Harissa – This dish is on fire!

This one goes out to the spicy food lovers out there…

When I think of hot spicy food, I think of my younger sister; her love for hot spicy flavors goes hand in hand with her spiced up, hot personality and by that I mean – “This girl is on fire!”

To be honest, I was never a big fan of hot food and I still go easy on myself when it comes to heat level in food. However, for some reason I always find myself somehow surrounded by what I like to call ‘heat maniacs’; these fanatics (my younger sister and husband included) forever seek to top whatever they eat with ridiculous amounts of Sriracha, Tabasco or chili flakes.

So as someone who respects the effect of heat in food, but cannot really be called a ‘heat maniac’, I found the perfect balance – Harissa! Even though Harissa has a very distinctive flavor, it is not usually aggressive when it comes to heat level, and this is why I’ve always been a HUGE fan of it.

Many cuisines have their own traditional hot sauce – Harissa is the CROWN JEWEL of traditional Tunisian food. Once you make your own homemade Harissa and master the use of this paste in your cooking, you immediately gain significant “Tunisian cred”.

Not only is this Tunisian paste a must ingredient in many traditional dishes, but it is also an amazing spread that packs in tremendous flavor and lifts up any sandwich, dip, sauce, Frittata, Shakshuka, tuna salad, homemade kebabs, meatballs or hamburgers …you name it…

I find that every (Tunisian) family has a slightly different recipe, but they all use the same basic ingredients: Dry sweet red pepper, Dry hot red peppers, garlic, salt and oil.

You will need:

½ lb. Dry Sweet Red Pepper flakes

¼ lb. Dry hot Red Pepper flakes

5-6 Cloves of Garlic crushed

½ – 1 cup warm Water

1 tbsp. Salt

½ cup Canola Oil (and a little more for coating the storing jar)

Let’s get to work

(but not really work since the food processor does it all…)

In a food processor put garlic, all pepper flakes and start processing while slowly adding the water.

After about a cup of water add salt and check the consistency of the paste. Continue adding water to achieve the desired consistency.

Time to carefully fold in the canola oil in pulses; still using the food processor, use small short pulses (and just a few) to fold in the canola oil.

We want the oil to behave itself when meeting the liquids of the Harissa and truly become part of this goodness.

Want to be extra careful?

Move the paste into a bowl and SLOWLY fold in the oil by hand using a spatula. Once all oil is absorbed your Harissa is ready!

Also it goes out without saying: you are welcome to control your own heat level by changing the ratio of the dry hot chili pepper and the dry sweet peppers… you know yourself, but experimenting with it a little is probably the best way to know your favorite heat level.

Now, let’s get the container/jar ready as well:

This is a very simple step, yet super important since we are trying to create a clean and germ-free environment to avoid bacteria interfering with our lovely Harissa and make its shelf life as long as possible.

For that you will need a sealed glass jar.

Just place your glass jar in the sink and pour in hot boiling water all the way to the top (let the water overflow). Wait 5 minutes and pour out the water. Careful, the jar is still hot!

Let your jar dry upside down on a clean kitchen/paper towel.

When the clean jar is completely dry, transfer the Harissa in and use canola oil just enough to coat the top of the paste preventing the Harissa from drying.

Make Harissa part of your everyday eats…

It is awesome to spice up sauce recipes, fish, pasta, rice, couscous, Shakshuka, frittata, salad dressing. You can add to mixtures such as meatballs, kabobs, meatloaf. You may top your roasted potatoes or chicken or make it a part of your chili recipe. Trust me and spread it on your sandwiches or add to your tuna salad. Also of course you can just serve it in a small dish with olive oil on top as a condiment.

Storing your Harissa:

Harissa can last in your refrigerator for months and months; and if you make a large amount – it will last in your freezer even longer

Transfer to a sealed container (preferably glass jar) to store in the refrigerator or a freeze proof container to store in the freezer. I always divide the amount of Harissa to two and store in both.

* To use your frozen Harissa you will have to defrost it by leaving it out at room temperature.

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Quick Recipe:

Harissa-

Put Sweet and Hot Pepper Flakes and Garlic in a food processor.

Start processing while adding Water and Salt to achieve the desired consistency.

Pulse Canola Oil in carefully or transfer to a bowl and fold in Oil until completely absorbed.

Clean and dry your storing container (preferably glass jar).

Transfer Harissa with a little Canola Oil on top to the cleaned, sealed container to store in the refrigerator or a freeze proof container to store in the freezer.