



Dear fellow Chutzpanim,Food in Israel tends to be rather pricey, but not so for some dishes. Like most places, vegetarian options remain the most affordable, but somehow in Israel the prices for veggies can be extremely cheap. Whereas the prices for meat and cheeses sometimes soar to >10 $ / kg (50 ILS), the veggies are usually very affordable, e.g. 5 - 10 ILS (~1.25 - 2.50 $ / kg).*This affordability as well as the simpler kosher rules makes vegetarian options very common in restaurants as well as homes. This novi- chutzpan enjoys making a traditional Israeli dish of north African origin called Shakshuka.Many various recipes can be found on the interweb's series of tubes (I even saw one on the webpage for the Israeli consulate for the US in Chicago ). I learnt my easy recipe from my Towarzysz roommate:Fry an onion and some garlic cloves, add some chopped up bell peppers ( gambas in Hebrew ), chopped tomatoes, a spicy pepper if you desire, add some tomato paste and water to the desired consistence and boil for a bit. Then add eggs to the top:You can gauge the amount of servings you'd like by the total amount of eggs. Then heat until the eggs until their whites denature you have a great dish!Well enjoy, dear Chutzpanim, and be careful with the spices! If you have a favorite Israeli dish you'd like to share, feel free to enter it below!This dish is also a favorite of the extremely beautiful Baobei Funky Feng, second only to glutinous rice:Sauce*For you Yanks, please divide the price by 2.2 to convert to lbs.