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Halal-conscious recipe

Lablabi (Tunisian chickpeas)

Matt Tebbutt's lablabi, a Tunisian egg and chickpea breakfast: dried chickpeas simmered in Halal or vegetable stock with garlic, chilli and spices, topped with poached eggs, garlic toast, harissa, cumin, caraway and lemon.

  • Cuisine Tunisian
  • Meal Breakfast
  • Difficulty Easy
  • Yield 2 bowls
  • Time 2h 30m
  • Last updated

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

Printable view
A bowl of hummus
Photograph from our ingredient library: a bowl of hummus, not the finished dish from this recipe.

Photo: Donovan Govan. · CC BY-SA 3.0

Why Halal checks matter here

The chickpeas simmer in 500 ml of chicken stock, which is a chicken product, the eggs are poached in water with white wine vinegar, a scholarly difference, and shop-bought baguette is worth a look for its dough conditioner.

Dried chickpeas simmer for up to 2 hours with garlic, chilli, thyme, bay, cinnamon, onion and celery in stock, then the softened aromatics go back into the pot with a glug of olive oil. Each bowl is topped with a poached egg, garlic toast, toasted cumin and caraway, harissa, sundried tomatoes, parsley and lemon. Three things need checking: the stock (a Halal-certified or vegetable one; see stock cubes), the white wine vinegar in the poaching water, which is a scholarly difference and can be swapped for lemon juice, and the baguette, for L-cysteine (E920).

It follows Matt Tebbutt's lablabi for BBC Food, from Saturday Kitchen, which serves two. The method doesn't mention soaking the chickpeas first, so allow the full simmer.

Serve straight away, while the eggs are warm.

Halal-critical ingredients

  • Chicken stock Bought chicken stock is a chicken product, and the UK's mainstream stock cubes contain uncertified chicken or meat fat. Use a Halal-certified chicken stock or a vegan vegetable stock. See Stock cubes.
  • White wine vinegar Wine vinegar is a scholarly difference: the Hanafi school, Indonesia's MUI and IslamQA permit it, while the classical Shafi'i rule and Malaysia's 2006 fatwa do not. Use it only if your school accepts it, or use lemon juice instead (our swap). See Red wine vinegar.
  • Baguette Some industrial breads use L-cysteine (E920) as a dough conditioner; its source is not always stated. Choose baguette without E920, or certified. See L-cysteine.

Safe substitutes

  • Chicken stock → 500 ml Halal-certified chicken stock, or vegetable stock
  • 1 tbsp white wine vinegar, if your school doesn't accept it → 1 tbsp lemon juice (our swap)
  • Baguette with E920 of unstated source → Baguette without E920, or certified

Allergens

eggs, gluten (baguette), celery

Ingredients

Chickpeas

  • 250 g dried chickpeas
  • 1 garlic bulb, cut through the middle
  • a few fresh thyme sprigs
  • 1 red chilli
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 small cinnamon stick
  • 1 brown onion, quartered
  • 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
  • 500 ml Halal-certified chicken stock, or vegetable stock
  • 2 tbsp good olive oil, to taste
  • to taste salt and black pepper

To garnish

  • 2 free-range eggs
  • 1 tbsp white wine vinegar, if your school accepts it, or lemon juice
  • 4 slices baguette without E920, or certified
  • 1 garlic clove, halved
  • to taste olive oil, for drizzling
  • ½ tsp mixed cumin and caraway seeds
  • 1 tbsp mild rose harissa paste
  • 4 sundried tomatoes, rehydrated if necessary
  • small handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
  • 1 lemon, zest and juice
  • pinch flaked sea salt

Method

  1. Simmer the chickpeas. Put the chickpeas in a large saucepan with the garlic, thyme, chilli, bay leaf, cinnamon, onion, celery and stock. Bring to the boil, then simmer for around 1½ to 2 hours.
  2. Finish the chickpeas. Lift out the onion and celery, chop them finely and stir them back in. Lift out the garlic and chilli, let them cool slightly, then squeeze them out of their skins and stir them back in. Season and add a generous glug of olive oil.
  3. Poach the eggs. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, season it and add the vinegar or lemon juice. Stir the water, then crack in the eggs gently and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, depending on how set you like them.
  4. Make the garlic toast. Toast the baguette slices, rub them with the cut garlic and drizzle with olive oil.
  5. Toast the seeds. Toast the cumin and caraway seeds in a hot pan for a minute until fragrant.
  6. Serve. Spoon the chickpeas and some of the broth into a large serving dish and top with the eggs, toast, toasted seeds, harissa, sundried tomatoes, parsley, lemon zest and juice and flaked salt. Serve straight away.

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Food's 'Lablabi (Tunisian breakfast)' by Matt Tebbutt, from Saturday Kitchen (serves 2; prepare less than 30 minutes, cook over 2 hours: 250 g dried chickpeas brought to the boil with a halved garlic bulb, a few thyme sprigs, a red chilli, a bay leaf, a small cinnamon stick, a quartered brown onion, 2 roughly chopped celery sticks and 500 ml chicken stock, and simmered about 1½ to 2 hours; the onion and celery chopped and stirred back in, the garlic and chilli squeezed from their skins and stirred back in; seasoned and finished with a generous glug of olive oil, 2 tbsp to taste. Garnish: 2 free-range eggs poached 2 to 3 minutes in boiling salted water with 1 tbsp white wine vinegar; 4 baguette slices toasted, rubbed with a halved garlic clove and drizzled with olive oil; ½ tsp mixed cumin and caraway seeds toasted for a minute; 1 tbsp mild rose harissa paste, 4 sundried tomatoes, a small handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley, the zest and juice of a lemon and a pinch of flaked sea salt). We specified a Halal-certified chicken or vegetable stock, flagged the wine vinegar by school with lemon juice as our swap, and asked for baguette without E920 or certified; the first and third published steps are split at their natural breaks. BBC Food gives no skill level; we rate it easy. Nothing else needed changing. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Technique and ingredient sources

  1. Lablabi (Tunisian breakfast) — BBC Food Retrieved:

    By Matt Tebbutt, from Saturday Kitchen. Serves 2; prepare less than 30 minutes, cook over 2 hours: dried chickpeas simmered 1½ to 2 hours in chicken stock with garlic, thyme, chilli, bay, cinnamon, onion and celery; topped with eggs poached in water with white wine vinegar, garlic toast, toasted cumin and caraway, harissa, sundried tomatoes, parsley and lemon. We specified Halal or vegetable stock and flagged the vinegar.

  2. Stock cubes analysis — isithalal.food Retrieved:

    Why mainstream UK chicken stock cubes need a Halal-certified or vegetable swap.

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