Tuna Tunisienne
I didn’t dare publish this photo before the day’s fast had ended. Doesn’t it look just yummy?
We all know what tuna salad is all about, right? A can of tuna, maybe some pickle, and some mayo, slosh it on the bread and you’re done? If you’re getting fancy, you can grill it?
When I moved to Tunisia, I learned a whole new way to eat tuna – I still add the sweet pickle, but now, I also add a LOT of parsley, a little lemon juice, some finely chopped onion, coarse pepper and salt, and then, just a little mayo.
It has a fresh flavor. You can taste all the individual tastes, but together they are magnificent. If you have any capers, you can throw them in, too. C’est magnifique!
This is how the Tunisians fix their tunafish, in a very common appetizer dish called brik (breek), probably distantly related to the Turkish borek. Sometimes made with just egg, sometimes with tuna and egg, it was the inspiration for my own tuna salad sandwich.
I can actually make brik, but there is no substitute for fresh Tunisian brik, made in Tunisia, with the special very thin brik skins that fry up thin and crisp in the best Tunisian olive oil. The photo is from PromoTunisia.
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Amazina
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Here There and Everywhere 
They both look so delicious (especially the tuna salad) and I am feeling peckish again even though I have only just eaten my futoor!
I’m honored by your visit, Ms. B. Oh! The foods you get to eat during Ramadan! I imagine a little tuna every now and then is a nice change from all the sweets and starches. And I would love to know how to make machboos. Where are you blogging now?
Wow, I am going to try these tomorrow! Please keep up posting more delicious treats!
Margot in Marrakesh, Morocco
margotmystic.wordpress.com
[…] pancake you can get during Ramadan is very close, I think, to the brik skin that you use for the Tuna Tunisienne which, hmmmmmm, could also be made with just about any leftover […]
Thanks, Margot – do they have brik in Marrakesh?
MMmm Yummy
C’mon over, Jewaira, and you bring the brik skins/pancakes, and I will make up the tuna and egg and we’ll have briks! π
Don’t think this is strange, but I am going to Kuwait for 6 weeks later this month for work, and tuna is my main source of protein intake. Is a easily available in grocery stores and for how much?
Sorry for silly question?
REgards
You are SO in luck, Tk, as there are lots of supermarkets here, and the local co-ops, and tuna – in water and in oil – is plentiful here. Many many kinds of seafood, many many great vegetarian dishes. You are in for a thrill.
Ooops. How much. It’s expensive, like $1.20 a can – but we just pay it and say “at least it is available.”