Ojja with merguez sausages

Name: Ojja with merguez sausages
Prep time: 25 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Tunisian Jewish
Ingredients: 330 g Kosher merguez sausages, beef or beef and lamb (6 merguez sausages, 55 g each, 3 per person); 20 g Extra virgin olive oil (2 tbsp); 150 g Long mild green peppers (Anaheim or felfel) (3 long mild green peppers (shushka), cut into 1 cm rings); 15 g Hot green chillies (1 chilli, deseeded and sliced into rings, for a truly hot ojja); 20 g Garlic (4 cloves); 30 g Double-concentrated tomato purée (1 heaped tbsp); 20 g Harissa (1 tbsp; use 10 g for mild heat); 3 g Ground caraway (1 tsp); 2 g Ground coriander (1 tsp); 4 g Sweet paprika (1/2 tbsp); 400 g Tinned chopped tomatoes (400 g tin) (1 tin, with its juice); 50 g Water (half a small glass, for rinsing the tin); 4 g Fine salt (1/2 heaped tsp, reserving a pinch for the eggs); 220 g Eggs (4 eggs); 160 g Bread (baguette or country loaf) (a generous third of a loaf, or 4 thick slices, for mopping up the sauce)

meat Tunisian Jewish · easy · 40 min, including 25 hands-on

A Tunisian red sauce with garlic, harissa, caraway and coriander, in which browned merguez sausages finish cooking. Egg whites are gently drawn through the sauce with a fork while the yolks stay runny: a Tunis bistro supper to mop up with bread.

Ingredients for two

330 g	Kosher merguez sausages, beef or beef and lamb 6 merguez sausages, 55 g each, 3 per person
20 g	Extra virgin olive oil 2 tbsp
150 g	Long mild green peppers (Anaheim or felfel) 3 long mild green peppers (shushka), cut into 1 cm rings
15 g	Hot green chillies 1 chilli, deseeded and sliced into rings, for a truly hot ojja (optional)
20 g	Garlic 4 cloves
30 g	Double-concentrated tomato purée 1 heaped tbsp
20 g	Harissa 1 tbsp; use 10 g for mild heat
3 g	Ground caraway 1 tsp
2 g	Ground coriander 1 tsp
4 g	Sweet paprika 1/2 tbsp
400 g	Tinned chopped tomatoes (400 g tin) 1 tin, with its juice
50 g	Water half a small glass, for rinsing the tin
4 g	Fine salt 1/2 heaped tsp, reserving a pinch for the eggs
220 g	Eggs 4 eggs
160 g	Bread (baguette or country loaf) a generous third of a loaf, or 4 thick slices, for mopping up the sauce

Method

Cut the mild green peppers into 1 cm rings, along with the deseeded hot chilli if using. Peel and crush the garlic in a garlic press; allow 3 minutes for this preparation. Heat the oil over a medium-high heat in a 28 cm sauté pan with a lid and add the whole merguez. Brown for 5 minutes, turning two or three times, until coloured and releasing red fat.
Transfer the merguez to a plate and cut into 4 cm pieces. Once browned, they will hold together; cutting them raw would let the filling escape into the oil. Leave all the fat in the pan, as it flavours the ojja. Reduce the heat to medium, add the peppers and cook, stirring, for 6–8 minutes until tender with coloured edges. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute without letting it brown.
Add the tomato purée, harissa, caraway, coriander and paprika and stir for 1 minute until the paste darkens and glistens. Add the chopped tomatoes, rinse the tin with the water and pour that in too. Add the salt, reserving a pinch for the eggs. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for 10–12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened: a spoon drawn through the sauce should leave a trail for 2 seconds, and red oil should bead on the surface. The sauce should still flow and coat a spoon; if it sticks or becomes pasty, add 50 g hot water.
Return the merguez to the sauce over a low heat for 2 minutes. Crack the 4 eggs into the sauce, each into a ramekin first to avoid any shell, and add a pinch of salt to each. Wait 1 minute until the whites begin to turn opaque, then gently draw them through the sauce with a fork in 4 or 5 strokes, keeping the yolks intact: the sauce should be marbled with white. Cover and cook over a low heat for 2–3 minutes until creamy, with yolks that are still runny when pierced. For whole eggs, shakshuka-style, make 4 wells instead and cook covered for 5–7 minutes.
Serve immediately, either in the pan in the centre of the table or in deep plates, with two eggs and half the merguez each, and bread for mopping up the sauce.

Lighter version

Kosher merguez sausages, beef or beef and lamb : 220 g
Extra virgin olive oil : 10 g
Bread (baguette or country loaf) : 100 g

Use two merguez per person instead of three (4 sausages of 55 g), just one tablespoon of oil, as the sausages release enough fat, and a quarter of a loaf. Keep the same sauce and eggs.

On your plate

Recipe

1099 kcal · protein 49 g · carbs 64 g · fat 70 g

Quantities per person

165 g Kosher merguez sausages, beef or beef and lamb
10 g Extra virgin olive oil
75 g Long mild green peppers (Anaheim or felfel)
7.5 g Hot green chillies
10 g Garlic
15 g Double-concentrated tomato purée
10 g Harissa
1.5 g Ground caraway
1 g Ground coriander
2 g Sweet paprika
200 g Tinned chopped tomatoes (400 g tin)
25 g Water
2 g Fine salt
110 g Eggs
80 g Bread (baguette or country loaf)

Cooking tips

In summer, replace the tin with 500 g very ripe tomatoes, coarsely grated so that the skin remains in your hand, and simmer for 5 minutes longer. Without merguez, egg ojja is an everyday Tunisian supper: use 6 eggs and an extra 1 tsp caraway. The sauce without eggs keeps in the fridge for 3 days; reheat and add the eggs just before serving.

Equipment : 28 cm sauté pan with a lid, garlic press

Ojja bil merguez, a bistro dish and home supper shared by Jewish and Muslim Tunisians: red sauce with caraway, coriander and harissa, long green peppers, eggs cracked in and drawn through the sauce, and bread.