Mechouia

Mechouia is peppers and tomatoes grilled until their skins char, then peeled and chopped into a smoky, garlicky salad topped with tuna, egg and olives. Mechoui means grilled, and the whole dish is built to taste like an open flame rather than a raw vegetable chop.

What it really is

Whole peppers and tomatoes char directly over a flame or a hot grill until their skins blister black and blister through, the point at which the flesh underneath has picked up a genuine smokiness a raw or roasted version never gets. Once cooled, the charred skins peel away entirely and the vegetables are chopped, not blended, into a coarse, chunky salad seasoned with garlic and olive oil, finished with tuna, a hard-boiled egg and black olives arranged over the top.

The char has to be real, not a shortcut. A mechouia made from vegetables merely roasted in an oven, skins intact, tastes noticeably flatter; the direct flame contact and the blackened skin that comes with it are what give the dish its smoky depth.

How it is served

• Cold or at room temperature, never hot.
• With crusty bread for scooping, the classic pairing.
• As a starter, often the first thing to arrive at a Tunisian table.

How to write it on the menu

• Flag the egg and the fish from the tuna.
• Say if the vegetables are genuinely flame-charred, since that detail is what separates a proper mechouia from an ordinary grilled pepper salad.
• Note if a vegan version without tuna and egg is available, since the base vegetable salad itself needs neither.