Chilli sauce with hot spicy food, chai and non stop rain !! A combination we all just love it!!
The harissa sauce is primarily from Tunisia and North African countries. Recently it has also been included in Moroccan cuisine. It is made with an assortment of chilies, spices, garlic and oil.The recipe varies from region to region.
Here it has been combined with tomatoes which makes it mild and the color of the sauce is bright orange-ish red .The sauce has been kept a little chunky.
I love to keep a stock of all spicy sauces,the latest being Marie Sharp's Haberno sauce which has a very high heat factor. These sauces can be paired well with almost anything from Indian Street food like pakoras ,vada paos to pastas to veggies and meats, marinates and dips included.
I was inspired to make tomato and chilli harissa with minimal changes after it appeared in a magazine some months ago. Also, I took this opportunity to make something delish for Magazine Monday.
Tomato and chilli harissa
1 tsp each caraway and coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
100 ml olive oil
4-6 garlic cloves,peeled
1 tsp smoked paprika
500gms tomatoes,deseeded and chopped
4-5 red chillies
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt
Lightly toast the spices in a pan till aromatic. Then lightly crush them using mortar and pestle. Heat the oil in a large pan and add garlic, toasted spices, paprika, tomatoes and chillies. Cook over a low heat,stirring frequently for about 15 minutes till the tomato flesh has cooked down to a pulp and the garlic is tender.
Remove from the heat add lemon juice and then blitz with a hand blender to make a rough paste.Spoon into a sterilized jar and pour a little oil over the surface to completely cover it.