Tunisia Starter – Lablabi

To start in Tunisia, we opted for Lablabi! This is a spicy stew-like dish, combining chickpeas and harissa seasoning for a filling and tasty meal.

The recipe came from 196 Flavors and was pretty straightforward to make! The main bulk of the dish can also be made vegetarian by removing the tuna, or vegan by also removing the egg.

The real star of the show is the seasoning mixture, made with a gorgeous blend of harissa, cumin and caraway which really makes this dish stand out. If you have any stale bread lying around at the end of the week, this is also a great way to use it up — it soaks up all the delicious spicy broth (or can help tone down the heat if it’s a little too much!).

Once the chickpeas were cooked and the broth made, it was time to prepare the seasoning mixture and poach the egg. Assembly was simply layering torn bread in a bowl, ladling over the hot broth and chickpeas, then topping with the seasoning mixture, a poached egg and flaked tuna.

Overall this dish was very different to what we’ve made before, and the whole process was stress-free — ideal for a weekend breakfast or lunch. Let us know if you give this a go!