Tunisian Chickpea Stew (Lablabi)

Lablabi is a traditional Tunisian chickpea soup or stew, commonly enjoyed as a hearty and comforting street food. The dish primarily consists of tender cooked chickpeas served in a flavourful broth, typically seasoned with cumin, garlic, and harissa. It’s usually served over small pieces of stale crusty bread and enjoyed with a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and garnished with a variety of toppings, such as chopped hard-boiled eggs, olives, capers, preserved lemon. These toppings add texture, colour, and additional layers of flavour to the dish.

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Ingredients

onion 1 (chopped)
garlic cloves 8 (crushed)
lemon 1 (juice)
chickpeas 1200 g
bay leaf 2
cumin seeds 1 tsp
ground cumin 1 tsp
ground coriander 2 tsp
paprika 1 tsp
harissa paste 2 tbsp
egg 4
ciabatta roll 4 (torn)
fresh parsley 30 g (chopped)
capers 1 tbsp

Method

Prep the ingredients

Peel and finely chop the onion. Peel and crush the garlic cloves. Juice the lemon.

Cook the stew

Place the chickpeas and the chickpea liquid from the tin into a large saucepan over a medium heat. Bring the chickpeas to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
While the chickpeas are simmering, heat a dash of oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the bay leaves, onion, cumin seeds and garlic. Sauté for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes add the cumin, ground coriander, paprika and season to taste with salt and pepper, cook for 2 minutes.
Add the sauteed onion mix to the pot of chickpeas, stir to combine.
Remove ¼ of the chickpeas from the saucepan, mash to a paste (you can use a fork) and return to the saucepan.
Add the harissa and lemon juice and simmer for 10 minutes. If there’s not enough liquid in the saucepan, add a splash of water.

Boil the eggs

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan (this is for toasting your ciabatta).
While the stew is simmering, boil the eggs in salted water - 10 minutes for hard boiled, 6-7 minutes for soft boiled and 4-5 for runny.
Once the time is up, gently place the eggs into a bowl of cold water and leave for a few minutes, this will help with peeling them.

Prep the rest of the ingredients

Tear the ciabatta into bite size pieces, drizzle with oil and toast in the oven for 2-3 minutes.
Chop the fresh parsley.

Plate up

Plate up the Chickpea Stew - start with the toasted ciabatta pieces, top with the *stew and then follow with the boiled eggs, fresh parsley and a scattering of capers. You can also drizzle some olive oil** to finish.

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