Tunisian Mechouia with Tuna, Eggs, and Charred Peppers
Red peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes blackened under the broiler, peeled and chopped coarse with garlic, cumin, and coriander, then piled onto a platter with olive oil, flaked tuna, olives, and quartered eggs.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Mechouia means grilled, and in Tunisia the vegetables for this go straight onto charcoal until they are more black than red. A broiler gets you close enough that I have stopped feeling apologetic about it. What matters is that the peppers are properly burnt rather than merely soft, because that char is the entire flavor of the dish, and that you chop everything by hand on a board instead of using a food processor. This is a salad in the way that a good soup is a soup: it is a whole dinner, and it is one of the few I know that tastes better at room temperature.
The pleasure of eating it is in the layers. Underneath is the smoky, oily, slightly sweet vegetable base, spiked with garlic and cumin and enough cayenne to make you notice. Then the tuna in large flakes, salty and firm, then the eggs, which soften the heat, then black olives and a lot of parsley. Some of the vegetables stay in recognizable pieces and some have collapsed into a rough paste, and that unevenness is what makes each forkful different from the last. Lemon squeezed over just before it goes to the table wakes all of it up.
I make this in high summer when peppers are cheap and it is too hot to think about the oven for long, and again in February when I want something that tastes like sun. It can be made entirely ahead, which is rare and useful, and the vegetable base keeps for days and only improves. Bring it to the table on the widest platter you own, with the eggs and olives arranged rather than stirred in, and let people build their own forkfuls.
Ingredients
- 4 red bell peppers (about 1 lb 2 oz)
- 1 medium eggplant (about 9 oz)
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 3 (5 oz) cans tuna packed in olive oil, drained
- 4 large eggs
- 1 small onion
- 4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
- 1/3 cup black olives, pitted
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin, plus more for dusting
- 1/2 tsp cayenne, or 1 tsp harissa
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
- scant 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Char the vegetables: Heat the broiler with a rack about 6 inches from the element. Put the whole peppers, the whole eggplant, the tomatoes, the unpeeled onion halved, and the unpeeled garlic cloves on a foil-lined sheet pan. Broil 18 to 25 minutes, turning the peppers and eggplant every 5 minutes, until the peppers are blistered black on all sides and the eggplant has fully collapsed. Pull the tomatoes and garlic out earlier, at about 10 minutes, once they have split and softened.
- Steam and peel: Put the peppers and eggplant in a bowl and cover it tightly for 10 minutes. The trapped steam loosens the skins. Peel the peppers, pulling the blackened sheets away with your fingers, and tear out the stems and seeds. Scoop the eggplant flesh away from its skin with a spoon. Squeeze the garlic out of its papery jackets. Do not rinse anything under the tap, since you will wash away the smoke along with the char.
- Boil the eggs: While the vegetables steam, lower the eggs into boiling water and cook 9 minutes for firm yolks that are still bright. Move them straight into cold water, then peel and quarter them. Nine minutes gives you a yolk that is set through with no gray ring around it.
- Chop and season: Pile the peeled peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, onion, and garlic onto a large board and chop them together with a heavy knife until you have a coarse, uneven mixture with some pieces still recognizable. Scrape it into a bowl with any juices, then stir in 2 tbsp of the olive oil, the coriander, cumin, cayenne, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper. Taste and adjust the heat.
- Build the platter: Spread the mixture over a wide platter, leaving it rough rather than smoothing it flat. Heap the drained tuna in large flakes down the center, arrange the quartered eggs and the olives around the edges, and scatter the parsley over everything. Finish with the last tablespoon of olive oil and a dusting of cumin, and serve it warm or at room temperature.
Variations
- With preserved lemon: Chop a quarter of a preserved lemon rind into the vegetable base for a sharper, saltier version that is common in Tunis.
- Caraway and mint: Add a teaspoon of ground caraway with the coriander, which is the traditional pairing, and scatter torn mint over the platter with the parsley.
- Grilled sardines: Swap the tuna for whole grilled sardines laid across the top, which is how this often arrives at a table by the sea.
- Green peppers: Use a mix of long green peppers and red bells, which gives the salad a grassier, less sweet edge.
Storage & Leftovers
The chopped vegetable base keeps five days in a sealed container in the refrigerator with a film of olive oil over the surface, and it is better on day two than on day one once the garlic and cumin have spread through it. Store it without the tuna, eggs, or parsley.
There is nothing to reheat here, which is part of why I like it. Take the base out of the refrigerator forty minutes before you want to eat, since cold flattens the smoke and the olive oil goes cloudy and stiff. Stir it once it has come up to room temperature, add fresh lemon, then build the platter.
The base freezes well for three months and is worth doubling for that reason alone, because charring peppers is the same amount of work whether you do four or eight. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and pour off any water that has separated before you season it again.
Notes & Tips
- Burn the peppers properly: Blistered is not enough. You want the skins black and papery across most of the surface, because that is where the smoke comes from and the flesh underneath does not scorch.
- Cover the bowl to peel: Ten minutes of trapped steam does the peeling for you. Without it you will be picking at stubborn skin for twenty minutes and tearing the flesh apart.
- Chop by hand: A food processor turns this into a smooth dip in about four seconds. The texture of mechouia is the whole point, and a heavy knife on a board is what gives you it.
- Keep the juices: Everything that runs out onto the board goes into the bowl. That liquid is concentrated and sweet, and pouring it down the drain is the most common way to end up with a flat-tasting salad.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- The peppers, the tuna, and the eggs are what turn a plate of vegetables into a meal. The charred peppers and eggplant carry the fiber and nearly all the flavor, the tuna brings the protein in big flakes, and the eggs sit between them and soften the heat.
- Red peppers hold a surprising amount of vitamin C even after a hard char, and the deep red pigment is carotenoid, which the olive oil poured over the platter helps your body absorb.
- Canned tuna packed in oil flakes into large firm pieces and carries a dense amount of protein along with the omega-3 fats that oily fish are known for.
- Eggs boiled to a firm yellow yolk bring choline and vitamin D, and quartered over a spicy platter like this they do the job cool dairy does elsewhere, taking the edge off the cayenne.
- Cumin, coriander, garlic, and a good deal of olive oil are the seasoning here, and the lemon squeezed over at the end is what keeps a dish this smoky and oily from ever feeling heavy.
- As you eat, chase a different combination each time, some tuna with an olive, some egg with the smokiest corner of the peppers, and notice how a plate you did not have to keep hot changes the pace of the meal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use jarred roasted peppers?
You can, and it turns an hour into fifteen minutes, though you lose most of the smoke. If you go that way, drain them thoroughly, char the eggplant on its own under the broiler so the dish still has some burnt edge to it, and add a little extra cumin.
What if I have a gas burner or a grill?
Both are better than a broiler. Set the peppers directly on the grate over a live flame and turn them with tongs until they are black all over, about 10 minutes. Eggplant does well on a grill too and picks up more smoke than an oven can give it.
Is this hot?
As written it has a warm hum rather than real heat. Tunisians would use harissa and rather more of it. Start with half the cayenne, taste after everything is mixed, and add from there. Remember that the heat comes up as the salad sits.
Can I make it without the tuna?
Yes. Double the eggs and add a can of drained chickpeas, and you have a good vegetarian platter. If you keep the tuna, the kind packed in olive oil flakes into much larger pieces than water-packed, which is what you want here.