Chef today.. Mohamed Mahdaoui and Al-Brik Zina Al-Sufra.. and dishes for the Tunisian tables in Ramadan, signed by Muhammad Amin 

The Tunisian table in Ramadan is filled with a variety of local dishes that Tunisians are keen to have on the breakfast table, such as couscous and barley soup.

As for the authorities, Tunisians prefer grilled salad, pasta salad, and green salad, and in the evening they like Tunisian sweets such as samsa.

Tunisian cuisine is distinguished by its spicy dishes, most of which contain "harissa" (ground red pepper), which is even added to salads and is also eaten with olive oil, tuna and white bread.

Today, Chef Mohamed Amin offers us a variety of Tunisian dishes, including octopus soup, pasta salad, couscous with lamb, and Tunisian sweets "samsa" with hazelnuts and sesame, while Chef Mohamed Mahdaoui presents in a video how to make the brik "master" of the Tunisian table.

Chef's octopus soup dish from Chef Amin (Al Jazeera)

Octopus soup

Barley soup, freekeh, or shiesh, whose name varies between regions, is one of the indispensable dishes during Ramadan, says Chef Mohamed Amin.

Ingredients:

small pieces of octopus

One and a half tablespoons of tomato paste

a teaspoon of mixed spices

1 tablespoon of red pepper powder

Half a teaspoon of black pepper

Half a teaspoon of turmeric

Fresh garlic (dry/powdered)

salt to taste

crushed barley

dry mint

Method:

Cut the onions and octopus.

Fry the onions and octopus in a little oil.

Add tomatoes, garlic, red pepper, turmeric, black pepper, spices and salt.

Add to the mixture a liter of water, and leave it until the octopus pieces are cooked.

Add the soup, which is (barley, crushed in the form of small granules), and leave it on the fire for 20 minutes.

When the volume of water decreases a little, we remove it from the fire and decorate the soup with dry mint.

Tunisian couscous with lamb as prepared by Chef Amin (Al Jazeera)

Lamb couscous

Couscous is considered a main dish, and it is usually cooked in the middle of Ramadan, Laylat al-Qadr, or on the first night of Ramadan, as desired.

Ingredients:

lamb, half a kilogram of couscous, a cup of chickpeas, carrots, red or green pumpkin, potatoes, green peppers, a spoonful of tomato paste, a cup of vegetable oil, a teaspoon of black pepper, a teaspoon of turmeric, a teaspoon of salt, and a spoonful of red pepper.

Method:

Sprinkle the couscous with a little oil and salt.

Put the ingredients in a saucepan, except for the potatoes and red pumpkin.

We put the couscous in the couscous (a special pot consisting of two layers, one of which is a regular pot in which the soup is placed, on top of it a pot with small holes in which the couscous is placed) to simmer over the soup steam.

When the soup boils, add the potatoes and red pumpkin.

When the meat is cooked, add green pepper, then remove the couscous and soup from the heat, and prepare to serve.

pasta salad

Ingredients:

tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, onions (optional), corn, and boiled pasta.

Method:

Cut all the ingredients in a circular motion, then mix them with boiled pasta, add a tablespoon of olive oil, a little lemon juice, salt and black pepper, and stir well.

Samsa is one of the most famous sweets in Tunisia, according to Chef Amin (Al Jazeera)

Hummus with Hazelnut and Sesame

The samosa is one of the famous sweets in Tunisia, which can be prepared easily without baking it in the oven, and dough flakes (it is called in the Tunisian dialect the name of boiled paper or golash), which are prepared at home or can be bought, and are known in the Arab Mashreq as "sambousek dough".

Ingredients:

100 grams of butter

250 grams of hazelnuts

250 grams of pistachio

250 grams of galangal (sesame)

Two tablespoons of granulated sugar

Aromatic plant water

10 sheets of thin dough

Ashhour Ingredients:

(It is a drop in which the samsa is soaked), and it consists of 500 grams of sugar, a small spoonful of lemon juice and a liter of water.

Method:

Roast the hazelnuts, then peel and chop them into small pieces.

Grind the sesame, then add the powdered sugar and a little of the aromatic plant water, so we get a cohesive dough and divide it into small balls.

Then melt the butter and cut the thin sheets of dough into 4 pieces lengthwise.

We take the bean after the other, and we grease it with oil on both sides, put the filling inside, then fold it in the form of a triangle and close its end.

Half of it on a tray, then put it in the oven for 10 minutes at 180 degrees.

When it turns red, take it out and soak it (we put it for a short time) in the shuhur, decorate it with pistachios or crushed hazelnuts and it is ready to be served.

Al-Brik is not absent from the Ramadan table

Brik is one of the basic Ramadan dishes in Tunisia, and it is one of the appetizers that are not absent from the Ramadan tables. However, its delicious taste made it the master of Tunisian tables in the holy month.

Chef Mohamed Mahdawi: Eggs, parsley, tuna and boiled potatoes are the most important components of the brik (Al Jazeera)

Here are the most important stages of its preparation with Chef Mohamed Mahdaoui, who owns a restaurant specializing in brik, as not a neighborhood or city in Tunisia has a store that sells brik in the old days, which witnesses an unparalleled turnout, but in the month of Ramadan Tunisians prefer making brik at home as a habit Indispensable kitchen.

The first stage:

We put the frying pan on the fire to heat up a little, then grease its surface with a little vegetable oil, then pour a little liquid dough (consisting of flour and starch and a pinch of salt and water) until it covers the bottom of the frying pan, leave it for a few minutes and then raise it when it is cooked and becomes coherent, Then we repeat the ball until we have the number we need.

The second stage:

we prepare the filling, then we boil the potatoes, then we knead them to become coherent, then we cut the parsley leaves into small pieces and we bring the tuna and eggs, and we can add black pepper or any other spices to the mixture according to taste.

Brick is eaten after squeezing half a lemon on it to increase its magical taste (Al-Jazeera)

The third stage:

We pour vegetable oil into the frying pan and let it heat up over a high heat. Then we put the “dough” paper in a flat circular plate and start stuffing it with a tablespoon of mashed potatoes, a spoon of parsley, one egg and a little tuna, then we fold the dough In the form of a semi-circle and leave it to fry in the oil until it changes color, then turn it on the other side until it is completely cooked.

Fourth stage:

We remove the bricks from the fire, and put them in a bowl with holes to get rid of the excess oil, and after a few minutes they will have dried out completely, so we put them in a dish and squeeze half a lemon on them to increase their magical taste.