[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":393},["ShallowReactive",2],{"recipe:lablabi":3,"recipe:country:tunisia":186},{"slug":4,"title":5,"nativeName":6,"pronunciation":7,"countrySlug":8,"region":9,"emoji":10,"summary":11,"intro":12,"story":13,"whyThis":14,"tips":19,"substitutions":26,"variations":39,"serveWith":49,"storage":51,"faq":52,"equipment":68,"baseServings":73,"prepMinutes":74,"cookMinutes":75,"restMinutes":76,"difficulty":77,"course":78,"diet":81,"mainIngredients":84,"ingredients":91,"instructions":146,"nutrition":169,"images":176,"keywords":180,"publishedAt":184,"updatedAt":184,"authorSlug":185},"lablabi","Lablabi (Tunisian Chickpea and Bread Soup)","لبلابي","lab-LAH-bee","tunisia","Tunis","🥣","Stale bread torn into a bowl and buried under cumin-heavy chickpea broth, then built at the table with harissa, tuna, capers, olives, olive oil and a soft egg. Winter breakfast in Tunis.","Lablabi turns two cheap things — dried chickpeas and yesterday's bread — into one of the most satisfying bowls in North Africa. Chickpeas are simmered until soft with a lot of garlic and even more cumin, then ladled with their cooking liquid over torn stale bread so the bread collapses into the broth. Everything after that is assembly: harissa stirred in to taste, a splash of olive oil, flaked tuna, capers, olives, a soft egg broken over the top, lemon squeezed at the last second. It is savoury, garlicky and slightly muddy in the best way, and it costs almost nothing to make.","This is working food, and Tunis has shops that sell nothing else. You go in, hand over your bowl, and watch it built: the counterman tears the bread himself, judges how much broth it needs, and asks how hot you want it. The chickpeas and their liquid are the only fixed part. Everything else is negotiated at the counter, which means no two bowls of lablabi in the same shop are identical, and regulars have standing orders down to the number of olives.\n\nThe name is shared with the Turkish leblebi, meaning roasted chickpeas — one of many food words that travelled with centuries of Ottoman administration — though the Tunisian dish itself is a soup and the Turkish word describes a dry snack. Similar bread-and-broth constructions turn up across the Mediterranean wherever stale bread had to be used up, from Spanish sopas to Italian ribollita. What makes lablabi specifically Tunisian is the seasoning: cumin far past the amount most cuisines consider reasonable, raw garlic pounded into the broth at the end rather than only at the start, and harissa as the adjustable element.\n\nIt is eaten mostly in the colder months and mostly in the morning, and there is a persistent association with the night before — a bowl of lablabi is the standard Tunisian answer to having stayed out too late. The bread should be genuinely stale, dense and dry enough to soak without dissolving instantly; fresh bread turns the whole thing to paste. Anyone who tells you a particular set of toppings is the correct one is describing their own neighbourhood, not a rule.",[15,16,17,18],"Cooks the chickpeas from dry, which is the only way to get the cloudy, starchy broth the dish depends on.","Adds raw pounded garlic at the end as well as whole cloves at the start, the way lablabi shops do.","Bowls are assembled individually so everyone sets their own heat and toppings instead of eating one compromise.","Made almost entirely from store-cupboard ingredients and stale bread nobody wants to throw away.",[20,21,22,23,24,25],"Add salt only once the chickpeas are already tender. Salted early, they stay stubbornly firm no matter how long they simmer.","A quarter teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda in the soaking water softens the skins and gives a creamier broth, especially with older chickpeas.","Do not thin the broth. It should be cloudy and slightly thickened by chickpea starch, not clear — if it looks like water, boil it down for ten minutes.","Tear the bread rather than cutting it. Ragged edges soak unevenly, which gives you both mushy and chewy pieces in the same spoonful, and that contrast is the point.","Cumin here is measured in tablespoons, not pinches. Under-cumined lablabi tastes like plain chickpea soup.","Assemble each bowl immediately before eating. Bread left standing in broth for ten minutes turns into a single soft mass.",[27,31,35],{"original":28,"swap":29,"note":30},"Dried chickpeas","3 × 400 g tins of chickpeas plus 700 ml vegetable stock","Much faster, but the broth lacks body. Simmer the tinned chickpeas in the stock for 20 minutes and mash a handful against the pot to thicken it.",{"original":32,"swap":33,"note":34},"Stale round Tunisian bread","Any dense stale white bread, sourdough or a day-old baguette, oven-dried for 10 minutes","What matters is dryness and structure. Soft sandwich bread disintegrates on contact with the broth.",{"original":36,"swap":37,"note":38},"Tuna and egg","Leave both out and finish with extra olive oil and chopped preserved lemon","The vegan bowl is entirely legitimate — lablabi was poor food long before the toppings became standard.",[40,43,46],{"name":41,"description":42},"Lablabi bil bidh","The egg cracked raw straight into the boiling broth in the bowl, where it cooks in the residual heat and thickens everything as you stir it through.",{"name":44,"description":45},"Sfax-style","Heavier on the tuna and octopus, with more olive oil and often a spoonful of the tomato-and-chilli sauce used for local seafood.",{"name":47,"description":48},"Lablabi with kaddid","Topped with kaddid, Tunisian dried spiced meat, instead of tuna — a winter version from the interior rather than the coast.",[50],"Extra harissa in a saucer, a wedge of lemon, and strong black coffee — this is a breakfast dish as much as a lunch one.","Keep the chickpeas in their broth for up to 4 days in the fridge and never store them with bread in it. The broth thickens as it sits, so loosen it with a little water when reheating and check the salt and cumin again, both of which fade. It freezes well for 3 months in the pot liquid alone; freeze in portions so you can build a single bowl on a cold morning without defrosting the lot.",[53,56,59,62,65],{"question":54,"answer":55},"Do I have to soak the chickpeas overnight?","Overnight soaking gives the most even cooking and the creamiest broth, but a quick soak works: cover with water, boil for two minutes, cover the pot and leave for one hour. Unsoaked chickpeas can be cooked but take two to three hours and often stay unevenly firm.",{"question":57,"answer":58},"What kind of bread should I use for lablabi?","Dense, dry, stale white bread — Tunisian khobz tabouna, a day-old baguette, or a country sourdough. It needs to be dry enough to hold its shape for a minute in hot broth before softening. If your bread is fresh, tear it up and dry it in a low oven for ten minutes first.",{"question":60,"answer":61},"How spicy should the harissa be in the bowl?","That is deliberately left to the eater. In Tunis you are asked at the counter, and answers range from a smear to a full tablespoon. Start with a teaspoon stirred into the broth, taste, and add more — it is much easier to add heat than to rescue a bowl you have overloaded.",{"question":63,"answer":64},"Can I make lablabi vegan?","Yes, and the base recipe already is. Leave out the tuna and the egg and finish with a heavier hand on the olive oil, plus capers, olives and preserved lemon for the salty, sour notes those toppings otherwise supply. The chickpea broth itself contains nothing animal.",{"question":66,"answer":67},"Why is my broth thin and watery?","Either too much cooking water, or the chickpeas were not cooked long enough to release their starch. Simmer uncovered to reduce, and mash a ladleful of chickpeas against the side of the pot then stir them back in. The finished broth should coat a spoon faintly and look cloudy rather than clear.",[69,70,71,72],"Large heavy pot","Mortar and pestle for the garlic","Ladle","Deep serving bowls",4,15,85,480,"easy",[79,80],"soup","breakfast",[82,83],"pescatarian","dairy-free",[85,86,87,88,89,90],"chickpeas","garlic","cumin","eggs","olive-oil","tuna",[92,97,101,105,110,115,119,122,123,127,130,133,136,140,143],{"ref":85,"qty":93,"unit":94,"name":95,"group":96},300,"g","dried chickpeas, soaked overnight","For the broth",{"ref":86,"qty":98,"unit":99,"name":100,"group":96},8,"clove","garlic — 4 whole for the pot, 4 for pounding at the end",{"ref":87,"qty":102,"unit":103,"name":104,"group":96},2,"tbsp","ground cumin",{"ref":106,"qty":107,"unit":108,"name":109,"group":96},"bay-leaf",1,"piece","bay leaf",{"qty":111,"unit":112,"name":113,"noScale":114,"group":96},1.8,"l","water",true,{"qty":116,"unit":117,"name":118,"group":96},null,"to taste","salt",{"qty":93,"unit":94,"name":120,"group":121},"stale dense white bread, torn into rough pieces","For the bowls",{"ref":88,"qty":73,"unit":108,"name":88,"group":121},{"ref":124,"qty":73,"unit":125,"name":126,"group":121},"harissa","tsp","harissa, or to taste",{"ref":89,"qty":128,"unit":103,"name":129,"group":121},6,"good olive oil",{"ref":90,"qty":131,"unit":94,"name":132,"optional":114,"group":121},120,"canned tuna in oil, drained and flaked",{"ref":134,"qty":102,"unit":103,"name":135,"group":121},"capers","capers, rinsed",{"ref":137,"qty":138,"unit":94,"name":139,"group":121},"olives",60,"black or green olives, pitted",{"ref":141,"qty":107,"unit":108,"name":142,"group":121},"lemon","lemon, in wedges",{"ref":144,"qty":74,"unit":94,"name":145,"optional":114,"group":121},"parsley","parsley, chopped",[147,152,156,160,163,166],{"title":148,"text":149,"timerSeconds":150,"tip":151},"Simmer the chickpeas","Drain the soaked chickpeas, put them in a large pot with the water, four whole garlic cloves and the bay leaf, and bring to a boil. Skim the grey foam off the top, lower the heat and simmer covered for 60–75 minutes, until a chickpea crushes to a smooth paste between your fingers with no grainy core.",4200,"Top up with boiling water if the level drops below the chickpeas, but keep the liquid tight — you want about 1.2 litres of cloudy broth at the end.",{"title":153,"text":154,"tip":155},"Season the broth hard","Pound the remaining raw garlic to a paste with a good pinch of salt and stir it into the pot along with the cumin. Simmer 5 more minutes and taste: the broth should be cloudy, garlicky and pointedly cumin-forward, and salty enough to season the bread it is about to soak.","Adding half the garlic raw at the end is what gives lablabi its edge. Cooking all of it makes the soup sweet and dull.",{"title":157,"text":158,"timerSeconds":159},"Poach the eggs","Slide the eggs one at a time into the barely trembling broth and poach for 4 minutes, until the whites are set and opaque but the yolks still feel soft when touched with the back of a spoon. Lift them out and keep them on a plate.",240,{"title":161,"text":162},"Fill the bowls with bread","Tear the stale bread into pieces roughly the size of a walnut and divide them between four deep bowls, filling each about halfway. Press the pieces down lightly so they sit level rather than piled.",{"title":164,"text":165},"Ladle and build","Spoon chickpeas over the bread, then ladle in enough boiling broth to submerge everything and wait 30 seconds for the bread to drink it up. Stir a teaspoon of harissa into each bowl, then top with an egg, the tuna, capers and olives.",{"title":167,"text":168},"Finish at the table","Pour a generous spiral of olive oil over each bowl, scatter parsley, and hand round lemon wedges and the harissa jar so everyone can push their own bowl hotter or sharper. Break the egg into the broth with the first spoonful.",{"calories":170,"protein":171,"carbs":172,"fat":173,"fiber":174,"sodium":175,"estimated":114},620,30,68,26,14,840,[177],{"src":178,"alt":179},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Flablabi\u002Fhero.svg","Deep bowl of chickpea broth over torn bread topped with a poached egg, harissa, capers, olives and olive oil",[4,181,182,183,124,87],"chickpea soup","tunisian breakfast","stale bread soup","2026-08-20","dishroute-kitchen",{"items":187,"total":193,"page":107,"limit":269,"hasMore":392},[188,212,236,257,264,290,309,330,350,372],{"slug":189,"title":190,"nativeName":191,"countrySlug":8,"region":9,"baseServings":73,"prepMinutes":192,"cookMinutes":193,"difficulty":194,"course":195,"diet":198,"mainIngredients":199,"images":201,"keywords":205,"publishedAt":184,"updatedAt":184,"authorSlug":185},"tunisian-brik","Brik à l'Oeuf (Tunisian Crisp Pastry with a Runny Egg)","بريك 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show the dark spiced date filling inside",[286,287,278,288,280,289],"makroudh","date pastry","kairouan","tunisian sweets",{"slug":291,"title":292,"nativeName":293,"countrySlug":8,"region":9,"baseServings":73,"prepMinutes":74,"cookMinutes":271,"difficulty":77,"course":294,"diet":295,"mainIngredients":296,"images":300,"keywords":304,"publishedAt":184,"updatedAt":184,"authorSlug":185},"ojja","Ojja Merguez (Tunisian Eggs in Spicy Pepper Sauce)","عجة مرقاز",[220,80],[83],[297,88,298,124,299],"merguez","tomato","bell-pepper",[301],{"src":302,"alt":303},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fojja\u002Fhero.svg","Skillet of red tomato and pepper sauce with merguez slices and softly set eggs stirred through, parsley on top",[291,297,305,306,307,308],"tunisian eggs","harissa tomato sauce","one pan 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salad","kemia","caraway","smoky",{"slug":331,"title":332,"nativeName":333,"countrySlug":8,"region":9,"baseServings":128,"prepMinutes":192,"cookMinutes":138,"restMinutes":193,"difficulty":194,"course":334,"diet":335,"mainIngredients":336,"images":339,"keywords":343,"publishedAt":184,"updatedAt":184,"authorSlug":185},"tunisian-tajine","Tajine Malsouka (Tunisian Baked Egg and Cheese Casserole)","طاجين ملسوقة",[220,196],[276],[88,337,338,144,200],"chicken","gruyere",[340],{"src":341,"alt":342},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Ftunisian-tajine\u002Fhero.svg","Golden baked Tunisian tajine cut into squares showing shredded chicken, parsley and melted cheese in set egg",[344,345,346,347,348,349],"tunisian tajine","tajine malsouka","baked eggs","chicken casserole","frittata","make 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soup","iftar",{"slug":373,"title":374,"nativeName":375,"countrySlug":8,"region":313,"baseServings":376,"prepMinutes":192,"cookMinutes":377,"restMinutes":171,"difficulty":77,"course":378,"diet":380,"mainIngredients":382,"images":384,"keywords":388,"publishedAt":184,"updatedAt":184,"authorSlug":185},"tunisian-harissa","Tunisian Harissa (Sun-Dried Chilli Paste)","هريسة",16,5,[379],"sauce",[381,275,317,83,276],"vegan",[86,328,383,89],"coriander-seed",[385],{"src":386,"alt":387},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Ftunisian-harissa\u002Fhero.svg","Deep red harissa paste in a small jar under a layer of olive oil, with dried chillies and caraway seeds beside it",[124,389,328,390,391,235],"tunisian chilli paste","dried chillies","north african condiment",false,1787360054439]