Everything about food, from matching food and wine to recipes, techniques and trends.

RCP: Harissa

Moderators: Jenise, Robin Garr, David M. Bueker

no avatar
User

Paul Winalski

Rank

Wok Wielder

Posts

7974

Joined

Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:16 pm

Location

Merrimack, New Hampshire

RCP: Harissa

by Paul Winalski » Wed Jul 03, 2013 7:07 am

I found this recipe for Harissa on moroccanfood.about.com. It goes very well in Jenise's Merguez sausage recipe.

100 grams dried red chile peppers
3-4 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander seeds
1/2 tsp ground caraway seeds
2-3 tsp lemon juice
olive oil (if necessary)

1. Cut the chiles in half and remove the seeds. Soak the chiles in very hot water for 30-60 minutes.

2. Drain the chiles and gently squeeze out the excess water. Grind the chiles, garlic, salt, and spices to a paste. Add the lemon juice and just enough olive oil to moisten the harissa. Add more olive oil if you prefer it thinner.

Store unused harissa refrigerated in an airtight container. For longer storage, top the harissa with a little olive oil before covering.

This technique is identical to the way that Thai red curry paste is made--only the spice ingredients are different. Traditionally a mortar and pestle is used for the grinding, in which case you'd start with the dry ingredients (the salt and spice seeds), and once you've pounded them to a powder, you'd add the chiles and then the garlic. A food processor or blender does the job, too, in which case I recommend grinding the spice seeds in a spice grinder first, then throw everything in the processor/blender and grind until smooth.

-Paul W.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Amazonbot, ClaudeBot and 3 guests

Powered by phpBB ® | phpBB3 Style by KomiDesign