Rose Harissa

Rose harissa is listed as a prime pantry ingredient in the incredible cookbook "Flavour" from which I have been cooking a lot lately (to see all of them you can sort on the "Ottolenghi" tag at the bottom of this post).

Harissa Chile paste hails from Tunisia and is widely used in middle eastern cooking. You can add use it for soups, stews, roasted veg, meats.....

On Ottolenghi's recommendation, I had sourced a wonderful Rose Harissa from 177 Milk Street. But given how simple it is to make, I wanted to try my hand at it.

After a little research I ended up deciding on a combination of two different recipes: a conventional Harissa from Alton Brown and a Rose Harissa from the Yottam Ottolenghi Masterclass I am taking (click on the link and sign up for a free 7 day trial!).

After sourcing the more elusive ingredients (I don't live anywhere near civilization 😂), I had everything I needed to begin!

I sourced Urfa Peppers ($5/50g bag if you buy 4!) from 177 Milk Street, and Kashmiri chili powder, Rose Petals and Rose Water from Amazon. I already had this Paprika from Spain but you can use any kind.

I pretty much followed Ottolenghi's recipe except I used the Urfa Peppers from Alton's recipe. You can try other one of those, or my adaptation as follows:

Ingredients

4 garlic cloves, peeled

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1½ tsp caraway seeds

50g Urfa Pepper

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp dried rose petals

1½ tsp granulated sugar

1½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder, (or other hot Chile powder)

½ tsp Paprika (any kind: smoked, hot, sweet)

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp rosewater, divided

4 tbsp cider vinegar

½ cup EVOO

1½ tsp salt

Method

Add the garlic, cumin, coriander, and caraway seeds to a dry cast iron (or other) skillet and toast over a med-high heat until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Keep shaking the pan or stirring until the seeds start to smoke being careful not to burn them.

Transfer the seeds to a mortar and pestle and roughly crush. Pop themin the food processor and add the garlic, Urfa pepper, tomato paste, rose petals, sugar, chilli powder and paprika. Pulse a few times until roughly chopped and combined.

Add the lemon juice, ½ tbsp rosewater, the cider vinegar, 4 tablespoons of olive oil, and a pinch of salt to the food processor. Blitz until you have a coarse paste.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl and gently stir in the remaining rosewater and remaining EVOO.

Transfer the harissa to a sterilized airtight jar and keep refrigerated if not using right away. Harissa keeps, covered with a layer of oil, in the refrigerator for several weeks.

The kitchen was an absolute disaster!!