Shakshuka Yucca
Fun fact: Shakshuka is Arabic for “all mixed up”— the perfect description for this recipe. What is shakshuka and why is it incredibly nourishing and delicious? It’s a Middle Eastern and North African dish featuring peppers, spiced tomatoes, and poached eggs. The beauty of this recipe is that pretty much anything goes. Some like to add feta cheese as a topping, parsley, cilantro, olives, etc. Given the flexibility, I took the liberty of adding a Caribbean ingredient to a Middle Eastern dish— Yucca.
Yucca, or the common name cassava, is root vegetable like potato but starchier, thicker, and much more rich in flavor. On top of it, it’s extremely fibrous with a substantial amount of nutrients to sustain for the whole day, including high amounts of calcium, potassium, and vitamin A, B, and C. It’s a typical gluten free vegetable that’s very popular in Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. Growing up in a Dominican household, yucca is boiled and served with eggs, sauteed onions, Salchichón (Spanish summer sausage), and tons of love from grandma. This is all normally a breakfast meal, but we ate it whenever available at the house.
I was originally going to go for potatoes as the base of this dish. But a) I was out of potatoes, and b) there was a surplus amount of yucca in my freezer waiting to be eaten to make more room in the fridge. I went with my gut and started to put everything together in my favorite cast iron skillet— the one cooking equipment I can’t live without.
Let me first start off by saying that this turned out unexpectedly much better than I had anticipated. If you’re like me and want to start using other starches that aren’t sweet potatoes or potato, yucca is willing to participate in offering an intensely rich and hearty flavor. It soaks up all of the spicy, sweet, and savory taste originated from the cumin, coriander, red peppers, garlic, tomatoes, and all the ingredients that make up this recipe. I cooked this in layers beginning with boiling the yucca while sauteeing the bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, and making the tomato sauce from scratch with tomato paste, low sodium veggie broth, yucca water, and blending all that with the veggies and crushed garlic. The grape tomatoes are seasoned and oven dried separately as well.
Yes, there are a lot of moving parts to this dish but as always, I’ll be more than happy to walk you through flavortown ;].
What You’ll Need…
Equipment.
1 large pot: To boil the yucca
1 medium sized cast iron skillet/ stainless steel skillet: For the rest of the dish to bake. If your cast iron skillet isn’t well seasoned I’d recommend the stainless steel one instead. There’s a lot of acidity in the tomatoes that can damage the skillet if it hasn’t been properly seasoned yet.
1 small sized cast iron skillet/ stainless steel skillet: to roast tomatoes
Small-medium bowls, knife, and cutting board: To prep your vegetables
Wooden spoon
Measuring spoons
Measuring cup
Food scale
The Yuccas
First off, you’ll add the yucca to a boiling pot of salted water. Add a palmful of salt and wait until the water is rolling under boiling temperature before setting in the yucca. This is just to make sure that the water is salted perfectly. You don’t want it too salty or too bland, otherwise your yuccas will come out tasting a little funky. Cook under medium heat for about 25-30 minutes. Once they’ve cooked, don’t drain all the water out. Pour some of it in a cup and set aside for later. It’s ok to leave the yucca in some of water after it’s cooked. But don’t wait more than half an hour to take them out!
In the meantime, you can start preheating your oven to 425F.
The Roasted Tomatoes
Place your prepped tomatoes facing up in a small skillet and set them in the oven to cook for 15 minutes. You’ll want them to come out soft and tender, but make sure they’re not running either. The tomatoes will offer up that bold taste and bring out the tomato sauce. Once they’re done, take them out of the oven and set them aside for later. To keep them warm you can cover them with aluminum foil or stick them in the microwave.
The Onions
Heat up the olive oil under medium-high heat and add in the onions. Sautee them until they’re translucent, about 3-4 minutes. You can also detect your onions are close to being ready once they’re fragrant and start making the kitchen smell wonderful. Making your onions sweat enhances sweetness and tenderizes the texture.
Peppers and Mushrooms
Once your onions are soft and smell delicious, you’ll add the orange and red bell peppers and mushrooms. Cook until soft and fragrant for about 3-5 minutes under medium heat.
The Broth
By now, your veggies should be tender but not soggy. The next step is to add the low sodium veggie broth, yucca water, white vinegar, tomato paste, garlic, salt, coriander, taco seasoning, and red pepper flakes. Stir it all up and mix it up well and cook under medium-low heat for 5-7 minutes. The yucca water functions the same way it would with pasta water. The starch not only adds a rich taste, but it also preps the tomato sauce to become thicker.
A little note on the garlic: make sure to only crush it with your knife against the cutting board. Try to avoid completely smashing which provides the kind of bitterness you don’t want in your dish. Keep its original bean like shape when you do crush it, and the taste will release once its cooked in the broth.
The Mix
Now that your yuccas are soft and starchy, you’ll mix them with the veggie blend in your skillet. Add one yucca at a time while stirring so you have room to coat each one individually. If the size is too big, you can cut the yucca and stir them in. They do get very sticky so make sure to gently stir them around and coating them with enough of the sauce.
The Eggs
Finally you’ll crack 4 eggs on top of your mixture. Do this gently so you don’t have the yolk running (I speak from a frustrating experience). Place the skillet directly into the oven and bake for 8 to 12 minutes.
The eggs are the tricky part because you can’t tell when they’ll be ready. I like my yolk a little cooked so I left it in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. If you like them runny, I’d leave them in for about 8 minutes. Keep checking every 6 minutes to see how they look to determine when they should be done baking. Just keep in mind to not undercook your eggs so you don’t get sick!
The Toppings
The last and final steps are the toppings. I added spinach, my roasted tomatoes, goat cheese, red pepper flakes, ground black pepper, and poppy seeds. But here’s the great news, you can add anything you’d like as toppings! Enjoy the delicious creamy and slightly spicy dish served in a bowl with some bread.
Shakshuka Yucca
Ingredients
For the Yucca:
12 oz yucca (a.k.a cassava)
Kosher sea salt, I used a palmful
For the roasted tomatoes
8 Grape tomatoes, sliced in half
1/4 Teaspoon kosher sea salt
Extra Virgin olive oil
1/4 Teaspoon Italian seasoning
For the Veggie mix:
Extra Virgin olive oil
50g Thinly sliced yellow onion
72g Sliced red bell pepper
53g Sliced orange bell pepper
50g Sliced white mushroom
4 Garlic cloves, crushed
2 Tablespoons (30g) tomato paste
1 Cup low sodium veggie broth
1/2 Cup yucca water
1 Teaspoon white vinegar
1/4 Teaspoon kosher sea salt
1 Teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 Teaspoon taco seasoning
Red pepper flakes
4 Large eggs
Instructions
In a boiling pot of salted water, add the yucca. Cook under medium heat for about 25-30 minutes. Once they’ve cooked, pour some of the yucca water in a cup and set aside for later. It’s ok to leave the yucca in some of water after it’s cooked. But don’t wait more than half an hour to take them out!
In the meantime, you can start preheating your oven to 425F. Place your prepped tomatoes facing up in a small skillet and set them in the oven to cook for 15 minutes. You’ll want them to come out soft and tender, but make sure they’re not running either. Once they’re done, take them out of the oven and set them aside for later. To keep them warm you can cover them with aluminum foil or stick them in the microwave.
Heat up the olive oil under medium-high heat and add in the onions. Sautee them until they’re translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add the orange and red bell peppers and mushrooms. Cook until soft and fragrant for about 3-5 minutes under medium heat.
Pour the low sodium veggie broth, yucca water, white vinegar, tomato paste, garlic, salt, coriander, taco seasoning, and red pepper flakes to the mix . Stir well and cook under medium-low heat for 5-7 minutes.
Add yuccas to the veggie blend in your skillet. Add one yucca at a time while stirring so you have room to coat each one individually. If the size is too big, you can cut the yucca and stir them in. They do get very sticky so make sure to gently stir them around and coating them with enough of the sauce.
Crack 4 eggs on top of your mixture. Do this gently so you don’t have the yolk running (I speak from a frustrating experience). Place the skillet directly into the oven and bake for 8 to 12 minutes, or until desired texture (i.e. runny, or cooked more).
Top with spinach, roasted tomatoes, goat cheese, red pepper flakes, ground black pepper, and poppy seeds, or any other desired toppings. Serve in a bowl with bread and enjoy!
