About this Dish
A warming chickpea soup poured over stale bread, topped with egg and harissa.
History & Origin
A beloved Tunisian breakfast and street food, lablabi is endlessly customizable — diners add their own harissa, capers, olive oil, and preserved lemon to taste.
IngredientsServes 2
🫘Dried chickpeas, 400g soaked overnight (or 2 cans cooked chickpeas, drained)
🧄Garlic, 6 cloves roughly chopped
🌶️Harissa paste, 3 tablespoons (plus extra to serve)
🫒Olive oil, 4 tablespoons
🍋Lemon, 2 squeezed for juice
🧅White onion, 1 large finely diced
🍞Stale crusty bread, 4 thick slices torn into chunks
🥚Eggs, 4 (one per person)
🌿Ground cumin, 2 teaspoons
🧂Salt and black pepper, to taste
Method
1
If using dried chickpeas, drain the soaked chickpeas and simmer them in a large pot with plenty of fresh water for about 1 to 1.5 hours until tender but not mushy. Keep the cooking liquid as your soup base.2
In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat and gently fry the onion for 5 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cumin and cook for another 2 minutes until fragrant.3
Stir in the harissa paste, then add the cooked chickpeas with about 1.5 litres of their cooking liquid (or use water with a stock cube if using canned chickpeas). Season generously with salt and pepper, bring to a gentle boil, then reduce and simmer for 20 minutes so all the flavours come together.4
While the soup simmers, divide the torn stale bread chunks between four deep bowls. The bread should be a generous layer at the bottom as it will soak up the broth.5
Poach the eggs directly in the simmering soup for 3 to 4 minutes until the whites are just set but the yolks are still runny. Carefully lift one egg per bowl and place it on top of the bread.6
Ladle the hot chickpea soup generously over the bread in each bowl, making sure everyone gets plenty of chickpeas and broth. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over each bowl and add an extra spoonful of harissa on top.7
Serve immediately while the bread is soaking up the broth beautifully. A drizzle of good olive oil over the top finishes it perfectly.User Reviews
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