Homemade Harissa

At the moment we have an abundance of Chillis, it’s pretty much the only thing that is growing for us over the super hot months.

I purposely planted more plants than I knew we would need, as I know we can easily store and use our chilli supply from summer over the entire year. One thing I’ve been wanting to make is a home made Harissa which is a North African chilli paste. We’ve seen it pop up in a few recipes but have struggled to find it in the shops.

Harissa is lovely with most meats and root vegetables.

Here is my recipe:

Ingredients:

• 50 grams of dried whole chilles
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon of caraway seeds
• 1 teaspoon of coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil (plus extra for topping)
• Optional Extras: For a sweeter flavour add preserved capsicums and / or tomato paste

Soak the dried chillies in boiling water for approximately 30 minutes.

Place caraway, coriander and cumin seeds in a dry frypan and on a low-medium heat cook until fragrant. Remove from the frypan and grind up using a mortar and pestle.

Wearing gloves (VERY IMPORTANT read why here), take off the stem off and carefully remove the seeds.

Place all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until a smooth paste.

Put into a sterilised jar and top with olive oil to create a seal.

This Harissa should last in the fridge up to 1 month.