Lablabi
“A bowl of slow-cooked chickpeas in their cumin-and-garlic-spiced broth poured over torn day-old bread cubes, topped with a poached egg, olive oil, harissa, capers, lemon juice, and tuna. The Tunisian street-stall winter breakfast and hangover cure; eaten standing at neighborhood lablabi joints.”
Where it comes from
Lablabi is the working-class Tunis breakfast — sold from sidewalk windows where customers bring their own bowl (or borrow the stall's). The dish dates to at least the Ottoman era and is structurally similar to other chickpea-and-bread soups across the Mediterranean (Turkish nohut çorbası, Italian zuppa di ceci). The Tunisian touch is the harissa-and-egg-and-tuna garnish that turns the soup into a complete meal. Eating lablabi from a roadside stall on a cold Tunis morning is a non-tourist Tunisian experience.
On the plate
Spoon dives into bread-soaked broth, picks up creamy chickpea, runny yolk that pours through the soup, lemon-bright tuna flake, briny caper, harissa heat. The bread has dissolved at the bottom and held shape at the top — different textures in one bowl. Each bite is a different combination. Tunis cold morning warmth in liquid form.
How it works
Long chickpea soak + slow cook is structural — overnight hydration breaks starch granules sufficiently for the 75-90 min cook to fully soften without splitting them. The reserved broth becomes the dish's foundation; without keeping it, the resulting soup is thin and flavorless. Adding garlic and cumin late preserves their aromatics; long-simmered garlic loses sharpness.
Variations
Vegetarian lablabi skips tuna. Tuna-free chickpea-only version is the most affordable street-stall variant. Egg-free version exists for Lent. Modern bistro lablabi adds Turkish-style mint and yogurt — controversial. Sfax-style adds preserved lemon.
On the Palate
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
8 steps · Show ↓25 min active · 65 min waiting
How it's made
8 steps · Show ↓- 1720 min
Soak 300 g dried chickpeas in cold water overnight (12 hours). Drain.
- 282 min
Place chickpeas in a large pot with 2 L water + 1 bay leaf + 1 whole onion (peeled) + 1 tsp salt. Bring to boil; reduce to gentle simmer.
- 35 min
Cook 75-90 min until chickpeas are very tender but not mushy. Discard onion and bay leaf. Reserve all the cooking broth (you need it).
- 412 min
While chickpeas cook, prep garnish components: tear 300 g day-old country bread or baguette into 3-cm cubes. Hard-poach or soft-poach 4 eggs (soft-poached is traditional). Flake 100 g oil-packed tuna. Have ready: 2 tbsp capers, 12 black olives, 1 lemon cut in wedges, 4 tbsp olive oil, 4 tsp harissa, chopped parsley.
- 56 min
Spice the broth: add 4 finely chopped garlic, 1 tbsp ground cumin, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp salt (adjust), ½ tsp pepper. Simmer 5 min for flavors to meld.
- 62 min
Assembly per bowl: place a handful of torn bread cubes in the bottom. Ladle hot chickpeas + plenty of broth over the bread — bread should soak.
- 73 min
Top each bowl with: 1 poached egg, 1 tbsp flaked tuna, ½ tsp harissa stirred in, drizzle of olive oil, squeeze of lemon, 1 tbsp capers, 3 olives, sprinkle of chopped parsley.
- 82 min
Diners stir the harissa into the broth and break the egg yolk over the bread. Eat hot with a spoon.
