Harissa is a North African spicy sauce made with dried California (Anaheim) peppers, small hot chilies, garlic and spices. Traditional harissa is very spicy—too spicy for me—and I like spicy food. My sensitive palate doesn’t appreciate when one flavor cancels out the others. So I make it mild. Then I can eat it for breakfast with my avocado or peanut butter toast. YES, you read that right: peanut butter. It’s fucking delicious! Try it and let me know what you think.
You can also eat harissa with everything; omelets, sandwiches, soups, salads, couscous, stews, and whatnot. My husband mixes it with ketchup and dips roasted potatoes or fries in it or mix it with mayo and spreads it on a burger bun.My mother makes it with a meat grinder, which is probably the best way to make it. Though I don’t own, so I process it with a food processor.
Occasionally, I replace the hot chili peppers with one chipotle pepper (very spicy peppers). It gives it a smoky umami flavor. No need to seed it. Just remove the stem and soak it in hot water with the rest of the peppers.
You can buy the peppers in Middle Eastern, Asian, or Latin stores or order them online. Here in Los Angeles, I buy them at Jons Market, Super King Market or Elat supermarket.
Harissa
Equipment
- Food processor or meat grinder
- 1 medium jar
Ingredients
- 10-12 dried California chili peppers
- 2 small red hot chili peppers
- 3 garlic cloves
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Cut the stems off the California chilis and discard. Remove the seeds (it’s okay if some seeds remain) and discard. You can slit the peppers open to remove the seeds.
- Cut the stems off the red hot chilis and discard, but keep the seeds in. The more seeds, the spicier. Remove all seeds for mild harissa or keep all seeds for spicy harissa. I like my harissa mild-hot, so I add 1 hot chili pepper with seeds.
- Put the dried peppers in a large metal or ceramic bowl and cover with boiling water. Place a plate on top to prevent them from floating. Soak for 20 minutes and drain. The best way to dry the peppers is in a salad spinner—dry them as much as possible.
- Put the peppers in the food processor with the rest of the ingredients and process until smooth.
- Store in a jar or container, drizzle a little olive oil on top, and keep in the fridge for up to 1 month. I usually divide the harissa into 2 small jars. That way it doesn’t go bad. We give 1 jar to someone we love or freeze it until we finish the other jar.
Thank you! I made it and it came out delicious. I put six red small hot peppers and it was perfectly hot
So glad to hear! Thanks:)
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