Mloukhia

Mloukhia is one of Tunisia's most ancient and revered dishes, a slow-cooked stew of dried jute leaves (corchorus) that transforms through hours of patient simmering into a dark, glossy, intensely savory sauce unlike anything else in the Mediterranean. The dried leaves are ground to a powder, rehydrated, and cooked with beef and olive oil for three to five hours until the mixture turns from bright green to deep olive-black. It is traditionally served over bread or with couscous and is considered a test of a Tunisian cook's patience and skill.