Tunisia Main dishesHalalFully translated

Sfaxian bazeen

Name: Sfaxian bazeen
Cuisine: Tunisia
Ingredients: 3 cups barley flour or coarse wholewheat flour; Water; Salt; Olive oil; (For the accompanying Sfax-style kalaya: mutton, onion, tomato paste and harissa, hard-boiled eggs)

Arabic name البازين الصفاقسي

Original name Bazin Sfaxien

Watch how it’s made

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Ingredients (5)

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3 cups barley flour or coarse wholewheat flour
Water
Salt
Olive oil
(For the accompanying Sfax-style kalaya: mutton, onion, tomato paste and harissa, hard-boiled eggs)

Method

Bring the salted water to the boil in a pot, then add the flour gradually, stirring constantly with a traditional wooden stick to prevent lumps.
Keep stirring and working the dough in the same pot over low heat until it holds together as a single firm mass.
Shape the hot dough into a dome or pyramid in a wide serving dish, using hands moistened with olive oil.
Meanwhile, make the Sfax-style kalaya sauce: cook the meat with caramelised onion, tomato paste and harissa until you have a thick, dark sauce.
Make a well in the centre of the bazeen dome and fill it with the kalaya sauce, meat and hard-boiled eggs, and serve at once while hot. This traditional dish is one of the great customs of Sfax at Eid al-Adha and during Ramadan, and is eaten by hand straight from the shared dish.