Karantika

Karantika, also called garantita, is chickpea flour whisked with water, oil, salt and egg into a thin batter, poured into a large tray and baked until the top browns and the inside sets to something between a flan and a thick custard. It is cut in squares, served hot with cumin and harissa, and usually eaten pushed into half a baguette, which makes it the standard cheap street lunch of Oran and the west of the country. The name is generally traced to a Spanish phrase about how much it costs, a reminder of how much of this coast has passed back and forth. Similar dishes exist around the western Mediterranean under other names.

What you actually see

• Chickpea batter baked in trays - the flan cut hot into squares.
• Cumin and harissa on top - the standard seasoning.
• Served in half a baguette - the way it is actually eaten.
• Street stalls across Oran - the trade the dish belongs to.

When to go

Year round; it is sold from late morning through the afternoon and is best straight from the tray. One hour. Buy where there is a queue and a fast turnover.

Honest expectations

It is bland on its own and depends entirely on the seasoning. Quality varies with how long the tray has been standing. It is street food with the hygiene that implies. Similar dishes elsewhere in the Mediterranean are made rather better.

Nearby

Oran is where it belongs; the west of the country makes it too.