Brik et Ojja

I was feeling so sad that I never wrote proper food posts about the cuisine in Uganda, the stodgy comfort of matooke, the nutty goodness of groundnut sauce, the complexity of a katogo breakfast (essentially a banana and liver soup) and the gluttonous deliciousness of a rolex (rolled eggs and chapati).

This time, trust me, you will not miss out. I promise to tell you all about Tunisian food, and I'll start with my favourites: brik a l'oeuf and ojja aux crevettes.

Tunisia is a very seasonal place in terms of food. Whereas in the UK, strong trade links means that we can get any food, all year round, for a price. Uganda was different too, as on the equator, the seasons were not very strongly defined, the diet staples were there all year round. But in Tunisia, you are subject completely to the elements. At the moment the clementine season is just beginning, and we have lots of pomegranates, aubergines and tomatoes. In the summer we had peaches, nectarines and strawberries at incredibly low prices. It's not uncommon for me to get a text from a friend saying: "Mate, they have courgettes in Carrefour! quick!" - it seems crazy, but you really look forward to the different farming seasons. I remember last winter when you couldn't get onions for two months. Imagine! No onions!

So the Brik a L'oeuf is a typical starter, it's a soft boiled egg, deep-fried in a filo pastry pocket. I had mine with tuna, but you can sometime get prawn or potato ones. I was so hungover and it was delicious.

You need to eat it with a lovely big slice of crusty French bread to mop up all the egg and it's a bit messy. I've seen people eating these on the street with their hands - I dunno how they do it.

Then on Sunday, when I had this meal, Ojja aux Crevettes was for main course. Ojja is a rich, spicy tomato soup. You have it served with either prawns (like me) or merguez which are spicy beef or lamb sausages (like my companion, Susanna). Then they throw in some eggs which cook inside and go a bit stringy, and they they usually pop an egg in the middle to serve - see the picture. It's a protein feast, with all of those eggs and the seafood, and also goes lovely with a big basket of bread. Beau.

My weekend also featured other culinary delights, but sadly I have no pictures for you. It was my friend Funso's daughter's first birthday and so I went over for a Nigerian Feast. There was fufu and pepper soup that was so spicy that my mouth was on fire, and plantains! Yum.

I managed to speed knit her a little hat for her birthday, and her mummy says it fits perfectly. Bien sûr!