Shakshuka is a North African dish. The word itself comes from the Arabic for "mixture" or "all shaken up", and its origins trace back to Berber cooking. In Tunisia it has never been a trend or a brunch-menu discovery — it is everyday food, cooked in homes, eaten at any hour, and never fussed over.
What makes Tunisian shakshuka different
The version most of us know from restaurant brunch menus is essentially eggs poached in a smooth, cumin-heavy tomato sauce. The Tunisian original is a rougher, more vegetable-forward affair — and several things set it apart.
In Tunisia, the peppers matter as much as the tomatoes. The base is a slow-cooked tangle of sweet peppers, onions and garlic, with tomatoes binding rather than dominating. Heat comes from harissa — Tunisia's great chilli paste — added at the table as much as in the pan, so each person tunes their own plate. And crucially, the olive oil is not a cooking medium but an ingredient. Tunisia is one of the world's great olive oil producers, and a proper shakshuka carries a generous measure of extra virgin olive oil through the sauce, with more drizzled over at the end.
The eggs, for what it's worth, are optional. In Tunisian homes, shakshuka appears just as often as a side to grilled fish or chicken, spooned over bread, or folded through a tuna sandwich — of which more below.
The pot-to-pan shortcut: Moulins Mahjoub
Making the base from scratch takes the better part of an hour of chopping and slow reduction. It's a lovely Sunday project. It is not a Tuesday-night one.
This is where Moulins Mahjoub's Tunisian Shakshuka earns its place on the pantry shelf. The Mahjoub family have farmed the Medjerda Valley in northern Tunisia for generations, and everything they make follows the same principle: traditional farming methods, sun-drying rather than industrial processing, and no additives of any kind.
Their shakshuka is exactly what you would make yourself with a Tunisian grandmother supervising: tomatoes, onions, sweet peppers, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, sun-dried peppers and salt. Nothing else — no sugar, no thickeners, no preservatives. The sun-dried tomatoes and peppers are the clever part: they give the jar the deep, concentrated sweetness that normally only comes from long, patient reduction.
It comes in two sizes — 200g (perfect for two servings with eggs) and 340g (a family pan, or a base for the week).
Ten-minute Tunisian shakshuka with eggs
Serves 2
- Warm a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a small frying pan over medium heat.
- Add a jar of Mahjoub shakshuka and a splash of water. Simmer for 3–4 minutes until it bubbles gently.
- Make two wells in the sauce and crack an egg into each. Cover and cook 4–6 minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks still soft.
- Finish with a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil, a scatter of parsley, and a dab of harissa if you like heat.
- Serve straight from the pan, with warm bread for scooping. Nobody in Tunisia uses cutlery for this if bread is available.
A Tunisian extra virgin olive oil for the finishing drizzle keeps the whole dish on home soil.
Three more ways to use the jar
The Tunisian tuna toast. Spread shakshuka generously on toasted sourdough, top with good tinned tuna and a thread of extra virgin olive oil. This is a close cousin of the fillings you'd find in a Tunisian fricassé or casse-croûte sandwich, and it makes an outrageous lunch for something that takes ninety seconds.
Alongside the grill. Warm gently and serve as a side to grilled fish, chicken or lamb chops — the role it plays most often in Tunisia itself.
The instant mezze. Straight from the jar at room temperature, as part of an aperitivo spread with olives, bread and whatever else is in the fridge. It holds its own next to far fussier dips.
A note on the producer
Moulins Mahjoub is one of the quiet greats of Mediterranean food. From their base in Tebourba, the family grows and mills their own olives, sun-dries their own tomatoes and peppers, and makes everything — from harissa to sun-dried tomato spread to this shakshuka — with methods that predate the word "artisan" becoming a marketing term. . You can browse everything we import from them on our Moulins Mahjoub collection page.
FAQ
Where does shakshuka come from? Shakshuka is a North African dish — the name comes from the Arabic for "mixture", with roots in Berber cooking. In Tunisia it remains an everyday staple, made with sweet peppers, tomatoes, olive oil and harissa.
Is the Moulins Mahjoub shakshuka spicy? No — it's built on sweet peppers and tomatoes, so it's rich rather than hot. Tunisians add heat separately with harissa, which means everyone at the table controls their own spice level.
Do I need to cook it? It's ready to eat, so you can serve it cold or at room temperature as a dip or mezze. For shakshuka with eggs, simply warm it in a pan first.
Is it ree from additives? Yes. It contains only tomatoes, onions, sweet peppers, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, sun-dried peppers and salt.