Middle Eastern Dips and Sauces: Tunisian Grilled Salad

Ingredients:

3 green bell peppers

3 red chili peppers (like red fresno)

2 tomatoes (or 3 small)

1 onion, peeled and quartered (leave stem on to help hold it together)

3 cloves garlic

1 Tbsp caraway seeds (optional)

1 tsp salt

Method:

Grill the tomatoes, bell peppers, chili peppers, and onion over medium heat. Remove each vegetable after it is cooked through and charred. The onion will take the longest. The entire process will take somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, mash together the garlic, caraway seeds, and salt until it forms a paste.

Tip: If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you could try crushing the garlic and using half ground caraway and half whole caraway seeds. The garlic might have more bite this way, though, because the pieces will be bigger.

This is how mine looked after a good pound.

Peel and roughly chop all the grilled veggies. Add them to the bowl of a food processor with the garlic mixture (you may want to stir in the garlic mixture to taste; it is extremely potent). Pulse several times until chunky and well mixed.

Add in the garlic mixture and season with salt, to taste.

Refrigerate about an hour before serving.

Serving:

If preferable use the grill salad as a dip or here is the original serving way:

Squeeze lemon juice over the top, drizzle with a happy stream of olive oil. Pile on the tuna, then garnish with eggs, olives, and lemon wedges.

Serve with pita bread.