From the canteen kitchen comes the quick sound of a knife tapping a cutting board. Peppers, tomatoes, and squash just fried in oil are gathered into one heap, eggs are added, and the whole thing is chopped still finer. Scoop up some of what is on the plate with a torn piece of bread. The heat of chile, the sweetness of tomato, and the richness of egg spread through your mouth at once. Kafteji (kafteji / keftaji) is an everyday Tunisian dish of fried vegetables chopped and mixed with egg.
A Tunisian Kitchen Echoing with the Sound of Knives
The star of this dish is the chopping step. The vegetables are fried in oil first, and only then chopped all together on the cutting board. Making it in the opposite order from most other dishes is part of what makes kafteji interesting.
The writer at Jídlo na cestách, a Czech site on world street food, says that when traveling in Tunisia, kafteji was often served as a side to a larger dish. It turns up in every setting, from family gatherings and celebrations to ordinary meals, and it can be eaten freely: alongside grilled meat or fish, on its own as a meatless plate, or tucked into bread as a sandwich.
Tunisians eat kafteji not with a fork but by scooping it up with bread called khobz. Put the chopped vegetables and egg on the bread, press them together with your fingers, and into the mouth. The oil and tomato juice left on the plate are also wiped up to the very end with bread, the Tunisian way.
The contents of kafteji change by region. In the inland old city of Kairouan, kafteji is made almost entirely of green chiles and green peppers and is very hot. In the capital Tunis, it is common to add squash, which gives a sweet, mild taste.
The Heat of Kairouan, the Squash of Tunis
The Tunisian local outlet Le Petit Journal Tunis presents kafteji as a signature dish of the Kairouan region. The Kairouan version is led by green chiles and green peppers, and the article jokingly recommends eating it with a sweet fizzy drink (gazouz) to soften the heat.
Tunis adds squash not only to soften the heat. The tender sweetness of roasted squash blends with the heat of the chiles and the acidity of the tomato, rounding out the whole. This recipe is the Tunis style with squash.
Kafteji is sometimes served with french fries or with diced potatoes simmered in sauce. Some versions add aroma with harissa (chile paste), cumin, or parsley, and the proportions differ a little by household and restaurant. Deciding the heat yourself is part of the fun of cooking it at home.
Choosing Peppers and Chiles for a Home Kitchen
In Tunisia, kafteji uses long, slender green chiles and hot peppers. Elsewhere, a combination of bell peppers and green chiles gives a similar flavor. To keep the heat down, use more mild peppers such as shishito or other mild long green peppers and reduce the number of green chiles. To make it hot like the Kairouan version, increase the green chiles.
Any ordinary squash will do. Because it is chopped after roasting, differences in texture between varieties hardly matter. Choosing very ripe tomatoes gives more juice when chopped, and the whole mixture comes together moist.
The seasoning is only ground coriander, salt, and pepper. It is simple, but the toastiness of the roasted vegetables and the flavor of olive oil give it surprising depth. Adding harissa brings in the red heat typical of Tunisia.
Ingredients (serves 4)
The ratio of peppers to green chiles is up to the cook. Using 2–3 green chiles and making up the rest with bell peppers gives a pleasantly sharp heat. If you roast the squash with the skin on and peel it before chopping, it is less likely to fall apart while cooking.
It is important to cook each vegetable separately. Peppers, squash, and tomatoes cook at completely different speeds, so if you cook them together, one of them will scorch or stay underdone.
Do not touch your eyes or face with hands that have peeled or chopped green chiles. The hot compounds can cause strong pain. When using a lot of hot chiles, disposable gloves give peace of mind. Also, when peppers are fried whole, the air inside can expand and burst, spattering oil, so pierce them in a few places with a skewer before cooking.
Put the roasted peppers into a bowl while still hot, cover with plastic wrap, and steam them for about 5 minutes, and the thin skins peel off smoothly. Even if a little skin remains, once chopped it hardly affects the mouthfeel.
The secret with the eggs is not to stir too much. If the whites and yolks set slightly apart, yellow and white are scattered in patches through the chopped vegetables, which gives contrast in both appearance and texture.
Scoop with Bread, Press Together with Your Fingers
Serve kafteji warm on a flat plate with bread alongside. Tearing the bread, scooping up the kafteji, and pressing it together firmly with your fingers is the Tunisian way to eat it. Add french fries and it becomes a plate like those at Kairouan canteens. As a side to grilled meat or fish, too, the sweetness and heat of the vegetables set off the dish.
In Tunis, kafteji is also a staple lunch for students and workers, eaten topped with a fried egg, with fried beef liver, or stuffed into split bread as a quick sandwich. Packing plenty into bread is an easy way to try it elsewhere. It tastes good even cold as the flavors settle, so it also suits as a filling for a packed-lunch sandwich.
Among other Tunisian dishes, eating it side by side with chakchouka (in Japanese), where tomatoes and peppers are stewed and eggs are dropped in, makes clear how the method differs from kafteji, which is roasted and then chopped. Slata mechouia, a salad of crushed roasted vegetables, shares kafteji's appeal of the toasty flavor of roasted vegetables. If you like the heat of harissa, ojja (in Japanese) is also recommended.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I adjust the heat?
Adjust with the number of green chiles. If you do not like heat, you can make it with only bell peppers or other mild peppers and no green chiles, and the toastiness of the roasted vegetables will still make it delicious. To make it hot, add more green chiles or add harissa.
Can I make it without squash?
Yes. The Kairouan-style kafteji originally does not use squash and is led by peppers and chiles. In that case there is less sweetness and the heat comes forward.
Can I fry the eggs whole instead of mixing them in?
There is also a method of dropping the eggs on top of the chopped vegetables and covering the pan to finish them like soft fried eggs. But breaking the eggs and mixing gives the texture typical of kafteji, in which the vegetables and egg become one.
Can I make it ahead and store it?
Let it cool slightly, put it in a storage container, refrigerate, and eat it soon. Because it contains egg, do not leave it at room temperature for long. When reheating, warm it through in a skillet.
Isn't the frying oil too much?
The oil used for roasting the vegetables is generous, but you do not eat all of it. Draining excess oil when you take out the roasted vegetables keeps the result from becoming too heavy. The leftover oil carries the vegetable aroma and can be used for stir-fries and the like.
Sources
- Le Petit Journal Tunis, “Gastronomie : l’incontournable kafteji.” (accessed and checked 22 October 2026). https://lepetitjournal.com/tunis/a-voir-a-faire/gastronomie-lincontournable-kafteji-53945
- Sunheron, “What to Eat in Tunis.” (accessed and checked 22 October 2026). https://sunheron.com/blog/cuisine/what-to-eat-in-tunis/
- Jídlo na cestách, “Kafteji: Chopped Fried Vegetables with Egg and Harissa.” (accessed and checked 22 October 2026). https://www.jidlonacestach.cz/en/kafteji/
