Harissa is a North African red chile paste or sauce made from several simple ingredients. The paste generally includes olive oil, red chiles (such as Fresnos), garlic, and several warm spices. Harissa is tangy, smoky, slightly sweet, and just spicy enough to wake up your taste buds. Fret not, friends, this sauce will not leave you breathing fire. You can use it as a dip or condiment/sauce on many Mediterranean recipes.
Some people refer to harissa as the ketchup of North Africa and the Middle East. Comparing harissa to ketchup doesn’t do the slightly spicy sauce justice, though. Harissa sauce is much more complex in flavor and doesn’t contain all the preservatives, dyes, sodium, and added sugars that ketchup has. Although you can easily find harissa in jarred form at many grocery stores, it’s so much better when you make it from scratch. Since the recipe only requires the ingredients and a food processor, we encourage you to don your culinary hat and make this yourself.
Each batch of homemade harissa will differ because people tend to use different chiles. Some people use chiles that are not as spicy, while others enjoy a little kick to their harissa, so they use spicier chiles. Generally, though, harissa sauce calls for red chiles and you can add more or less depending on your spice tolerance.
- Prep Time:20m
- Total Time:20m
- Serves: 6 servings
- Category: Full Body Cleanse Approved, Dips & Spreads, Condiments, Raw, Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-Free
Ingredients
- 6 -8 red Fresno chiles, stemmed and seeded
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp. ground coriander
- 1 tsp. ground caraway
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 3 tbsp. water
Instructions
- After stemming and seeding the chiles, add them to a medium-sized bowl and pour warm water over them. Let them sit in the water to help tame the heat.
- Drain the the water and then add the chiles to a food processor, along with the rest of the ingredients. Pulse until you get a smooth paste.
- Spoon into a jar and serve immediately.
