Yemenite-Style Eggs and Pita in Tomato Sauce

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Fried onion

1. 1
   Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStoveFrying pan
2. 2
   Add the onion and fry for 5 minutes, stirring, until the onion turns golden.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
3. 3
   Add the garlic and fry 1 minute, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic brown.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Garlic burns quickly and turns bitter. Add it only after the onion has softened, over medium heat, and add the next ingredient as soon as it smells fragrant.

To assemble

1. 4
   Add the chili, cumin and turmeric and stir for a minute, until fragrant.
2. 5
   Add the tomatoes and season with salt and black pepper. Turn down the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, until the tomatoes soften.

   ⚙ SimmeringStove

   💡The sauce is ready for the eggs when a spoon dragged across the bottom of the pan leaves a trail. A sauce that's too thin cooks the eggs in water, not in sauce.

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.
3. 6
   Add the pita pieces and mix well, so they soak up the sauce.

   Stove
4. 7
   Make wells in the Dressing and crack an egg into each one. Cover and cook 3–4 minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks are still runny.

   StoveLid

   💡Crack each egg into a small cup first and slide it into the well: that way the yolk doesn't break, and a stray bit of shell is easy to remove.
5. 8
   Serve immediately, straight from the pan.