Harissa - red hot chilli paste

As mentioned in my previous blog about chicken sandwiches, here is my take on harissa.

Harissa is essentially a hot chilli paste from North Africa (there seems to be some debate as to whether its rightful home is Morocco or Tunisia) used traditionally in couscous dishes.  In fact, its uses seem endless - it goes well with pasta, in sandwiches, with chicken or with squid.
However, I think harissa should be seen as more than just a chilli paste used to add heat.  We could, afterall, just add heat with chillis or with tobasco sauce, for example.  But harissa contains other spices and has a great texture - and once made, will keep for a couple of weeks if covered in a film of olive oil in the fridge (interestingly, I note in Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries that he buys tins of the paste but always ends up throwing them out - he'd be better off making his own and storing it properly!).

Harissa
8oz red chillis - you have to use your judgement here as 8oz of scotch bonnets will kill you, this is based on the dutch greenhouse types - if you have powerful chillies, use fewer!
Pinch of salt
2 cloves garlic, peeled
3 heaped tsp caraway seeds - coarsly ground
3 heaped tsp cumin seeds - coarsly ground
1heaped tsp black cumin seeds - coarsly ground (or another teaspoon of normal cumin)
1 large red bell pepper, blackened in the oven or over a flame, skinned, seeded and chopped
1tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp sweet paprika
6 tbsp olive oil

Deseed and chop the chillis taking care not to touch your eyes or anywhere even more sensitive (this is where cooking gets dangerous for men...) and blitz them in a blender with a sharp blade along with the salt and the garlic.  Add half of the caraway and cumin and all of the red pepper and blitz again.  We want this to be a pretty smooth paste at this point.
Turn out into a bowl (and immediately put your blender and the blade in water to soak - or everything you use it for from now on will taste of chilli!) and stir in the rest of the spices, the tomato paste and the paprika.  What you should have now is a thick and fairly smooth paste with identifiable bits of the spices in.  Stir in the olive oil and there you have it - absolutely great chilli paste.

If you have a jar of this (topped with a film of olive oil) in the fridge for a week or so, I guarantee you'll find new ways of enjoying it!

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