Salata Tounsia

Salata tounsia is diced tomato, cucumber and pepper tossed raw with tuna, hard-boiled egg and olives. It is the everyday starter salad on almost any Tunisian table, plain and quick enough that it appears before nearly every meal without much variation.

What it really is

Tomato, cucumber and pepper are diced small and uniform rather than roughly chopped, tossed raw with a simple olive oil dressing so the vegetables stay crisp and distinct rather than softening into anything resembling a cooked salad. Tinned tuna, wedges of hard-boiled egg and black olives go over the top, turning a plain vegetable chop into something substantial enough to count as a real starter rather than a garnish.

The dice has to be small and even, not rough-cut. Unlike the deliberately chunky char of mechouia, salata tounsia is judged on how neat and fine the vegetable dice is — that precision is part of what makes it a different, plainer dish from its grilled cousin.

How it is served

• Cold, in a shallow bowl, tuna and egg arranged over the top.
• With bread on the side.
• As a starter, almost always the first thing on the table.

How to write it on the menu

• Flag the egg and the fish from the tuna.
• Say if a vegetarian version without tuna is offered, since the vegetable base needs no substitution to work without it.
• Note that it's meant to be simple and fresh rather than elaborately dressed, since that plainness is part of its everyday appeal.