Recipe of a south tunisian dish Mtabga and dessert baklawa

During the erasmus student life in the foreign country, we create many great friendship and one of the various ways we could strenghen our links is by learning the preparation of new traditional dishes that we could taste together. This very delicious dish that i decided to introduce to my friends is very famous in the Tunisian country from the north to the south for its unique way of preparation because it is mainly prepared in special plate constituted from clay and represents a south tunisian plate full of delicious flavors and an explosion of delightful and amazing feelings when we taste it in the first time, a new experience was then lived especially that my friends were from portuguese origin, never visited Tunisia before and were really curious to learn anew recipe that they could even prepare themselves or for their families.

To prepare this masterpiece we must proceed in these special steps:

• step one: preparation of the principle mix, we must put in a large recipient 500 g of flour, one small spoon of salt, one small bag of baking powder that we can buy from the grocer, one small glass of olive oil and we mix them together with one small glass of warm water, in the traditional way we should mix this prepartion by hands until we get a sold pow and we let it to rest under ambiant temperature for it be bigger in size
• we prepare the mix that we will integrate inside the paw:



• we must use actually dried back of the sheep that must be smashed by special kitchen machine into a more soft mix, we add to this mix special spices that are the main element for the dish to give a special flavor which are mainly one spoon of salt, one spoon of hot red pepper, two spoons of coriander, the garlic and onion, green pepper must be also cut into small pieces and added and then we form from this mix squares that must be put cooked alone.
• The next step is to integrate the prepared mix to the prepared pow, we must cover it by the same pow.
• The squares prepared must then put in special plates made from clay and that would allow the cooking of the squares very slowly and in an amazing way, this way of cooking is special to the tunisian south and it is assoiated with a cold drink.

Recipe for a tunisian famous dessert Baklawa

The dessert and the sweet dish is very important in each important dinner we can organise for family members or for friends and it can be served to crown the dish. We have actually in Tunisia many sweet dishes that can be used and created at homes no need to buy them from special stores. The baklawa is one of these special dishes and we can prepare it following these steps:

• First we must prepare the first mix composed of about 750 g of flour put in a huge recipient, we can mix with it a small spoon of salt, and one glass of hot water and 450 ml of olive oil then we mix manually until we obtain a maintained pow.
• Then we must prepare the decoration of sweet for this its mainly prepared with the dried fruts such as the almond about 650 g that must be smashed and prepared by a special kitchen machine, then we add 100 g of sugar and four cups of flour, in this step poeple can have the freedom to choose the special dried fruit they want to use they can use nuts for example others can use coconuts so it is up to poeple 's will but the real recipe is made with nuts.



• We must then divide the main pow into two parts; then we must divide each part into small balls, each ball must be rolled by the kitchen roller and we make by this way different slips, they are then added all on each other like ten slips that must be separated each one by some butter, layers are put with each other then we put the actual mix of the nuts then we put on the upper part other ten layers.
• We cut the different layers in triangle form, we must put also butter on the upper layer and then we put the plate inside the oven for a duration of forty five minutes, poeple can also put the plates in the oven of the general bakery because many families prepare these sweets fot the aid which is the special common festivity after the month of ramadan so many poeple can use it in this special day.
• The final step consists of decorating the sweets with a sugar mix in the upper part after cooking the pow very well inside the over, the sugar mix is composed of two cups of sugar, one cup of water and limon juice and roses water and we put the mix boiling until the obtention of a maintained sugar sirop that we must then decorate with it the small pieces and to give more sweet flavior to the sweet, we serve it mainly in marriage, in the special festivities and religious events, it is actually originated from turkey and from oriental countries but we also cook it by this way in Tunisia.

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These traditional dishes are really so much original in my home country and my friends who were invited to a special tunisian culinary dinner had really amazing time in tasting the new flaviors and they could even suggest me that the first recipe of mtabga could be accompanied of some cheese and salad for example, they recommanded also that i put little quantity of sugar in the upper part of the sweets so in the final it is really up to the personal will of every person to adjuste the recipe as he wishes to make the most perfect combination possible. I had also the chance to taste in my life the japanese food for example or the indian one with much spices and bread and sauces and i can say that the diversity of dishes make really the richness of gastronomy aboard and from my personal point of view, i prefer one hundred timeto taste the local dish of the country i am visiting than to eat my dishes originated from my hometown because liked from years ago that diversity and that love for discovering new dishes and new recipes.

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