06/17/2008 Europe/London +0100 BST
Tunisian food is a blend of European, Oriental and desert inhabitant's cooking traditions. Its typical spicy fieriness comes from neighbouring Mediterranean countries and the many civilizations who have ruled - Phoenician, Roman, Arab, Turkish and French. Unlike other North African cuisine, Tunisian food is spicy hot.
Couscous is the national dish of and can be prepared in many different ways. It is cooked in a special kind of double boiler called a couscousiere. Other popular Tunisian dishes include:
Chorba – a kind of soup with lots of pepper.
Brik - tiny parcels of minced lamb, beef, or vegetables and an egg wrapped in thin pastry and deep fried. Brik is very popular, but requires careful eating with your fingers if the egg is not to trickle down your chin.
Bouza - rich and sticky sorghum and hazelnut cake.
Chakchouka - ratatouille with chick peas, tomatoes, peppers, garlic and onions served with a poached egg.
Felfel mahchi - sweet peppers stuffed with meat, usually lamb, and served with harissa sauce.
Guenaoia - lamb or beef stew with chillies, okra, sweet peppers and coriander.
Harissa – a hot red pepper sauce used with almost every dish.
Koucha - whole baby lamb baked in a clay case with rosemary.
Lalabli - rich garlicky soup made with chickpeas.
Makroud - semolina cake stuffed with dates, cinnamon and grated orange peel.
Mechouia - a hors d'oeuvre of grilled sweet peppers, tomatoes and onions mixed with oil lemon, tuna fish and hard-boiled eggs.
Mhalbya - cake made with rice, nuts and geranium water.
Salata batata - a hot potato salad flavoured with caraway seeds.
Samsa - layers of thin pastry alternated with layers of ground roast almonds, and sesame seeds, baked in lemon and rosewater syrup.
Merguez - small spicy sausages.
Tagine ez Zitoun - veal and olive
Tagine Maadnus - spinach
Torshi - turnips marinated with lime juice and served with sauce.
