Tunisian recipe
How to make Slata mechouia (grilled salad)
سلاطة مشوية
All of Tunisia
Peppers, tomatoes, onions and garlic are grilled until blackened, peeled and chopped or pounded together with olive oil, caraway and coriander seed. It is usually served cold with tuna, olives and hard-boiled eggs, and eaten with bread.
Ingredients
- 4 green or red peppers (use 1 or 2 hot green chillies among them if you like heat)
- 4 ripe tomatoes
- 1 onion, halved
- 4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
- 1 teaspoon ground caraway and 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- Juice of 1/2 lemon, and salt
- To serve: 1 small tin of tuna in oil, a handful of black olives, 2 hard-boiled eggs cut into quarters
Method
- Grill the peppers, tomatoes, onion and garlic under a hot grill, on a barbecue or over a gas flame, turning often, until the skins are black and the vegetables are soft (15 to 25 minutes).
- Put the peppers in a bowl, cover and leave for 10 minutes so the skins loosen. Peel all the vegetables and remove the pepper seeds.
- Chop everything finely on a board, or pound it roughly in a mortar, and mix in the caraway, coriander, olive oil, lemon juice and salt.
- Spread the salad on a plate and leave it to cool.
- Top with the tuna, olives and hard-boiled eggs, drizzle with a little more olive oil and serve with bread.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
Its name simply means 'grilled salad', and it is especially popular in summer, when peppers and tomatoes are at their best.
Take the trip to Tunisia
