Rose Cantine

I just returned from a one-week trip to Israel (March 16-23, 2007) where I attended Kinnernet 2007. I also spoke at The Marker’s annual tech event and at a Digital Policy symposium in Jerusalem. Apart from the lovely beach weather, one of the things I appreciated most about this trip was the food. They serve fresh delicious salads morning, noon and night: cucumbers in yogurt dressing, tomatoes and bulgur with coriander and mint, beets with cumin and salt, etc. There’s fresh ripe fruit everywhere.

One of my favorite dishes is shakshuka which people eat for breakfast, although breakfast in Tel Aviv is served till 13:00 to accommodate people who partied till the wee hours of the morning. Here’s a photo of my shakshuka breakfast at Badulina, located on the Tel-Aviv Port. Shakshuka is an egg dish: the eggs are on top of a mixture of onions, green and red peppers, all cooked in tomato sauce with chunks of tomatoes, lots of coriander.

I made shakshuka at home and my version turned to be very close to what I had at Badulina. Chop into cubes: one large onion (or two small ones), a lot of very ripe tomatoes (or use 2 small cans of chopped tomatoes with their juice), 2 sweet red peppers. Put all the ingredients in a pot together with lots of ground cumin and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Throw in a lot of coriander and simmer for another 10 minutes. When you are ready to serve, put some of the mixture in a small frying pan, crack two eggs over it and cook some more till the eggs are slighly firm. Alternatively, you can put the mixture with the eggs in an oven and cook it in there. Put the frying pan or oven dish on the table and eat out of it — serve with bread.

Badulina
2 Yordey Hasira Street
Tel-Aviv Port
03-5449449