Maakouda — fried potato fritters with hard-boiled eggs, olives and harissa
The Tunisian casse-croûte served on a plate: eight yellow fritters with turmeric, garlic and parsley, fried in hot oil until crisp, with hard-boiled eggs, cracked olives, harissa mixed with oil, bread and lemon, plus tuna in oil for the fish plate. Serve the salad as a starter (mechouia or slata tounsia).
Ingredients for two
| 400 g | Potatoes 3 medium floury potatoes, peeled weight |
| 165 g | Eggs 3 eggs: 1 for the mixture, 2 to hard-boil |
| 112 g | Tuna in olive oil (160 g tin, 112 g drained) 1 × 160 g tin, drained with 1 tbsp oil reserved, for the fish plate |
| 40 g | Plain wheat flour 15 g in the mixture, 25 g in a dish for coating |
| 15 g | Flat-leaf parsley A small handful of leaves |
| 10 g | Fresh coriander A few sprigs, finely chopped with the parsley (optional) |
| 10 g | Garlic 2 cloves |
| 2 g | Turmeric 1 level tsp, to give the yellow colour |
| 2 g | Ground cumin 1 level tsp |
| 0.5 g | Ground black pepper 1/4 tsp |
| 4 g | Fine salt 3 g for the fritters, 1 g (a pinch) for the cooking water |
| 120 g | Sunflower oil, for frying or as a neutral oil About 130 ml: a 3–4 mm layer in a 28 cm sauté pan; about 30 g is absorbed, and the rest can be filtered and kept |
| 10 g | Extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp, for loosening the harissa |
| 25 g | Harissa 1 heaped tbsp, served separately |
| 60 g | Cracked green olives About 12 olives |
| 160 g | Bread (baguette or country loaf) 1/2 baguette or 4 slices of country bread |
| 60 g | Lemon 1/2 lemon: a few drops in the harissa, the rest cut into 2 wedges to squeeze over the fritters and tuna |
| 1000 g | Water For cooking the potatoes and eggs in the same pan; drained off |
Method
- Take the eggs out of the fridge (or hard-boil them the day before, in which case omit their cooking here and in step 3). Peel the potatoes and cut into large quarters (4 per potato, never small dice, which would absorb water). Put in a medium saucepan with the 1,000 g cold water and a pinch of salt, bring to the boil over a high heat, then cook at a gentle boil for 15 minutes, until a knife blade slides in without resistance. Six minutes after the water starts boiling, lower 2 eggs into the same pan with a slotted spoon (at room temperature, or pricked at the rounded end with a pin to prevent cracking): they cook for 9 minutes with the potatoes.
- While the potatoes cook, finely chop the parsley (and coriander) and crush the garlic in a garlic press. In a bowl, loosen the harissa with the 10 g olive oil and a few drops of lemon juice. Drain the tuna, reserving 1 tbsp of its oil. Put the 25 g flour for coating in a shallow bowl and set the rack over a dish.
- Lift out the eggs with the slotted spoon, immerse in cold water for 3 minutes, then peel. Drain the potatoes in a colander, return to the saucepan and dry over a low heat for 2 minutes, shaking, until they stop steaming and their surfaces look floury. Mash with a potato ricer or fork, spread thinly in a large dish and leave to cool for 3 minutes, until comfortable to touch.
- Mix the remaining egg, beaten, into the warm potatoes, along with the parsley, garlic, turmeric, cumin, pepper, 3 g salt and 15 g flour. Mix briefly with a fork: the mixture should be yellow and soft, not elastic. Immediately pour the sunflower oil into the 28 cm sauté pan (3–4 mm deep) and heat over a medium-high heat while shaping. Divide the mixture into 8 and shape into patties 7 cm across and 1.5 cm thick (60 g each). Coat both sides of each patty in the flour in the dish, tapping off the excess: this coating forms the crust and prevents them from breaking apart.
- Check the oil: a piece of mixture should rise immediately with a vigorous sizzle (about 175°C). Add the 8 patties without letting them touch (7 around the edge, 1 in the centre, on a flat base at least 24 cm across), and fry for 3 minutes on each side without moving them. The crust should be golden and crisp and the centre hot and set. Drain on the rack, then on kitchen paper.
- Serve 4 fritters per person, with the hard-boiled egg cut into quarters, olives, bread and a lemon wedge to squeeze over the fritters. Serve the harissa separately for spreading on the bread and spooning over the fritters. Add the flaked tuna and its reserved spoonful of oil to the fish plate.
Fish-free
- Tuna in olive oil (160 g tin, 112 g drained) → Eggs 55 g
- In step 1, hard-boil 3 eggs instead of 2, in the same saucepan for the same time.
- In step 6, give the fish-free plate 2 quartered hard-boiled eggs and a slightly larger share of olives, with the same bread, harissa, lemon and timing.
Without tuna, this is the maakouda and hard-boiled egg version of the Tunisian casse-croûte: nothing changes in the kitchen.
Lighter version
- Potatoes : 300 g
- Plain wheat flour : 30 g
- Bread (baguette or country loaf) : 80 g
- Tuna in olive oil (160 g tin, 112 g drained) : 56 g
In step 4, divide the mixture (300 g potatoes, the same egg, 10 g flour) into 6 fritters of 60 g each; 20 g flour is enough for coating.
In step 6, serve 3 fritters per person, half a tin of tuna (56 g) for the fish plate and 40 g bread each.
Six fritters instead of eight, half the bread and half a tin of tuna: frying stays, as it is central to the dish. Use the remaining tuna in tomorrow's sandwich.
On your plate
Recipe
1323 kcal · protein 42 g · carbs 91 g · fat 84 g
Quantities per person
- 200 g Potatoes
- 82.5 g Eggs
- 56 g Tuna in olive oil (160 g tin, 112 g drained)
- 20 g Plain wheat flour
- 7.5 g Flat-leaf parsley
- 5 g Fresh coriander
- 5 g Garlic
- 1 g Turmeric
- 1 g Ground cumin
- 0.25 g Ground black pepper
- 2 g Fine salt
- 60 g Sunflower oil, for frying or as a neutral oil
- 5 g Extra virgin olive oil
- 12.5 g Harissa
- 30 g Cracked green olives
- 80 g Bread (baguette or country loaf)
- 30 g Lemon
- 500 g Water
Fish-free version
1254 kcal · protein 28 g · carbs 91 g · fat 83 g
Quantities per person
- 200 g Potatoes
- 110 g Eggs
- 20 g Plain wheat flour
- 7.5 g Flat-leaf parsley
- 5 g Fresh coriander
- 5 g Garlic
- 1 g Turmeric
- 1 g Ground cumin
- 0.25 g Ground black pepper
- 2 g Fine salt
- 60 g Sunflower oil, for frying or as a neutral oil
- 5 g Extra virgin olive oil
- 12.5 g Harissa
- 30 g Cracked green olives
- 80 g Bread (baguette or country loaf)
- 30 g Lemon
- 500 g Water
Cooking tips
Choose floury potatoes and dry them thoroughly: the mixture should not stick; if it does, refrigerate for 10 minutes before shaping. The validator counts all the frying oil (120 g), but only about 30 g is absorbed. The actual dinner provides roughly 900 kcal for the fish-free plate and 1,000 kcal for the fish plate (which includes the whole tin of tuna). Filter the cooled oil and keep it for next time. Serve a salad as a starter: mechouia is the classic accompaniment to the casse-croûte, and slata tounsia is also excellent. Cold fritters can be eaten the following day; the street-food version is assembled in half a baguette with harissa, crushed maakoudas, tuna, olives, hard-boiled egg and a squeeze of lemon.
The Tunisian casse-croûte (maakouda, tuna, harissa, olives and hard-boiled egg) served on a plate, with salad as a starter.
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