Kefta With Egg and Tomato

This dish is North Africa's version of fast food. It is predominantly sold in train and bus stations. It is cooked on the spot and eaten right out of the pan with a chunk of bread. Despite the eggs in the dish, it's not meant for breakfast. We eat this as a light dinner.

The key spice ingredient in here is the ras el hanout, a delicious spice blend from North Africa and the Middle East. If you can't find any, you can easily make it yourself. I have modified an old article on spice blends to include this fabulous blend: spice blends.

Typically this calls for meatballs made from ground lamb, but I have adapted the recipe to use soy wadi, those great little meat-like chunks first discussed here. Instead of making meatballs from scratch, I use wadi cooked in a strong broth. In fact, I used the Shish Kabob recipe as the basis for the kefta.

Kefta with Egg and Tomato

Ingredients

Prepared wadi from this recipe
4 eggs
1 t ground cinnamon
parsley
2 T olive oil
1 14-oz can chopped tomatoes, undrained
2 t sugar
1 t ras el hanout
salt and black pepper to taste

Steps

1. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet. Fry the wadi shish kabobs until browned all over.

2. Stir in the tomatoes, sugar, and ras el hanout. Bring to a boil and cook for a few minutes to reduce the liquid. Season with salt and pepper.

3. make room in the mixture to add the eggs. Crack open the eggs in the spaces. Cover the pan, reduce heat, and cook for several minutes until eggs have reached the desired doneness.

4. Sprinkle parsley liberally and serve. Goes well with chunks of crusty bread.