Homemade Tunisian Harissa
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A simple recipe for tasty Homemade Tunisian Harissa paste that you can make as spicy or as mild as you want.
Ingredients
  • 2 lbs (around 1kg) of red peppers (I use a mix of sweet and hot---around 1¼ lbs sweet to ¾ lb hot
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 2 teaspoons coriander
  • ½ teaspoon caraway
  • ½ teaspoon cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
  • olive oil
Instructions
  1. Wash and remove the seeds and ribs of the peppers. In a steamer basket over simmering water, add the bay leaf, peppers, and garlic cloves. Cover and steam on medium-low for 30 minutes.
  2. After steaming, remove the lid and transfer the peppers and garlic (but not the bay leaf), to a food processor or blender. Add the coriander, caraway, cumin, black pepper, salt, and lemon juice and blend until as smooth as possible. Taste for seasoning and add more salt if you desire.
  3. Transfer the resulting paste to a clean glass jar and cover the top with layer of olive oil. Keep the paste in the refrigerator and add more olive oil to the top every time you remove some paste.
Notes
-This recipe makes around 2½ cups of harissa.

-The ratio of sweet to hot peppers is totally up to you. I tend to make it on the lesser spicy side so that I can use a big spoonful in cooked dishes without making the end result too spicy. A good rule of thumb is to use around half the amount of hot peppers as sweet.
Recipe by Lands & Flavors at https://www.landsandflavors.com/homemade-tunisian-harissa/