Mechouia Salad

Everything is grilled over a flame and then ground together, so it is a coarse paste rather than a salad of pieces.

Fish, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

to grill

• 8 long green peppers
• 4 tomatoes
• 2 onions, unpeeled
• 1 whole head of garlic, unpeeled
• 1 aubergine (optional)

the dressing

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon ground caraway
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon harissa
• salt

to finish

• 200 g tinned tuna in oil, drained
• 2 eggs, hard-boiled and quartered
• 12 black olives
• 1 tablespoon capers

Method

1. EVERYTHING IS GRILLED OVER A FLAME AND THEN GROUND TOGETHER, so it is a coarse paste rather than a salad of pieces. Peppers, tomatoes, onions and garlic all go onto a bare flame or under a fierce grill until their skins are blackened, are peeled, and are then chopped together on a board or pounded in a mortar until they become one smoky coarse mass. The word in the name means grilled, and the dish is defined by what the fire does. Diced raw and dressed, the same vegetables make a perfectly good chopped salad with none of the smoke and none of the texture -- and smoke is the entire point.
2. THE SKINS ARE BLACKENED AND THEN REMOVED. Properly black and blistered, then covered in a bowl for ten minutes so the steam loosens them, and peeled. The smoke is already in the flesh; the charred skin itself is bitter and goes in the bin.
3. THE GARLIC AND ONIONS GO ON UNPEELED. Whole, in their skins, which protects them while the outside chars and lets them steam soft inside. Peeled first they simply burn.
4. IT IS CHOPPED OR POUNDED, NEVER BLENDED. On a board with a knife, or in a mortar. The target is a coarse spoonable mass with some texture. A processor gives a thin smooth purée that tastes watery and looks like soup.
5. THE GRILLED VEGETABLES ARE DRAINED BEFORE CHOPPING. They release a lot of liquid as they sit; it is poured off. Left in, the finished salad is a puddle and the oil will not emulsify with it.
6. THE TUNA, EGGS AND OLIVES GO ON TOP AND ARE NOT MIXED IN. Arranged over the surface. The paste underneath is the dish and these are what make it a first course; stirred through, the tuna breaks up and greys the whole bowl.
7. CARAWAY AND HARISSA BOTH GO IN THE DRESSING. The caraway ties it to everything else in this cuisine and the harissa gives the heat. A spoonful of each -- and the harissa is stirred into the oil first so it disperses rather than sitting in lumps.
8. The peppers, tomatoes, UNPEELED onions, UNPEELED garlic head and the aubergine grilled over a bare flame or under a fierce grill until the skins are BLACKENED all over.
9. Covered in a bowl 10 MINUTES, then all the SKINS PEELED OFF and discarded. Stems and seeds removed.
10. The flesh DRAINED in a colander 10 MINUTES and the liquid poured off.
11. CHOPPED TOGETHER on a board with a knife, or pounded, to a COARSE spoonable mass. NOT blended.
12. The harissa stirred into the olive oil, then the vinegar, caraway, coriander and salt, and the lot folded through.
13. Spread in a shallow dish and the tuna, quartered eggs, olives and capers arranged ON TOP, not mixed in.
14. TESTED: it should taste distinctly of smoke and hold its shape on a spoon. Watery means the vegetables were not drained; bland means the skins were not blackened enough.
15. Served at room temperature with bread.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Tunisia · All recipes