A twist on traditional shakshuka, this one uses lentils instead of beans and would make a wonderfully delicious and comforting dinner with a chunk of a baguette to sop up all the juices.
Packed full of lentils engulfed in a deliciously well-spiced tomato sauce, this Lentil Shakshuka is a tasty and healthy meal that can easily be made and enjoyed for breakfast or a quick weeknight meal.
Made with only 9 ingredients, this dish is a satisfying vegetarian dish.
What are the ingredients needed to make this lentil shakshuka?
You need the following 9 ingredients:
- Yellow onion
- Garlic
- A can of diced tomatoes
- A can of tomato paste
- Lentils
- Water
- Eggs
- Olive oil
Today is a day of lasts for me.
Today happens to be the last day of my self-imposed sugar cleanse.
And by that I mean, for the last 4 weeks this dessert-fanatic somehow managed to stay away from refined sugar, coconut sugar, honey, maple syrup, and all that falls in that category.
Now, I did fall back on a zero-calorie sweetener for my coffee, but that was it.
Crazy huh? Heck Yeah!
Would I do it again? OH HECK YEAH!
While my daughter and I dine on Lentil Shakshuka tonight, tomorrow I celebrate the end of my sugar fast!
And, there are so many treats I wanna make to celebrate but find it impossible to pick between – Maple Praline Pecan Sauce, 2-minute Sweet Potato Brownies, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins, Apple Cranberry Crumble, these Pumpkin Snowballs, to name a few… wanna help me out? Then send me all your baked treats!!! 😆
Today also happens to be the last day I spend at my full-time day job.
I haven’t talked much about what I do outside of my blog, but for the past couple of decades or so, I have worked as a graphic designer for what was once a large, Fortune 500 company.
But, things change, acquisitions and mergers happen, jobs are outsourced, layoffs occur and God reminds us of our dreams outside of a comfortable and secure job.
When I was fresh out of college, my plan was to move on after five years, but, I got comfortable. When we were informed in July of what was to come, it was the kick in the pants I needed to stop being comfortable and pursue other options – like trying to make this blog a full-time venture…at least for a bit.
Borrowing a quote from Mary (Queen of Scots), I lamented to my daughter “in my end is my beginning,” of course, she rolled her eyes at me and said, “mom, that’s just so extra!” Y’all, when did Webster’s replace dramatic with extra?
But, let’s get back to this Lentil Shakshuka. I have grown up eating lentils in curries, fritters (vada), salads, and pancakes, but not in a baked dish.
I tossed around a baked curry in my head – but, it never really took flight.
Then, my daughter asked me to make shakshuka like this one for dinner last night, but I was out of beans. After having spent 2 hours in traffic, I really didn’t want to hop in my car and drive to the store and that’s when it hit me – I could substitute lentils for beans!
This Lentil Shakshuka is so very simple to make. And, between the fridge and the pantry, you probably already have all the 7 ingredients you need for it.
My daughter’s friend’s family shared some of their farm fresh eggs with us and that’s what I used in this shakshuka. The only issue with this Lentil Shakshuka is that it takes a while to bake – a little over an hour – but, the time invested is well worth it! At least, that’s what my daughter said – without rolling her eyes this time!
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion diced up
- 3 cloves garlic smashed and chopped fine
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 7 oz can tomato paste
- 1 cup lentils
- 3.5 cups water
- 4 eggs
- 3 tablespoons Olive oil
- Cilantro to garnish optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Coat the bottom of an oven safe pan with the olive oil
- Add the diced onion to it and saute for about 10 minutes
- Then add in the garlic and stir
- Add in the tomato paste, the diced tomatoes, the lentils and water and stir well
- Place in the oven for 45-50 minutes (I checked on the lentils around the 35 minute mark and added a quarter cup of water – so just make sure to check on them so they don’t run out of water)
- Take pan out, make 4 “wells” and break eggs into the wells
- Return to oven and let bake another 12-15 minutes, depending on how soft/hard you like your yolk.
- Garnish and enjoy
I going to make this for Ramadan morning. Can this be made in the slow cooker overnight? If so, how long should I cook? Will it be the same amount of water?
Hello Mrs Ahmad,Thank you so much for writing to ask me this. Unfortunately, I have not tried making this in a slow cooker. And I think the eggs might overcook – unless you cook dried lentils in the slow cooker with the other ingredients and then add the eggs in the last 10 minutes of the coking process?I would recommend for the best result that this be cooked on a stove top. Lentils cook quickly and I feel that is the best way.I’m sorry if this doesn’t answer your question well.Thanks again for visiting my site and taking the time to comment.
This looks so delicious! I am just checking that the lentils aren’t canned .. I assume it is dry lentils used here. Looking forward to trying this! Best wishes fir your future endeavours too!
yes the lentils are dried lentils, but you could use canned lentils too – the cooking time would be significantly reduced then.
I didn’t really register that there was no spices in the recipe till it was ready for the oven at which point I added some cumin, cayenne, and a mix of some other things I had as well as salt and pepper. Wasn’t really enough and the dish still came out quite bland. It’s an easy recipe to make but you should definitely add spices if you want to enjoy eating it.
[…] One that caught my eye was a Tomato curry ‘shakshuka’ in Weligama by Emily Dobbs. It had the tomatoes, the fenugreek and some salted anchovies, which made me think it could have the potential for adapting and finding a place for those red lentils. I wondered if anyone else had made a shakshuka with red lentils. A quick google told me that they had. I found Shashi’s had done exactly that and documented it in her blog Savory Spin. […]
Thanks for the inspiration. I tried a version of shakshuka with red lentils too after seeing this.
good on you Shashi, I could have never done stayed away from sugar for this long! love this dish, looks so comforting!
Goodness, Shashi, you always make the most mouthwatering recipes! I already ate dinner (twice!) and I’m hungry again! Great job to you on finishing up on your sugar cleanse!
I needed an excuse to turn on my oven, so this is honestly a perfect one, haha. I just need to get diced tomatoes + tomato paste and I’m golden! *-* Can’t wait to try it out!
All the best with your new venture and waiting for all the treats coming soon. This looks so colorful and absolutely divine!
Wow! Many congratulations on your sugar cleanse, Shashi. I can’t even imagine one week without sugar, so hats off to you. What a gorgeous, flavorful shakshuka. This looks so vibrant and delicious. Happy Friday my friend.
This is a great sounding breakfast! My husband would be all over this!
Great job on your sugar cleanse!! So proud of you! And you will do great as a full time blogger. That’s my dream for sure but I do have another job in the medical field that keeps my busy. Love this recipe!
4 weeks without sugar? Well, I’m impressed! I wish I could stay a week at least without refined sugar. But we definitely need to celebrate the end of your sober life. Let’s eat all the dessert you’ve got:) I wish I could send you my baked stuff, but I only have homemade ice cream, and you didn’t mention it:) Shakshuka…I discovered and tried this dish only this year, and I do like it. Indeed, what not to like about Shakshuka, right? This version did surprise me – I like the addition of lentils. Sounds and looks fantastic!
Good morning friend, headed to the airport for the long weekend in Bham, bur first, want to say congrats on your new venture. You will do this and you will do it well. I BELIEVE in you. http://byfaithonline.com/believing-is-just-the-beginning/ God has a way of opening doors in interesting ways and He blesses us “exceedingly abundantly more than we can even think or imagine.” That’s my prayer for you today Shashi. The shakshuka looks delicious and I am grabbing my fork!!! Loving all the garlic!! Woo hoo. Have a beautiful weekend my friend. XOXO
This sounds so yummy! I never thought of substituting lentils for beans. I hope you enjoy your graphic design job!
Sometimes, God closes doors because it’s time to move forward. He knows we won’t move unless circumstances force us to. So I am sure that there must be something good in stored for you.
BTW this shakshuka looks awesome Shashi. 🙂
This looks totally delicious. I could eat this for brunch, lunch or dinner. I love eggs and tomatoes together….perfect comfort food for sure.
I have also done a sugar detox before, recently also a smoothie detox! see am on a weight loss journey and I have been trying best to keep off of the “bad foods” congratulations to you! And I love this shakshuka! Like I have added alot of different things to shakshuka but lentils? that’s genius! cant wait to see how it tastes.
This looks so flavourful and hearty! Love all the colours and flavours!
OK. This dish looks super good as well as tasty. I’ve never tried any thing like it but I’m all about doing new things!
Speaking of new things, congratulations on taking your next step! Very exciting. May God guide you to where you need to be. Lastly, how did the sugar cleanse make you feel?
First of all this looks great.
Secondly–I think God is prompting you for bigger things with your blog–what you share is incredible. Prayers for a bight new beginning! Love you!
I don’t think I’ve had lentils like this, but it looks so delicious…and so comforting! I’m all about one pan…err, one skillet…meals lately, and this one has the added bonus of being comfort food. So sign me up please! Also, congrats (I think?) on wrapping up the graphic designer job. As you pointed out, when one door closes another opens…so hello internet! You’re gonna rock it! Thanks for the link on the crumble…I’ll put some of that in the mail to you today! 🙂
Shashi, I’m sorry to hear about your job. But every problem presents a new opportunity, and it looks like you’re heading into it with wide open arms and a lot of spunk. You’re gonna do great!
And thanks for the shout-out on the cookies!
This shakshuka looks incredible. I’m such a fan of the usual kind, and this is a great twist!
What a brilliant idea, Shashi! I love shakshuka, and why not healthify it even more by adding lentils?
All the best with your new venture, too! That’s incredibly exciting and, like you say, sometimes we need a little kick to make us brave enough to just go for it.
You’ll do great, I know it! 🙂
Yah! Shashi you were destined to be a full time food blogger!
I remember reading about the situation in your work, when you wrote about it in July and I was hoping that you would move forward and try out blogging full time.
I know you can do this.
And lentils rule over beans any day for me, so I’m glad you made this with them. 🙂
So looking forward to seeing where your full time blogging adventure takes you. 😀
Hi Shashi! I will have to try that sugar cleanse. It would be tough, but I imagine once you’ve successfully done it, it must get much easier and you must feel so good. I’m sorry about your full-time position…it’s tough times when that happens, but it opens a newer chapter too. All my best to you in what you decide to pursue. 🙂 Your lentil shakshuka looks so delicious – I just want to dive into one of those eggs with a fork and have it run into the lentils!