Shakshuka

A traditional Middle Eastern dish, shakshuka is a spicy tomato sauce that often (as here) holds poached eggs. It’s a great weekend brunch, particularly if you’ve got houseguests. (It’s often dinner at our house after a busy day.) Our timing results in soft-set eggs, the better to break and run into the sauce. If you open the cooker and want firmer eggs, set the lid askew over the pot and wait for a few minutes — or just increase the cooking time in step 7 to 2 minutes.

Cuisine

Middle East

Course

Dinner

Difficulty

Medium

Duration

15-30 min

Diet

Vegetarian

Cooking Technique

Pressure Cook

Keywords

15-30 min, 4 people, Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough, contributed, diced tomatoes packed in juice, dinner, granulated white sugar, ground black pepper, ground coriander, ground cumin, instant pot recipe, medium, medium fresh jalapeño chile, medium garlic cloves, medium red or yellow bell peppers, medium yellow or white onion, middle east, mild smoked paprika, olive oil, pressure cook, pressure cooker recipes, refrigerator-cold large eggs, table salt, vegetable broth, vegetarian

Servings

4 people

Ingredients

2 tsp olive oil
1 medium yellow or white onion
2 medium red or yellow bell peppers
1 medium fresh jalapeño chile
2 medium garlic cloves
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp mild smoked paprika
1 tsp granulated white sugar
1/2 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 14-ounce diced tomatoes packed in juice
4 refrigerator-cold large eggs

Instructions

Press Sauté and set your Instant Pot to medium, normal or 300°F and press Start. Set time for 10 minutes.
As the pot heats, warm the oil in the insert set in a 5- or 6-quart Instant Pot. Add the onion, bell pepper, and jalapeño; cook, stirring often, until the onion just begins to soften, about 2 minutes. Stir in the garlic, coriander, cumin, smoked paprika, sugar, salt, and pepper until aromatic, just a few seconds.
Pour in the broth and scrape up any browned bits on the pot’s bottom. (There will be almost none.) Turn off the heat and stir in the tomatoes with their juice. Lock the lid on the pot.
Set your Instant Pot to Pressure Cook or Manual, set to Low Pressure and cook for 10 minutes. When the pot has finished cooking under pressure, use the quick-release method to bring the pressure back to normal. Whichever cooking method you’ve used, unlatch the lid and open the cooker.

For the slow cook function: Set the pot to Slow Cook on High for 4 hours.
When the pot has finished cooking under pressure, use the quick- release method to bring the pressure back to normal. Whichever cooking method you’ve used, unlatch the lid and open the cooker
Stir the tomato mixture in the pot, then use the back of a large cooking spoon or a wooden spoon to make four indentations in the sauce. Crack an egg into each indentation and lock the lid back on the cooker.
Set the Instant Pot to Pressure Cook/Manual on Low Pressure for 1 minute.
When the pot has finished cooking, use the quick-release method to bring the pressure back to normal. Unlatch the lid and open the cooker. Serve in bowls by scooping up an egg into each, along with plenty of the tomato sauce.

Notes

Other Pots
• For a 3-quart Instant Pot, you must halve all of the ingredient amounts.
• For an 8-quart Instant Pot, you must increase all of the ingredient amounts by 50 percent.
• For a 10-quart Instant Pot, you must double almost all of the ingredient amounts except you must increase the broth to 1 1/2 cups
Beyond
• For a more authentic flavor, stir in up to 1 tablespoon hot or mild harissa with the tomatoes and their juice.
• Garnish the servings with a drizzle of olive oil and finely chopped fresh basil leaves.
• Serve with warmed pita rounds.