Shakshuka in one pan

The sauce has to be thick before the eggs go in. A watery tomato sauce steams the eggs and the whites spread into a thin sheet instead of sitting in a well. Simmer the crushed tomatoes until a spoon dragged through the pan leaves a line that fills in slowly. That is the moment.

Toast the cumin and paprika in the oil for half a minute before the tomatoes. Raw cumin tastes dusty. Burnt cumin tastes bitter. Thirty seconds and a smell change is the window.

The eggs

Use a wide pan so four eggs sit in one layer. A deep saucepan stacks them and the top egg never cooks. Crack each egg into a cup first if you are nervous about shell, then pour it into a well you have pushed into the sauce.

Cover the pan. The steam sets the whites. Six minutes is a soft yolk. Eight is jammy. Ten is hard, which some people want and most people do not, once they have tried it soft. If the whites are still clear at 8 minutes, the heat is too low or the sauce was too thin and cooled the pan. Uncover, raise the heat a little, and give it another minute. Do not stir.

Out of eggs is not a small swap in this dish. The egg is the point. The egg substitutes page is for baking, where an egg binds. It will not poach.

Feta is optional and goes on at the end. It should not boil. Parsley too. Bread is for the sauce, not a garnish. Leftovers keep two days, but the yolks will be hard after a reheat. Make the sauce ahead and cook the eggs when you eat.