Kafteji

Name: Kafteji
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Tunisia
Ingredients: 2 green peppers; 1 aubergine; 2 courgettes; 1 wedge of pumpkin, 200 g; 2 tomatoes; 2 potatoes; 4 eggs; Oil for frying; 1 tsp harissa; 1 tsp ground caraway; Salt and pepper

Local name: كفتاجي

Vegetables fried one by one then chopped on a board with eggs, a Tunisian cheap-eats dish served in an earthenware bowl.

Published on 10 September 2026·Updated on 26 September 2026

Gluten-free#vegetables#fried#eggs#street food#tunisia

AI-generated image, not a photograph of the dish

Prep: 20 min
Cook: 25 min
Total: 45 min
Serves: 4
Difficulty: Easy

Method

Cut each vegetable into even pieces, keeping them apart: they do not cook at the same rate.
Fry the potatoes and pumpkin first, about 8 minutes, then drain.
Fry the aubergine, courgettes and peppers next, 4 to 5 minutes each.
Fry the tomatoes for 2 minutes, then the whole eggs in the same oil.
Gather everything on a board and chop it through with the eggs, without reducing it to a purée.
Season with harissa, caraway, salt and pepper, then serve warm with bread if you are not avoiding gluten.

The move that matters is chopping on a board with a knife, never in a blender. You want pieces you can still recognise, not a purée.

The techniques this recipe uses

Drain and rinse
Canning liquid clouds a sauce and salts it blind: rinse until the water runs clear.

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Nutrition per serving

Calories: 201 kcal
Protein: 11.7 g
Fat: 6.1 g
Carbohydrate: 27.5 g
Fibre: 6.9 g

An estimate computed from the recipe quantities and the USDA food composition database. Real values vary with the products used.

Frequently asked questions

Why fry the vegetables separately?

They do not cook at the same rate. Potato and pumpkin need about 8 minutes, aubergine, courgette and pepper 4 to 5, tomatoes 2. Everything in at once gives you pulped tomatoes and raw potato.

Can I use a food processor to speed up the chopping?

No, the chopping is the point: a knife on a board. You want recognisable pieces, not a puree. A processor turns kafteji into a soup of fried vegetables and the dish disappears.

How do I make it vegan?

Leave out the eggs, which here are fried whole then chopped in with the vegetables. Kafteji still holds together without them, since the fried vegetables, harissa and caraway are what make it; add chickpeas if you want more substance.

Vegetarian Maghreb cooking, with nothing missing
What Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia share — semolina, pulses, olive oil — and how their everyday dishes stand up perfectly well without meat.
Savoury breakfasts around the world, and why
From Egyptian ful to Costa Rican gallo pinto and Turkish menemen, why so many cultures greet the morning with warm, savoury, protein-rich dishes.
The aubergine, one vegetable and ten kitchens
How the aubergine travelled from India to the Mediterranean, what each kitchen made of it, and the techniques that decide the result.

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