Dangerous business being a keen cook.
But hot sauce: we have a whole shelf devoted to these potions of pain.
We have bottles of local hot sauce from any country we visit that has a culture of hot sauces, as well as British-made versions of hot pastes and concoctions from the countries of their ex-pat creators. A certain Bim’s Kitchen in London makes some of the best hot sauces I have ever tasted. We have managed to eke out a bottle of their Fiery African Pepper Sauce for about 2 years since its purchase at Borough Market.
As much as I like high quality bought sauces from small companies {and even bigger ones, like Cholula}, and the spicy fillip they can add to something a bit plain, making your own is something else all together. Harissa is my favourite to make. And as some of my family and friends like it hot too, this is what they are getting from me, as well as a bag of za’atar and a jar of pink peppercorn preserved lemons. A tag will be affixed listing the ingredients as well as suggestions of how to creatively use this seductively spicy and flavoursome paste. Pomegranate and vanilla vodka made from this recipe over at Ren‘s is also on my list. Must remember to keep some for us!
Harissa, the hot pepper paste closely associated with Tunisian cooking, is incredibly rewarding to make. Easy too. The distinct advantage over bought pastes – other than taste – is that you can control the heat.
I use tiny, and magnificently hot, pequins {up to 75,000 Scoville units!} as they are super cheap, readily available in a Middle Eastern shop near me, and a bag of them – quietly getting more fierce as they age – keeps forever. In comparison, Scotch bonnets and birds eye chillies are about 100,000, and jalapeño and guajillo chilli peppers are much milder at 5,000. Chipotles are between 5,000 and 10,000.
For this easy edible gift recipe, if you decide to use fresh chillies aim for three ‘supermarket’ red chillies – tasting the end of one to test for heat.
After blending you may decide to go hotter, in which case blend in some chili flakes or even some hot paprika. Here is a guide to the heat of chillies: useful if you want to gauge the heat of available chillies before making any recipe calling for a quantity of chillies, such as this one.
If you desire a smokier outcome, use dried chipotles or chipotles in adobo sauce, eliminating or reducing drastically the small dried chillies. And btw, smaller chillies aren’t necessarily hotter so do test each batch of chillies you get before using them in any recipe. The variety, the time of year grown, the country it is grown in – all can influence heat and taste.
Next up is a cauliflower cheese dish that you can serve at Christmas. Think cake!
Rose Petal Harissa
While rose petals and rose water are lovely in this fragrant paste, do leave them out if you can’t get them. Maybe add some fresh and dried mint to go for a completely different vibe. If making for a gift, use small jars – about four.
To soak
25g dried small chillies, such as pequin or birds eye
2 tbsp culinary grade dried rose petals
To toast
2 tsp each of caraway, coriander and cumin seeds
2 whole star anise
2 fat garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1 ½ tsp {mild} paprika – this helps with colour and taste
The rest
2 red mild red peppers {bell peppers}
75 ml {1/3 cup} evoo + extra to top the jar{s}
Handful of semi-dried tomatoes {about 12} OR 3-4 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste {start with 3}
2 stoned Medjool dates OR 1 heaped tsp good honey
1 tsp rose water, more to taste {be careful though as you really just want the faintest hint once you have already swallowed a taste of the paste}
2 tsp lemon juice
Special equipment needed: blender, food processor or commodious and heavy mortar and pestle; sterilized small jars or one jam jar; rubber gloves
1. First of all put on your rubber gloves. I didn’t this time and two days later I am still paying the price. Split and remove the seeds from the dried chillies. Discard the seeds. Disregard this step at your peril…
2. Put the dried chillies and rose petals in a small bowl and pour over enough hot water to soak. Leave for half an hour. Drain and set aside.
3. While the chillies are rehydrating, over a low heat toast the seeds, star anise and garlic slices in a pan for about three minutes, stirring as necessary; add the paprika and just heat through to release the aroma. If you have a spice grinder/coffee grinder or mortar and pestle, pulverize the toasted mix. Stir in the soaked chillies and rose petals.
5. Spoon into sterilized jar{s} and top with extra rose petals and enough olive oil to completely cover the paste. Refrigerate and use within three weeks. It also freezes well: dot into an ice cube tray {one you won’t be using for ice as it will taint} and freeze and pop the spicy cubes into a labeled bag to add into stews, etc.
Uses: aside from accompanying North African style dishes such as tagines and couscous, it is terrific as a marinade for any protein {slake with more oil}, mixed into bean or legume dips {think hummus}, to accompany mezze platters, mixed with mayonnaise or mashed avocado as a bread spread, added to salad dressings, stirred into pasta and vegetable bakes, in tacos for a different vibe, tossed through raw vegetables {such as sweet potato} before or after roasting, mixed into tomato sauces or in something like shakshuka, as part of burger mixes {bean or something like lamb}, in scrambled eggs, or mixed with butter to make spicy popcorn – you get the idea. Versatile.
Other Food Gift Ideas on Food To Glow: Preserved Lemons, Sweet and Spicy Munch Mix, Chocolate Almond Butter Bites, Slow-baked Sunflower Seed Butter Granola, Mexican Hot Cocoa Mix and Kids’ Vanilla Cocoa Mix, Hint of Mint Cocoa Brownies, Sour Cherry and Pistachio Chocolate Bark , Sugared Spelt and Olive Oil Biscuits
And my friend Katie at The Muffin Myth has a food blogger collection of healthy edible gifts to peruse, including her Homemade Vanilla Extract – yum!
