page_title: Tunisian cuisine
section_title: Dishes
hierarchical_section_title: Tunisian cuisine / Dishes
caption_attribution_description: Tunisian sweets
context_page_description: Tunisian cuisine, the cuisine of Tunisia, is a blend of Mediterranean and Berber cuisines. Its distinctive spiciness comes from the many civilizations which have ruled the land now known as Tunisia: Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Spanish, Turkish, Italians, French, and the native Punics-Berber people. Many of the cooking styles and utensils began to take shape when the ancient tribes were nomads. Nomadic people were limited in their cooking implements by what pots and pans they could carry with them. The Tunisian tagine, is very different from the Algerian or Moroccan dish. It is a type of a pie dish, made out of eggs, meat and vegetables, similar to the Italian frittata or the eggah.
  Like many countries in the Mediterranean basin, the Tunisian cuisine is heavily based on olive oil, spices, tomatoes, seafood and meat.
context_section_description: Asida – a sweet gruel pudding.
  Assidat Zgougou – an Aleppo pine pudding.
  Baklawa – layers of thin pastry interspersed with ground pine nuts, almonds, hazelnuts and pistachios, brushed in golden butter, baked and dipped in a honey syrup.
  Bambalouni – fried sweet donut–like cake served with sugar.
  Berber–style lamb stew – A simple stew of lamb cooked with vegetables, such as potatoes and carrots, in a traditional clay pot.
  Bouza – rich and sticky sorghum puree.
  Brik – tiny parcels of minced lamb, beef, or vegetables and an egg wrapped in thin pastry and deep fried.
  Chakchouka – a vegetarian ragout similar to ratatouille with chickpeas, tomatoes, peppers, garlic and onions, served with a poached egg.
  Chorba – a seasoned broth, with pasta, meatballs, fish, etc.
  Felfel mahchi – Sweet peppers stuffed with meat, usually lamb, and served with harissa sauce.
  Fricasse – tiny sandwich with tuna, harissa, olives and olive oil. It bears no similarity to the classic continental European casserole of the same name.
  Guenaoia – Lamb or beef stew with chillies, okra, and spices.
  Houria – cooked carrot salad.
  Kamounia – a beef and cumin stew
  Khobz Tabouna – traditional oven–baked bread. Tunisian Khobz Tabouna is not a flat or pita like bread.
  Koucha – shoulder of lamb cooked with turmeric and cayenne pepper.
  Lablabi – rich garlicky soup made with chickpeas.
  Langues d'oiseaux or "birds' tongues", a type of soup with pasta shaped like rice grains.
  Makroudh – semolina cake stuffed with dates or almonds, cinnamon and grated orange peel.
  Masfouf – sweetened couscous, the Tunisian version of the Moroccan seffa.
  Makboubeh – tomato and pepper stew.
  Makloub – a folded-pizza sandwich, similar to a shawarma, made from pizza dough and filled with minced chicken, cheese, salad, harissa, mayonnaise and other sauces.
  Makoud – potato and meat casserole (similar to a quiche).
  Marqa – slow–cooked stews of meat with tomatoes and olives, somewhat similar in concept to the Moroccan tajine stews.
  Mechouia salad – an hors d'oeuvre of grilled sweet peppers, tomatoes and onions mixed with oil, lemon, tuna fish and hard–boiled eggs.
  Merguez – small spicy sausages.
  Mhalbiya – cake made with rice, nuts and geranium water.
  Mloukhia – a beef or lamb stew with bay leaves. The name is from the green herb used, which produces a thick gravy that has a mucilaginous (somewhat "slimy") texture, similar to cooked okra.
  Noicer pasta – very thin, small squares of pasta made with semolina and all–purpose flour, flavoured with Tunisian Bharat, a blend of ground cinnamon and dried rosebuds.
  Ojja – scrambled egg dish made of tomatoes and mild green chillies supplemented with various meats and harissa.
  Osbane – pieces of animal gut stuffed with meat and offal, a specialty from Monastir.
  Tunisian Salad – diced cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, and onions seasoned with olive oil. Maybe garnished with olives, eggs and tuna. Analogous to the French Niçoise salad and Greek salad.
  Samsa – layers of thin pastry alternated with layers of ground roast almonds, and sesame seeds, baked in lemon and rosewater syrup.
  Shakshouka – a dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, chili peppers, and onions, often spiced with cumin.
  Zitounia – ragout of veal or other meats simmered in a tomato sauce with onions, flavoured with olives.
  Torshi – turnips marinated with lime juice.
  Yo-yo – donuts made with orange juice, deep fried, then dipped in honey syrup.
caption: Tunisian pastries
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