Slata mechouia
Local name: سلاطة مشوية
A Tunisian salad of fire-charred peppers and tomatoes, hand-chopped with garlic, caraway and olive oil.
Photo: Habib M'henni · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Total
- 50 min
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
Method
- Char the peppers, chillies, tomatoes, onion and garlic directly over a flame or under a hot grill, turning until the skins are blackened and blistered.
- Shut the hot vegetables in a bowl under a plate for 10 minutes; the steam will loosen the skins by itself.
- Peel everything carefully, seed the peppers and chillies, and let the vegetables drain in a sieve for a few minutes.
- Toast the caraway and coriander seeds in a dry pan for 1 minute, then pound them in a mortar with the roasted garlic and a pinch of salt.
- Chop the charred vegetables by hand on a board into small uneven pieces; a food processor would give a purée, which is not the point.
- Mix the chopped vegetables with the spice paste, olive oil, lemon juice and salt.
- Let it stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before serving, with bread and olives.
Mechouia appears everywhere in Tunisia, as a starter or inside a sandwich. Everything rests on the charring: the skins must really blacken to get the signature smoky flavour.
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