Harissa | Fussels Fine Foods

Introduction:

This is our take on Harissa, which is a hot paste or dip from North Africa, definitely not for the faint hearted!

Ingredients:

175g red birds eye chillies
2 romano red peppers
100g chopped tinned tomatoes
3 chopped garlic cloves
1 tbsp tomato puree
Splash red or white wine vinegar
½ tbsp smoked paprika
Dollop of greek yoghurt ( optional)
1 tbsp each of ground cumin, coriander and fennel seeds and ½ tbsp ground allspice
Pinch salt
Juice of half a lemon
3/4 tbsp rapeseed oil

Preparation:

Cut the peppers in two and deseed. Then grill until the skins blister and start to burn, at which point remove them and place in a bowl of cold water. After a couple of minutes maximum, take them out, pat dry and remove the skins. Place to one side.
Deseed the chillies and roughly chop.
Put the peppers, tomatoes, chillies, spices, salt and garlic into a processor and whizz until smooth. Now add the oil and the lemon and then taste. Add more paprika, chillies and yogurt to get the desired heat level and consistency required.
Eat with flat bread, or with anything you fancy! Can be added to stews etc.