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A flavorful brunch or dinner, this easy shakshuka recipe is coconut curry flavored, featuring eggs cooked in a curry sauce and served with pita.
“The Midwest has an inferiority complex.” That’s Shelly Westerhausen in her new cookbook, Vegetarian Heartland, talking about how people in the Midwest are quick to downplay this region. It’s just corn fields and cows, right? Shelly is all about Midwest pride and adventuring. She’s based in Bloomington, Indiana, just an hour south of Alex and me here in Indianapolis. When we first met up a few years ago, we had an instant connection, what with our Midwest roots and love for eating vegetables. Keep reading for this easy shakshuka recipe and more about the book.
Adventuring with Shelly
This connection made for some fabulous shared meals over the years, experimenting with local produce. One of our first collaborations with Shelly was this vegetarian brunch menu a few years ago. Alex and I made a potato hash with poached eggs and a sparkling blood orange rosemary water. Shelly made blood orange and quinoa muffins with crystallized ginger-thyme butter. Not a bad Midwestern meal, right?
That summer we had a picnic down in Bloomington, Indiana. Alex and I made cucumber dill sandwiches and lavender lemon spritzers. Shelly made whisky’d mozzarella toasts with roasted tomatoes and grapes.
About the book: Vegetarian Heartland
As you can see, adventuring with Shelly is inspired and colorful—and we knew her cookbook would be the same. We just received Vegetarian Heartland, and it’s everything we hoped: warm, vibrant, and creative, with mouthwatering recipes. It’s where this easy shakshuka recipe comes from (scroll down for the recipe).
Shelly cooks in a similar manner to us: instead of using meat substitutes like tofu and tempeh, we prefer to use colorful vegetables, filling beans, legumes, whole grains, herbs, and spices to create vegetarian dishes. Shelly’s book is full of 100 meatless recipes in that vein. And, they’re organized by the adventures that make a weekend special: picnics, brunch, camping, and more. Not only does she show that Midwestern food can be vegetable-forward without the typical meat-and-potatoes, she also highlights the exciting Midwest landscapes: lakes, waterfalls, caves, and forests.
Order the book! Vegetarian Heartland is available here.
What is shakshuka?
First off, what is shakshuka? Shakshuka is a dish of eggs poached in a tomato sauce that originates from the Middle East and Mediterranean, though the direct origin is disputed. Often the tomato sauce includes onions and peppers and is flavored with cumin and paprika. Today, shakshuka is eaten in countries from Tunisia to Israel to Morocco — and it’s becoming more popular in the US! This easy shakshuka recipe is a fusion of cultures: it brings in the coconut curry flavors of Indian curry.
Making this easy shakshuka recipe
This coconut curry easy shakshuka recipe from Vegetarian Heartland does not disappoint. Instead of a straight tomato sauce, the eggs cooked in a coconut curry sauce, dotted with fresh basil and squeezed with lime. It takes a bit of time to cook, but the flavor is well worth it.
We served it with whole wheat naan for a delicious vegetarian brunch. For a richer brunch option, pair with our Chocolate Banana Bread. Or, serve it up as a vegetarian dinner with rice! The recipe is below — let us (and Shelly) know if you try it!
Listen: Shelly’s on the A Couple Cooks podcast! Listen to us chat about everything from vegan diner food to growing up in the Midwest.
Related: Want a straight-up coconut curry? Try our Quick Coconut Lentil Curry
Looking for brunch recipes?
Outside of this easy shakshuka recipe, here are a few more brunch recipe ideas:
- Acai Bowl Recipe
- Fluffy Scrambled Eggs with Goat Cheese
- Fluffy Gluten Free Waffles
- Two Potato Hash with Soft Boiled Eggs
- Gluten Free Banana Muffins
- Vegan French Toast
- Scrambled Eggs with Matcha and Lime
- Parmesan Herb Baked Eggs
- Dippy Eggs with Toast Soldiers
- Waffle Party
- Lemon Poppy Seed Oatmeal Pancakes
- Pumpkin Pancakes with Maple Mascarpone
- 35 Best Brunch Recipes
This easy shakshuka recipe is…
Vegetarian and gluten-free.
Coconut Curry Easy Shakshuka Recipe
A flavorful brunch or dinner, this easy shakshuka recipe is coconut curry flavored, featuring eggs cooked in a curry sauce and served with pita.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern Inspired
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium green bell pepper
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon honey
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
- 13.5-ounce can full-fat coconut milk
- 6 eggs
- Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
- Fresh basil leaves for garnish
- Lime wedges, for serving
- 6 pieces pita or naan, for serving
Instructions
- Mince the pepper. Dice the onion. Mince the garlic.
- In a very large (12-inch) skillet over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the bell pepper and onion and saute until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add the curry powder, paprika, and ginger and saute for 30 seconds more. Add the honey, red pepper flakes, tomatoes, and coconut milk; stir to combine; and simmer until the sauce thickens, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Crack the eggs and slide them into the sauce, distributing them around the pan. Gently push some of the tomato sauce over the eggs to keep them from drying out. Cover the pan and cook until the eggs are completely set, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with chopped fresh basil leaves. Serve immediately with lime wedges and pita or naan.
Hey there— this recipe was delicious, exactly what I was looking for as a way to make a shakshuka-inspired dish with out all the tomato (never liked them!)
Was surprised about the comment above calling tempeh and tofu ‘meat substitutes’, however! Agreed there are endless processed, packaged meat substitutes nowadays that barely resemble food. But tofu and tempeh are both whole, simple foods— both have soy beans as their only ingredient— and both have rich culinary histories in their regions of origin, which stretch back centuries if not more than a millennium. Not to mention the wonderful gut health benefits that come from their fermentation, something we get very little of in a western diet!
Great recipe!
What would the cooking times be if I was doing this for 8 people (double the amount of all ingredients)?
Sorry we didn’t get to this comment! What did you figure out? We’ve never doubled it.
I made this last night and it was SO easy and SO delicious! I love shakshuka but hadn’t thought about combining these flavors with it before, it works so well! I will definitely keep my eye out for this cookbook.
“The Midwest has an inferiority complex.” I’m a midwest girl who sometimes finds herself apologizing for her region, and now I am asking myself WHY??? I love it here <3 We have SO much to celebrate, including this bountiful cookbook. I can't wait to get a copy!
The midwest is beautiful! I love reading midwest blogs that talk about going for picnics… we don’t typically do that in AZ! Which people think is just cactus so there is that.
I love Shelly’s gorgeous, lovely pictures, along with her Midwest pride and this is no exception! As I was reading about your lovely picnics together it occured to me that we don’t do those enough, so this is kicking me into gear to plan one for the summer!