Fricassé
A small fried bread roll split and packed with tuna, potato, olives, egg and harissa. Sold everywhere, eaten standing up, and impossible to eat tidily.
Photograph credit: Fricassé, Tunisie, 19 mars 2020 by Habib M'henni · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Making Fricassé Ahead
The fried rolls keep a day and re-crisp at 200°C / 390°F for 5 minutes. Fill only when serving.
Photograph credit: Fricassé, Wikimania 2022, Monastir by Habib M'henni · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Making Fricassé
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Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt, work in the 3 tbsp oil and the water, and knead 8 minutes to a soft dough. Cover and prove 60 minutes until doubled.
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Divide into 8 and shape each into a small oval roll. Leave to rest 15 minutes under a cloth.
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Heat the sunflower oil to 165°C / 330°F — moderate, not hot.
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Fry the rolls two at a time, 4 minutes a side, turning once, until deep gold and puffed. Drain on a rack.
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Crush the boiled potatoes with 3 tbsp olive oil, the lemon juice and salt.
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Split each warm roll along one side without cutting through, and spread the inside with harissa.
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Pack in the crushed potato, tuna, egg slices, olives, capers and preserved lemon, and eat immediately.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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Tips for Success
- Moderate oil. Hot oil leaves the middle raw.
- Split them warm — cold rolls will not open.
- Harissa on the bread first, so it does not all end up in one bite.
Behind the Recipe
The rolls are fried, not baked, and they go into moderate oil rather than hot — at 165°C / 330°F they cook through and puff hollow, where hotter oil browns the outside and leaves raw dough at the centre. They also need to be split while warm, since the crumb compresses once cool and the pocket closes. The filling is assembled cold into a hot roll, which is the correct order and the reason this works as street food.
What to Put Next to It
Slata tounsia · Cold drinks · More harissa
Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Salade Méchouia.
Questions About Fricassé
How long does Fricassé take to make?
35 minutes of preparation and 20 minutes of cooking, plus 1 hour 15 minutes of proving the dough, so allow 2 hours 10 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 8.
The Numbers per Serving
No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (how much frying oil the food takes up cannot be known from the recipe). Why some recipes have none.
Your notes on this recipe
Cooked this? Keep a note for next time
Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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