Morroccan Style Baked Eggs (Dairy, Lactose and Gluten Free)

This recipe is for Morroccan style baked eggs, which is a dish I’ve wanted to cook for ages but I haven’t got a saucepan suitable for this recipe as you need a pan that can be used on the hob and in the oven, but I was at my parents and took the opportunity to make this dish. I served it with tuscan potatoes which is my new favourite way of having potatoes because they taste gorgeous!

- 1 Onion

- 1 Garlic Clove

- 1 can of Chickpeas 

- 2 cans of Chopped Tomatoes
- 1 Courgette chopped into small chunks

- Half a bag of baby spinach 

- 1 teaspoon each of cumin and paprika
- A pinch of cayenne 
- 200ml vegetable stock 

- 3 eggs (or one egg per person, this recipe would work for 4 people but I was only cooking for 3) 

1. The first thing I did when starting cooking was to start heating up vegetable oil in my pan, as this is a large pan it takes a while to heat up fully so if you have a smaller pan this step won't be too important. I then finely chopped my onion and garlic up and added this to my pan to soften for a good 10 minutes as undercooked onion in food is one thing I really cannot stand. The photo shows the onion and garlic frying in ground coriander but in hindsight I think this dish would definitely work better not incorporating the coriander here but I would add fresh chopped coriander when serving at the end. 

2. After frying the onion and garlic until soft, I added a whole can of Chickpeas, liquid included, and then cooked the chickpeas for 10 minutes. Once softened I then mashed approximately a third of the chickpeas as this thickens up the sauce. 

3. Now I added the chopped tomatoes and the Courgette, which I had thickly sliced and then quartered. I then added the cumin, paprika and cayenne spices, I only added a pinch of cayenne but if you like it a bit hotter, feel free to add more! And then the 200ml of vegetable stock, I use the Vegan Boullion but take your pick of the many stocks on offer, and then leave to cook down for 20 minutes.

4. After letting the Courgette cook and all the flavours come together, as well as letting the sauce thicken up, I then let a good handful of baby spinach wilt into the tomato stew. Now it’s time to add the eggs. To do this I made a dip or a well in the sauce and broke the egg into the pan, which in theory would fill the well I had made and look nice and neat. In theory,  one of the eggs were bigger than my well and decided to spread over to the other egg, but just because it didn’t look perfect it still tasted great! I then put the entire dish in the oven for about 5-10 minutes at 180°C and then finished it off under the grill just to set the top of the eggs, the oven may do this for you so you don’t need to put it under the grill so just keep an eye on the eggs for this stage. Then sprinkle over the chopped fresh coriander and serve.

I served this dish with Tuscan style potatoes, which are very quick and easy to do if you also want to use these as a side to those baked eggs. Simply part boil halved baby potatoes and then roast in olive oil, chopped garlic and rosemary for approximately 20 minutes at 180°C, turning the potatoes regularly so each side goes crispy.

If you make this dish yourself then I hope you enjoy it and find it as tasty as I did, and please feel free to take a photo and tag me on Instagram so i can see! My Instagram is @breakfast_at_hollys, which also please follow for foodie photos and updates!