This recipe contributed by Asma Ben Romdhane, lecturer in Arabic.  

Kafteji is a popular dish in Tunisia. It is traditionally served with grilled lamb liver or merguez (lamb sausage) or a fried egg. It is a mixture of potatoes, tomatoes, green peppers, eggs, pumpkins and possibly zucchini, all roughly cut, fried then mixed and cut into small cubes. The mixture is then salted, seasoned with tomato sauce and served with finely chopped parsley and onion.

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

Potatos 6 Piece(s)

Onion 1 Piece(s)

Tomatos 6 Piece(s)

Eggplant 1 Piece(s)

Peppers 2 Piece(s)

Fresh and large Eggs 6 Piece(s)

Carvi 1 Teaspoon(s)

Harissa As needed (a north Africa hot paste)

Salt As needed

Oil of Olive As needed

Frying Oil 500 Milliliter(s)

Parsley (fresh) As needed

Preparation:

First of all, peel the potatoes and cut into small cubes as soon as possible. Then rinse and cube the pumpkin and zucchini. Cut the tomatoes in half.

Peel and thinly chop the onion along with parsley.

Frying and cook the Kafteji condiments:

Heat a large frying pan and heat the cooking oil. As soon as it is hot, put the potatoes to cook. Do not stir during cooking, they may stick together. After cooking, remove with a skimmer and place on paper towels. Then move to a large dish.

Put the minced zucchini to cook in the same cooking oil. Take them out with the skimmer and set aside on paper towels.

Do the same with the pumpkins, half tomatoes and peppers.

Return tomatoes and peppers halfway through cooking to cook on the other side. Take them out with the skimmer, drain well and set aside in the serving dish. Once they are cold, take out their skin and throw it away. Take out the seeds of the peppers as well.

Finally, open the eggs one by one in a bowl, avoiding breaking the yolk and frying them like fried eggs, always in the previously used frying oil. Return them halfway through cooking to fry them on the other side.

Mixing everything gently

While cooking the eggs, combine all the vegetables in a large serving dish, season with salt and pepper and mix gently.

Add the fried eggs to the cooked vegetables.

Mix the vegetables together and cut them together using 2 knives like scissors.

Finally , sprinkle with olive oil, and add the spices: 1 teaspoon of carvi and a little harissa (1 to 2 teaspoons) or not at all, but propose, in this case, a ramekin in the middle of the table so that each guest adds according to its tolerance to chilli. Sprinkle with chopped onion and fresh parsley.

Serve with bread

Footnotes:

Serve as is for a vegetarian meal, or accompany with meat or a grilled fish.  This dish is ideal around a barbecue.

Also savor it in sandwich with a lot of harissa if you like it spicy.