A quick recipe for harissa paste. Simples!
Harissa is a great addition to couscous, rice, stews, tagines - anything really. Toast, if you don't mind a bit of spice! It can be done with dried chillies and ground spices; I'm using fresh chillies and seeds here. There are many forms of harissa, so why not experiment with your herbs and spices?
INGREDIENTS
chillies - this is based on 5 or 6, but experiment to see how much paste you get.
4 garlic cloves
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
olive oil & salt
Watch the video
METHOD
Pop the whole chillies and seeds in the oven. 120ºC for 1 hour
When they're cool enough to handle, trim and deseed the chillies
Put the seeds, chillies, garlic, oil and salt in a jug and blitz them till you get a thick paste
Sterilise a jar (boiling water) and spoon in your paste
flatten it down with a spoon to get out any air pockets
Top with olive oil - each time you use it, make sure you tap it all down below the oil and add more oil as necessary
A teaspoon of this is enough to perk up many dishes - how hot it is depends on your chillies, and any seeds you leave in
It'll keep in the fridge for about 4 weeks