Every few years some chef re-imagines a dish and then it becomes a craze only to disappear again…until another young chef comes along. You get the idea, right? I’ve been through the shakshuka craze several times on both sides of my switch to veganism and most of the time I felt blah about the dish.
It’s all right, I mean what’s not to like about thick tomato sauce…right? Okay well honestly, that’s where this dish often loses me. I love tomatoes and fresh salsa is one of my favorite things in this world, but tomato soup? No thanks. I’m not a fan of all applications of warm tomatoes and shakshuka was always one of those love-hate dishes to me. I wanted to love it, wanted to wow my friend with my take on the latest craze but I never quite perfected it.
Until now.
I know I sound a little braggy but it was pretty damn good.
The ingredient for this is pretty easy, many of these might even be vegan cabinet/fridge staples.
Let’s start with the sauce because it’s what really made this dish come out so well. You’ll need:
Stewed tomatoes (1 can)
Diced onion
Sun-dried tomatoes (5 to 7 should be plenty)
Roasted red peppers (1 chopped)
Cayenne pepper & Smoky paprika
Spicy red chili pepper
Cumin
Nutritional Yeast
Pop it all in a food processor until smooth-ish, add water or balsamic vinegar to help it along.
Set the sauce aside and prep the rest of the ingredients: onions, garlic and smoked tofu (in brine). I add the onions and tofu at the same time to make sure the brine-y tofu gets a bit of crisp. Added bonus? The saltiness of the brine means you can take it easy on the salt and soy sauce.
Cook thee onions and tofu for about 5 minutes and then add the tomato sauce. Bring to a boil and then simmer until you have a thick and spicy sauce. As you can see I let mine sit a little too long trying to get some good photos but it was very delicious. My husband gave it an 8!
Crusty bread and vegan parveggio completed this meal but honestly it didn’t need the vegan cheese, I just knew he would appreciate it.
Toast the bread lightly in the oven and you have a quick and easy vegan brunch that you can whip out to impress your friends. If you want to kick it up a notch, garnish with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a splash of lime juice. It’s subtle but…wow!
If you need or want more spice, I recommend adding more peppers (and seeds) into the tomato mixture or get creative with your spice rack, mixing and matching to produce something magical and vegan and delicious.
What’s your favorite way to enjoy vegan Shakshuka? Leave comments below!
the-spicy-spatula.com 
Great post 🙂
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