Slow Stew · Spinach & White Beans
Pkaila (Tfina Pkaila)
Photo: Ishpashout / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
The spinach is fried in oil for a long time until it turns nearly black before the meat and beans go in, which is what gives pkaila its dark colour.
Spinach is cooked down for hours with garlic, white beans and beef until it turns a deep, near-black color and develops a rich, earthy sweetness. It's one of the signature dishes of Djerba's historic Jewish community.
Why it's made this way: Pkaila belongs to the t'fina family of slow-cooked Sabbath dishes of Tunisian Jews and is traditionally eaten at Rosh Hashanah, its green colour a wish for a good year; Djerba's long-established Jewish community keeps the dish alive on the island.
More from Tunisia
Part of World of Street Food — 3443 dishes from 118 countries.
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