Authentic Harissa Paste
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 15 minutes plus overnight soaking for chillies
Cooking time: 10 minutes
This makes 2 cups of harissa paste (around 3 small jars)
- 65g/2.3ozs. dried chillies soaked in hot water for 6 hours or overnight ideally (I used Arbol, Ancho and Guajillo chillies)*
- 280g/9.8ozs. roasted capsicum (I used one in a jar)
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled
- 3 tablespoons/60ml/2flozs. olive oil
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons caraway seeds
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon edible dried rose petals (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon rose water (optional)
- 3 tablespoons/60ml/2flozs. lemon juice
- Salt for seasoning
If you find it difficult to source dried chillies you can use fresh. Use 2-3 of your favourite red chillies depending on the heat level you want.
Step 1 - Remove the stems from the soaked chillies and place them with the capsicum, garlic, tomato paste and olive oil in a food processor and blitz to become a loose paste. Thermomix directions: soaked chillies, capsicum, garlic, tomato paste and olive oil in the Thermomix bowl and set to 30 seconds speed #5.
Step 2 - Heat a frypan on medium high heat and add the caraway seeds, cumin and coriander seeds and dry fry without oil until fragrant. Remove from the pan and grind them in a spice grinder along with the rose petals if using. Add this back to the pan along paste mixture and rosewater (if using) and fry for 5 minutes until a little more concentrated. Add lemon juice and taste for seasoning adding salt if it needs it. Cover with a layer of oil to help preserve it in the fridge (make sure that it has the oil layer after each use).