It is quite possible that Spanish cuisine not among the hottest in the worldespecially if we compare them with racy cuisines such as Mexican, Peruvian, Indian or Thai.
However, we do not have to go to the other end of the world to discover quite spicy sauces. Sometimes it is enough to cross the ‘little pond —excuse me, Mediterranean Sea— and discover sauces like this harissa, one of the flags of Tunisian cuisine and now present throughout the Maghreb, which is very powerful and is made by grinding dried chillies with a pinch of oil though today we omit the oil.
Though Tunisians put it on practically everything, including couscous and any dish with meat, vegetables or fish, we would not dare to go to that extreme, but we would dare to use it like any other spicy sauce. Moderation, to taste, put it as you like.
We are going to give you an infallible recipe for make an authentic harissa sauce, although the original is made with the peppers and chillies that are grown in the cities of Nabeul and Gabes. A perfect representative of their cuisine, harissa is a classic of the Maghreb, as is the case with tajine, chermoula or ras el hanout, and it is just as important in their cuisines as tzatziki for a Greek or tabbouleh and labneh in the Middle East countries.
Also, they tend to dry out because the flavor increases and they become even braver. By the way, the word harissa in Arabic means something along the lines of ‘break into pieces’, so it makes sense how these dried chillies are found before the recipe.
The recipe is very simple, since you only have to heat water and add all the ingredients there until hydrated.
Once they have doubled their volume and have hydrated, around 20 minutes, we can grind the whole thing until we obtain a more or less thick paste. If it is too thick, correct with a little more lukewarm water.
Le Phare du Cap Bon Harissa Paste – 70 gr
What to use harissa sauce with
We can use harissa to make any of our dishes more spicy, you can also tune it to taste. This recipe that we bring you today is very spicy —warning—, so you can use much less chili and, in addition, you can also use some olive oil to make it thicker.
From there, the options are endless for whatever dish you want to put a touch of tastiness as in pasta, rice or even adding a pinch to a soup or stew, which will lift it very well.
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