosher for Passover traditional Israeli Shakshuka
Ingredients
- One 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes (or three cups of fresh, diced tomatoes)
- 1 red pepper, diced (optional)
- 1 large onion, diced
- 6 eggs
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons vegetarian chicken bullion powder or salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic or 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper or to taste
- water
- oil
Instructions
- Pour oil to just cover the bottom of a large skillet.
- On a medium heat, sauté onions (and garlic if using cloves) until they soften (they don't have to brown).
- Add tomatoes, peppers (if desired), tomato paste, bouillon powder, and water to cover the mixture, and mix.
- Lower the heat to low, and simmer, mixing occasionally, until the mixture becomes a thick sauce.
- Create six openings or craters in the sauce and drop a raw egg into each.
- Continue simmering until the whites of the egg are cooked, but the yolk is still runny.
Notes
This is a basic shakshuka recipe, so feel free to add green peppers, mushrooms, or anything else you like to the sauce. Just make sure to fry them until they are soft.
MAKE SURE ALL INGREDIENTS ARE KOSHER FOR PASSOVER.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
3Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 295Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 372mgSodium: 706mgCarbohydrates: 22gFiber: 7gSugar: 13gProtein: 18g