Harissa Sauce

Most Middle Eastern dishes are very mildly spicy. However, it is very common to have this spicy Harissa Sauce on the side for those that like it hot.

Ingredients

2 tsp cumin seeds,

2 tsp coriander seeds,

1 tsp black pepper seeds,

Juice of 2 lemons,

4 tbsp olive oil,

1 large tomato,

4 tbsp tomatoes pulp,

4 dried chillies (soaked in water, deseeded and chopped),

4 fresh small red chillies (deseeded and chopped)

pinch of salt.

Method

1.     Dry roast the spices (cumin, coriander and black pepper) and then grind them to a powder in a pestle and mortar.

2.     Soak the tomato in boiling water for 1 minute, remove the skin and chop.

3.      Add spices, chillies, lemon juice, tomato, tomato pulp, olive oil and salt to the blender. Blend to a smooth paste.

Notes

1.     For a more spicy sauce, leave in the seeds of the chillies.

2.     One variation is to replace the tomato with grilled red pepper.