Overview
Brik is the Tunisian breakfast-meets-lunch that lives or dies on a single technical moment: keeping the egg yolk intact and runny inside a fragile pastry wrapper while it deep-fries. The wrapper is malsouka or warqa, the same paper-thin Tunisian pastry used for makroud and traditional sweets. The filling is simple, tinned tuna, chopped onion, parsley, capers, sometimes a small piece of harissa for heat. An egg is cracked into the centre at the last moment, the pastry is folded into a triangle, and the whole thing is fried for two minutes in hot oil. Cut into it at the table, the yolk should run across the plate. Eaten across Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, and modernised across the Maghreb diaspora.
The Ingredients
- 4 sheets malsouka or filo pastry
- 200g tuna in olive oil, drained
- 200g Small Potatoes (Crysp), boiled, mashed
- 1 tbsp Peashoots (Crysp), to garnish
- 1 tsp harissa paste (optional)
- 2 Crysp Limes, wedged, to serve
- Salt & black pepper
- 4 eggs
- 1 small Brown Onion (Crysp), finely diced
- 30g Parsley (Crysp), finely chopped
- 2 tbsp capers, drained
- 1 tbsp grated parmesan or aged cheese
- 500ml vegetable oil, for frying
Build the Filling
In a bowl, combine the drained tuna (flaked), mashed potato, finely diced onion, chopped parsley, capers, harissa if using, parmesan, salt and pepper. Mix until uniform but still chunky, the texture should hold a small mound when pressed. Taste, adjust salt, this filling is the entire savoury layer beneath the egg.
Heat the Oil Properly
Heat the oil in a wide pan to 170°C, the oil should sizzle when a small piece of bread is dropped in but should not smoke. Too hot and the pastry burns before the egg sets, too cold and the brik absorbs oil and goes soggy.
Lay Out the Pastry
Place a single sheet of malsouka or filo flat on a clean board. (If using filo, you may need 2 sheets stacked since filo is thinner than malsouka.) Position so a corner points toward you, like a diamond.
Build the Pillow
Place a heaped tablespoon of filling in the centre of the pastry, shape it into a small mound. Make a well in the middle of the mound with the back of the spoon. Crack 1 egg directly into the well, season the egg with a pinch of salt and pepper. Do not stir or break the yolk.
Fold Fast
Working quickly before the egg starts to slide off, fold the bottom corner of the pastry up over the filling. Then fold the left and right corners inward to seal the sides. Finally fold the top corner down over everything, creating a tight triangle. Press the edges firmly to seal, no gaps. Speed matters, the longer you take, the more likely the yolk breaks.
Fry Immediately
Slide the brik gently into the hot oil seam-side down. Fry 60 seconds until the underside is golden. Flip carefully with a spatula, fry 60 seconds more on the second side. The pastry should be deep golden brown, blistered, and audibly crispy when tapped with a spoon. Lift onto paper towel.
Serve Yolk-Running Hot
Place each brik on an individual plate immediately. Pile peashoots beside it, place 2 lime wedges on the plate. Serve while the pastry is still piping hot and the yolk is still runny inside, this window is only about 2 minutes long. The diner cuts into the brik with a knife, the yolk runs across the plate, scoop everything up with the broken pastry pieces and a squeeze of lime.
The Tradition
Brik is the Tunisian street food that became a national symbol. Sold from morning carts in Tunis, Sfax and Sousse, brik is eaten as breakfast, late lunch, or as the opening course of every Tunisian Ramadan iftar across North Africa. The technique migrated from Ottoman Turkish börek (the same root word), arrived in Tunisia in the 16th century, and was adapted by Tunisian cooks who replaced the Turkish stuffing with local fillings: tuna, harissa, potato, parsley, the egg in the centre. The "egg yolk reveal" when you cut into it is the entire experience, Tunisians judge a brik by how runny the yolk is when it cuts open. In Paris's North African neighbourhoods, brik appears on every Tunisian café menu. In Dubai, you can find it at La Petite Maison and at small Tunisian cafés in Deira and Al Karama.
Tip
The egg yolk needs to fry only long enough to set the surface of the white but stay liquid in the centre. The 60-second fry time is non-negotiable, longer and you have a hard-boiled brik (failure), shorter and the white is raw (also failure). Pull the brik out the moment the pastry is golden, the egg cooks for 30 seconds more from residual heat. The carryover cooking is the entire technique.
