I don’t really know how popular Harissa is around here. It should be very popular. It is a North African ingredient – a kind of chilli paste you can use for just about anything.

It is seriously easy to make – you just toast some spices and grind them up, then put everything in the food processor. I whizzed some up last week, and have already used it in heaps of dishes – I made this persian-style pilaf with chickpeas, mint and harissa. I added a teaspoon of harissa to tonight’s prawn laksa dinner, and we used it spread (thinly!) on bruschetta for lunch at the weekend. You can also mix it through couscous, add it to stews and casseroles, and it seems to work as a rub or marinade for any kind of meat, chicken or fish. And if you make it at home, you can decide how hot you want it! Always a bonus.

Harissa Paste

2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp garlic flakes
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
3 long red chillis, finely chopped
3 Tbsp tomato puree
juice of one lemon
olive oil

Toast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, garlic flakes, fennel seeds and cayenne pepper in a dry frying pan over medium heat. Just heat them until they start smelling delicious – they can burn really quickly so watch out! Pound the toasted mixture with a mortar and pestle until you have  a coarse powder.

Place the powder in a food processor with the chopped onion, chilli, tomato puree and lemon juice. When they’re not $6 each (can you believe it??) you could add roasted red capsicum to the food processor too. I went without this week.

Once you have everything on board, whiz up the paste. I found I didn’t need any olive oil, but if your paste is a bit on the dry side, blend 1-2 Tbsp olive oil in gradually.

If you’ve never tried harissa before, I definitely recommend trying it! I’m sure you can buy it from supermarkets or places like Moore Wilson’s if you’re not bovvered about making your own. Once it’s in your fridge, you’ll find all sorts of uses for it.