Foods of Kerala

Photo by: Live to Eat
grilled-lamb-chops-and-harissa-
Harissa is a North African hot red sauce or paste made from chili peppers (often smoked or dried) and garlic, often with coriander and caraway or cumin and served with olive oil. It may also contain tomatoes. It somewhat resembles sambal and chili sauce. Harissa is used both as a condiment and as an ingredient in recipes. It has been described as an important item in Tunisian cuisine[1]. Harissa... more 

Photo by: Live to Eat
grilled-lamb-chops-and-harissa-
Harissa is a North African hot red sauce or paste made from chili peppers (often smoked or dried) and garlic, often with coriander and caraway or cumin and served with olive oil. It may also contain tomatoes. It somewhat resembles sambal and chili sauce. Harissa is used both as a condiment and as an ingredient in recipes. It has been described as an important item in Tunisian cuisine[1]. Harissa is also used in a few recipes of other North African cuisines, namely Morocco, Algeria and Libya [2], though it is often treated as a condiment to be served on the side. In France, couscous is generally served with Harissa sauce. Ever since I saw the cutie pie chef Tyler Florence making Harissa on TV, I’ve been dying to try this out. I followed Tyler’s recipe pretty much exactly, halving the ingredients, but I used a very hot Habanero pepper instead of the 1 small red chili suggested in the recipe. So my harissa was very spicy. I am sure Tyler couldn’t handle that much heat. Also, I thought the spices (cumin + coriander + caraway) were a little too overpowering, so I’ve reduced the amount of spices in the recipe below. To complete the meal, I made an arugula salad with grilled peaches. The slightly caramelized peaches went so well with the bitter arugula greens and the spicy Harissa. Harissa sauce did double duty, acting as the main ingredient in the salad dressing as well, of course I it had to be toned down with some honey less