Slata mechouia, the smoky salad that earns its place at every summer table

Light the grill for the fish or the merguez, and half of Tunisia's best summer salad is already on its way. Slata mechouia begins with fire, with green peppers and tomatoes left on the flame until the skins blister and blacken, and that char is the whole point. It is the taste of a Tunisian summer, cheap, generous and built around whatever the grill is already doing.

What it is

Mechouia means grilled, and the salad is exactly that, a soft tangle of flame cooked peppers, tomatoes and garlic, peeled, chopped and dressed with olive oil and a little caraway. It sits somewhere between a salad and a dip, scooped with bread, spread under a piece of tuna, or served as one plate among many to open a meal. Every family makes it slightly differently, hotter or milder, smoother or chunkier, and that drift is part of its charm. The version below is a reliable starting point that you can bend to your own table.

Recipe: slata mechouia

Serves four as a starter. Active time around 30 minutes.

Ingredients

• 4 green peppers, the long pale variety if you can find them
• 2 to 3 hot green chillies, to taste
• 4 ripe tomatoes
• 3 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more to finish
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds, ground
• Salt, to taste
• To top: tinned tuna in oil, black olives, capers, a boiled egg

Method

1. Grill the peppers, chillies, tomatoes and garlic over a flame or under a hot grill, turning, until the skins are blackened and blistered and the flesh has softened.
2. Put the peppers and chillies in a bowl, cover, and leave to steam for ten minutes, which loosens the skins. Peel everything, including the tomatoes and the garlic.
3. Chop the lot finely by hand for texture, or pulse briefly for a smoother salad. Avoid a purée.
4. Stir through the olive oil, ground caraway and salt. Taste and adjust the heat and the salt.
5. Spread on a plate, finish with a thread of olive oil, and top with flaked tuna, olives, capers and wedges of boiled egg. Serve with good bread.

A note on the peppers. The flavour lives in the char, so take the skins further than feels comfortable, almost to black, then peel them away. A spoon of harissa stirred in at the end pushes it toward the hotter, southern style if that is your preference.

Shahya Tayyba !!