Harissa sauce. Chef John's Harissa Sauce. this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. Harissa is a hot chili paste that originated in Tunisia, North Africa. It is commonly used as a dip or marinade, or to add to dishes like stews to add.

Harissa is a spice mix used in the Middle East and Africa as a condiment, a grilling sauce, and it's often an ingredient in other dishes. There are many variations to this recipe, but this is a fairly typical one. Harissa - Recipe for Spicy Middle Eastern Chili Garlic Sauce on ToriAvey.com. You can cook Harissa sauce using 10 ingredients and 6 steps. Here is how you cook it.

Ingredients of Harissa sauce

It's of fresh chillies (your choice in type and heat).
Prepare of Caraway Seeds.
It's of Cumin seeds or ground.
It's of Coriander seeds or ground.
It's of peeled garlic cloves.
You need of smoked paprika.
Prepare of rock salt.
Prepare of Virgin Olive oil.
You need of Tomato puree.
Prepare of Preserved lemons.

I love to spice things up in my kitchen. Learn how to make Harissa Sauce. Harissa made from fresh chilies has a looser texture and lighter flavor than one made with dried chilies alone. Similar to the dried chili harissa, I use mild red bell peppers for the body and bulk of the sauce.

Harissa sauce instructions

Get your chillies and put them in a bowl. I used around 9 red chillies as that was all I had ready on my plant. Cover them with boiling water and cover the bowl for around 15 mins. There is plenty of heat with this number. If you like things a little less hot, use less chillies and vice versa if you want hot hot hot..
Whilst the chillies are soaking, take your caraway seeds, cumin seeds and coriander seeds and heat them on a dry pan or skillet. Only a low to medium heat is needed here and they will soon become nice and fragrant. Take them off at this point and grind them down. Also add some salt at this time. A teaspoon here will give a salty enough taste and more really does start to make it too salty but if you like it like that, you can always add more later than now..
Take your chillies from the water 1 at a time (don't discard the water though you may need it). Cut off the stems then deseed them by splitting them and scraping the seeds away so you are just left with the outer chilli. Once they are all deseeded,, add them to the grounded seeds..
Hard work time now, get grinding this so you really break down the chillies. You can use a processor for this of course but I love the control of pestle and mortar. You need to grind down till you only have small bits of chilli left, no chunks. This will be a dry mix so you can start to add olive oil to create paste; 1 Tbsp first whilst you grind it down and then 1/2 Tbsp a time after to your choosing. You may also want to loosen it with teaspoon of the water the chillies were in as that adds a nice flavour too. Be sure to scrape the mix from the sides too. Add half a teaspoon of lemon preserve if you like a zesty kick and a teaspoon of sweet pimentón or smoked paprika for that lovely earthy smoked taste. I used both smoked and lemon and it gave a lovely contrast..
Drop your peeled garlic in and grind into the mix then taste. Now is when you can start to tweak to your own tastes. I added a squeeze of tomato puree here and a little more salt. You can add anything from fresh lemon juice, preserved lemon, fresh or dried mint, fresh cilantro, sun-dried tomatoes, tomato paste, cayenne, paprika really. Your choice, experiment and at the end you'll have a superbly versatile paste/dip..
Keep any you don't eat straight away in an airtight jar and cover with some oil over under storage. You should re-oil each time you use the harrisa and you can keep this for about a month under these conditions..

A treasured heirloom recipe passed on from Ron's grandmother. Use our Signature Harissa to: COOK: soups, stews & sauces. Harissa is a hot, red pepper paste used in North African cooking. It is added to many recipes for increased flavor. This harissa recipe is easy to make.