Harissa Sauce

This potent Tunisian chili sauce is not for those who prefer their guacamole mild, if you get my drift. Harissa is a fiery, deeply flavored blend of dried chiles, roasted red pepper, garlic and toasted spices including cumin, coriander and caraway seeds.

This unique hot sauce has practically an infinite number of uses, basically whenever you feel the need to pack a flavor punch look to this stuff. Use it to spike your mayo for a killer sandwich spread, stir it into a pot of black bean soup as it simmers, or even use it thinned out as a pasta sauce. It’s fantastic as a marinade or topping for any grilled meats or burgers that may grace your grill this summer, perhaps replacing ordinary ketchup and mustard.  You could try it stirred into greek yogurt as a dip for crudites or swirled into hummus served with flatbread. It’s fantastic stuff and you’ll be hard-pressed  not to find countless ingenious uses for it, I guarantee.

Harissa’s flavor profile can be altered depending on the mix of chiles you select and add-in’s you use. For example, in this recipe I’ve added roasted red bell pepper to my harissa. Some cook’s add tomato, some like to use both. You want to have some knowledge of various chiles heat level before making this, so that you don’t accidentally set your tongue on fire! The Guajillo chiles this recipe calls for are generally mild, coming in just a touch under jalapenos on the Scoville Unit heat scale. Chiles de arbol are much, much hotter, so use those to taste. The original recipe I used called for 5 arbol chiles! I wimped out and used just 1, replacing the others with milder dried red chiles. Next time I’ll try two and see how we fare! And remember, when working with hot chiles wear rubber gloves and be careful not to rub your eyes, as capsaicin can linger on skin.

There’s a bit of an art to working with dried chiles, and I learned a great deal about this in making this harissa. First, you want to lightly toast the chiles in a dry skillet to wake up their flavor a bit. But you do not want to burn, brown or blacken them. If that happens, discard and start over, as the chiles will become very bitter tasting if they get burnt in the toasting process. A couple of minutes, flipping the chiles often over medium heat is all you need to do. Then you want to rehydrate them. I believe the best way to do this is to cover them with boiling water in a small bowl and let them sit 20-30 minutes. Some recipes will direct you to use warm or even cool water, but from the research I’ve done it seems the boiling water is best here, given we want to then blend the chiles into a sauce.

Since you’re taking the time to make this from scratch verses squeezing it from a tube (yes, you can buy prepared harissa at the store), don’t skip toasting and grinding the spices. You want to use whole cumin seeds, coriander seeds and caraway seeds. Lightly toast, then grind in a spice grinder or coffee grinder used only for grinding spices. A note about prepared harissa’s – I’m sure there are some wonderful brands out there, and if anyone knows of any please post in the comments, but because this sauce preparation varies so widely some brands will be bland and tomato-y while others just blazing hot. You might have to experiment around before you find one you love, verses controlling the ingredients and chili heat index yourself by making your own!

I used this harissa as a condiment with some seared cinnamon lamb steaks, served over cous cous with a refreshing side salad of tomato and cucumber. How will you use yours?

Buon Appetito!

harissa sauce

• 1 large red bell pepper
• 3 dried Guajillo chiles
•  1 dried arbol chili
• 3 dried small mild red chiles (such as New Mexico or California)
• 6 cloves garlic, skin on
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp caraway seeds
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. Roast pepper either under the broiler or directly over a gas flame to char and blacken on all sides. Place in a small bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap and steam for 10 minutes. Remove pepper from bowl and when cool enough to handle, peel the skin and discard stem and seeds. Slice into strips and place in food processor.

2. Toast garlic (skin on), cumin, caraway, coriander and all chiles in a skillet over medium heat, flipping chiles often with tongs and stirring the spices, 3-5 minutes. Do not burn spices or chiles.

3. Remove chiles from skillet and remove their stems and seeds with a pairing knife. Discard stems and seeds. Place chiles in a small bowl and pour boiling water over them to cover. Let rehydrate for 20 minutes. Place rehydrated chiles and 2 Tbs water from bowl in food processor.

4. Peel the garlic. Grind garlic, toasted spices and salt in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle until a paste forms. Transfer paste to food processor. Puree until smooth. Sauce keeps refrigerated up to 2 weeks. Serve at room temperature.

Makes 3/4 cup.

Recipe adapted from Cuisine at Home magazine