frita — Algeria

Frita is a soft vegetable dish built mainly from peppers and tomatoes, cooked down slowly until they collapse into a thick, glossy mixture close in spirit to piperade. Unlike that dish, garlic is left out of the pan, which gives frita a milder, sweeter background flavor. It is reported from Algeria, prepared as an everyday side or light main, often alongside eggs, bread or grilled meat, rather than tied to one particular festival or region. Peppers are seeded, sliced and softened slowly in oil until limp, then tomatoes are added and left to simmer until they break down into a thick sauce, with the mixture stirred occasionally so it thickens evenly rather than sticking. Onion, cumin, paprika and a little chilli are common additions, seasoned with salt toward the end of cooking. Eggs are sometimes cracked directly into the pan in the last few minutes to poach gently in the sauce. Compared with piperade or similar pepper-and-tomato mixtures found around the Mediterranean, frita is defined mainly by what it leaves out rather than what it adds: no garlic, and generally a shorter list of spices, so the sweetness of the cooked peppers and tomatoes stays at the front. It is eaten warm, scooped up with bread, rather than plated as a formal side.