Kafteji, Tunisian fried vegetables is a very popular dish in Tunisia. It’s a popular vegetarian side dish to make at home, but it’s also sold in many fast-food restaurants. This Tunisian mouthwatering food is a perfect combination of the softness of vegetables and the punch of spicy harissa. Below you find the recipe to create your bowl of delicious Kafteji Tunisian fried vegetables. Serve it with fresh bread, fries, and maybe liver or merguez sausages.
What is a dish Kafteji –Tunisian fried vegetables?
Kafteji is a traditional Tunisian dish and also popular street food. In Tunisia, you will find small fast-food restaurants that sell only Kafteji. Usually, the Kafteji is served on the plate, with bread, and fries on the side. Another way to serve it is bread filled with Kafteji and fries. This rather simple dish is unbelievably delicious! It’s also unhealthy and pretty heavy, so one dish of Kafteji will keep you satisfied throughout the day. On your visit to Tunisia, you need to eat this dish. It’s mandatory.
Kafteji is made of various vegetables: potatoes, pumpkin, garlic, tomato, and green peppers. Some people like to add zucchini, onion, or eggplant. The vegetables are fried separately and smashed together with fried eggs. Then the mixture is seasoned with homemade harissa, olive oil, caraway, and salt. Garnished with chopped parsley and red onion. Served with bread and fries.
What to serve with Kafteji Tunisian fried vegetables?
Kafteji is quite versatile as it can be a main or side dish. It also works perfectly inside the sandwich or baguette. Serve it as a dip and scoop it with a piece of bread or crackers. Make Kafteji dish part of lunch, snack, or dinner. Or add it to your get-together servings.
Therefore, when cooking the Kafteji, make a big batch for once. On the first day, offer it as a side dish with fries and fried fish, liver, chicken, or spicy sausages. On the second day, fill up sandwiches with the rest of Kafteji and leftover meat. Serve with a fresh salad.
On top of all of this, feel free to edit the recipe for your own needs. The dish itself is gluten-free, and if you remove the eggs, it will be also vegan. Kafteji is a perfect dish to use food remains. In case, you have a half of red bell pepper, three stems of scallions, and one carrot in the fridge. You can perfectly well add those into your Kafteji. If the spicy food is your thing add a couple of spoons more harissa and maybe roasted chili. Skip all the spicy ingredients if the heat in a dish isn’t for you.
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Cooking methods for Kafteji Tunisian fried vegetables
Traditional Kafteji is made of deep-fried vegetables. All the vegetables are fried in oil separately, and the eggs are pan-fried with plenty of oil. As you might guess the outcome is very delicious as well as unhealthy. In Tunisia, I love to eat the traditional Kafteji, and as I am not eating it every day, I don’t mind that it’s not healthy. Preparing the traditional Kafteji at home is easy. It takes some time, and of course, the house will smell like a fried oil for a while. (However, the delicious outcome is worthy of all the hustle)
When I prepare Kafteji Tunisia fried vegetables at home. I prefer frying the vegetables in the oven. It’s healthier, faster and cooking a big batch is also easier. All the vegetables are fried in the oven except tomatoes and eggs. Below, you will find the recipe how to make oven-fried Kafteji.
A really similar dish to Kafteji is Tunisian food called Tastira. It’s the same, but the only difference is that when cutting the vegetables, the vegetable pieces are left a bit bigger in Tastira.
Ingredients for Kafteji Tunisian fried vegetables?
Pumpkin- Butternut Squash
As Halloween is approaching and it’s time to think of delicious recipes that include pumpkin. In this recipe, we use oven-baked butternut squash. The cooked pumpkin is cut into small pieces with the other ingredients. The butternut squash is a great ingredient as it’s full of potassium and it’s a good source of fibers.
Potato
In this recipe, the potato is creating a balance among the flavors. You can decrease the number of potatoes in this recipe if you wish. And happens to be that deep-fried potatoes are yummy!
Green pepper
The Tunisian Kafteji is spicy. In this food, Tunisian people use green peppers that are long and slim and have a punch of heat! Similar to Anaheim peppers. If your peppers aren’t spicy, you can add jalapeno peppers too. If you don’t like spicy food, use green bell pepper instead.
Tomato
In this Kafteji recipe tomatoes are fried on the pan with vegetable oil and seasoned with homemade harissa. If you don’t have homemade harissa, you can use normal harissa and add one sliced garlic glove.
Garlic
I love the flavor of oven-roasted garlic. The golden and caramelized garlic is a perfect addition to your Kafteji. Wrap the garlic into the foil. Roast it in the oven at the same time as the other vegetables cook. Squeeze fully cooked and softened garlic cloves out of the heads.
Egg
Eggs are fried with the same pan as the tomatoes. Remove the fully cooked tomatoes from the pan. Add some vegetable oil and fry the eggs. This way the eggs taste super good.
Harissa
Harissa is an essential part of Tunisian cuisine. This Tunisian hot chili pepper paste adds heat to the dish. In this recipe, I use homemade harissa that is stronger in taste than the canned harissa. If you don’t find homemade harissa from the grocery store, you can also use the canned harissa. I highly recommend buying a jar of harissa. But you can substitute harissa with other chili sauce, fresh chili, chili flakes, or cayenne pepper.
Olive oil
Tunisian olive oil is extremely delicious. In this dish, it’s balancing the flavors and heat. Next time when buying olive oil, check if you find Tunisian olive oil from your local grocery store. Tunisia is exporting a lot of olive oil so the chances are high that you will find it from your country too.
Recipe Kafteji- Tunisian fried vegetables
Servings: 4 side dishes
Total preparation time: 1 hour
Ingredients for Kafteji- Tunisian fried vegetables
6 small potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces
300g butternut squash, peeled and cut into pieces
1 big tomato, cut into slices
Half of the garlic (about 6 cloves), wrapped in foil
3 green long peppers
3 eggs
Vegetable oil
Season:
Salt
2 tbsp olive oil
Ca. 2 tbsp homemade harissa
Optional seasoning:
Pinch of caraway
Optional garnish:
Chopped parsley and red onion
Black olives
French Fries
How to cook Kafteji- Tunisian fried vegetables
- Heat the oven to 200 degrees C.
- Peel potatoes and butternut squash and cut in pieces. Place the vegetables on the baking tray that is cover with parchment paper. Season the vegetables with vegetable oil and a pinch of salt.
- Wash the green peppers and wrap the garlic cloves into the foil. Add these to the same tray with the other vegetables. Bake in the oven at 200 degrees C for 30-40 minutes until the vegetables are softened. Transfer the cooked vegetables and squeeze garlic cloves into the bowl.
- Meanwhile, cut the tomato into 6 pieces. Add vegetable oil and the cut tomato into the frying pan. Cook the tomato until soften and looks like tomato sauce with big chunks. Add 1 tsp of harissa and mix. Then transfer the mixture into the bowl with other vegetables. Add to the same frying pan some vegetable oil and crack 3 eggs. Fry until the egg white becomes firm but still the yolk is slightly runny. Transfer the eggs into the bowl with other vegetables.
- Season the vegetable and egg mixture with olive oil and harissa. Then take two long knives and use those as a scissor to cut the vegetables. Basically, you are pulling the knives in opposite directions. Cut until the mixture becomes quite mushy.
- Check the seasoning. Add salt, harissa, olive oil, and caraway if needed.
- Garnish with chopped parsley and red onion
- Serve with fried liver and fresh bread. And now enjoy a plate of Kafteji Tunisian fried vegetables!
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