Pastas à la Tunisian

I have been learning a lot of new recipes while traveling. I definitely think we should take the Mediterraneans eating habits.
No snacking (unless it's fruits or nuts) and copious, tasty meals.

You can eat till you drop and still be healthy.
The secret is pretty simple : SPICES
It makes the most repulsive veggie taste like heaven.

In Tunisia, almost everyone knows how to cook a good meal.
And the bring-a-fast-food-sandwich-to-work-thing is almost non existent.
The truth is, it is absolutely normal to be cooking a full meal on the job.

Fishermen go out at sea on a small boat. They still bring a gaz stove, veggies, spices... Because there's always someone who, despite the agitated sea, the waves and wind, will cook a full healthy meal.

And to think we are usually grabbing a burger at a fast food "because we don't have time"...
We became lazy. And our society seemed to have erased a very important time of the day: Lunch time.

Of all the businesses I have worked for, none of them had any cooking facilities beside a microwave.
It all came down to the same thing " the staff room": couple of chairs and tables lit by blinking neons.

And I don't think any of my bosses would have been pleased to see me bring my camp stove and raw food to work.
Anyhow...with a 20 minutes lunch time. You can't cook much more than an omelet anyways.

It's unfortunate that we don't stand for our food rights very much these days.
We deserve better food and better meal time.
After all its the basic of living.

But for those of you who are still interested in tasty and healthy food, today, I'm inviting you to try this Tunisia inspired pasta recipe.

Pastas à la Tunisian

I used cuttlefish and it's absolutely delicious. But for those of you who don't have it, you can alternatively use chicken.

If you'd like to order Tunisian cooking spices you can contact me or check out my ebay store.

First of all, you'll need:

- Vegetable Oil

- 2 table spoons of tomato paste

- 3 garlic cloves

- 1/2 table spoon of curcum

- 1/2 table spoon of red hot pepper powder

- 1/2 table spoon of paprika

- 1/4 table spoon of cumin (only when cooking cuttlefish)
- 1/4 table spoon of pepper (only when cooking chicken)

- 2 fresh green peppers (hot or mild, it's up to you)

- 500g of spaghetti

- 2 small cuttlefishes or 2 chicken breasts, diced

- About two cups of water

Let's get started!

Cover the bottom of a large saucepan with vegetable oil.

Heat the oil and add the cuttlefish or the chicken.

Sauteed for about 10 minutes.

Mash 3 garlic cloves in 1/4 tea spoon of salt and set aside.

Add 2 table spoons of tomato paste to the oil and meat

Stir well

When the oil starts to be orangey, add the curcum

Keep stirring.

If the mix sticks to the saucepan too much. Add a little bit of water

Add the hot and mild pepper powder

If cooking cuttlefish, add cumin.
If cooking chicken, add pepper.

And then add the mashed garlic and salt

Stir and add the water slowly

The mix will be very liquid. But don't worry as it will thicken while cooking.

Cover and let simmer for about 20-30 minutes or until it becomes a sauce and the cuttlefish or chicken is cooked.

Add 2 hot or mild peppers a few minutes before the sauce is ready

Turn off the heat and set the saucepan aside

Remove peppers from the sauce and keep aside.

In the meantime, fill a saucepan with water.
Add salt and curcum to the water

Bring to a boil

Add 500g of pastas

When cooked, drain the pastas and add to the sauce

Mix well

Transfer to a large bowl and add the peppers on top of the dish

Et voilà! Enjoy :)

If you tried this recipe or have any questions or comments, please post comments below.

Thanks :)