Harissa contains fine ground hot peppers and red peppers. These two spices belong to the same family (Capsicum). Harissa not only has a pleasantly spicy flavour – the red pepper aroma gives this north African speciality a lightly sweet flavour of honey that is warm and fruity, very fluent. These are the characteristics that make harissa appreciated in our country.
The ingredients are well matched, with a medium spiciness, with a pleasant fruity note of sugar, hot peppers, salt, red peppers, caraway and coriander.
– Harissa is ideal for both hot and cold dishes.
– For simple sauces: mix the harissa spice with ricotta, fresh cheese or olive oil until a creamy mixture is obtained. Use this sauce with freshly baked bread (baguettes, pita-bread) or fried vegetables.
– How to avoid the formation of lumps: mix the harissa with a little cream, soup or oil and add it to the sauce.
– Tunisians welcome their guests with a bowl of olives, a bowl of oil and harissa and warm bread. In this way, waiting for food becomes more comfortable.
– Idea for frying: add a pinch of harissa to the mixture with which we fry vegetables (eggplants, cauliflower, zucchini) in order to enrich the flavour of dishes.
– It can be used instead of salt for seasoning fried potatoes (as well as potatoes in a pan).
– Trick for seasoning meatballs: add a pinch of harissa to the meat mixture.
Harissa is a Tunisian speciality that accompanies every meal, even breakfast, in that country. Bread is immersed in harissa paste or used to season various typical dishes from couscous to lamb ragù. Tunisian cuisine is the only Maghreb cuisine that gives priority to spicy dishes. This tendency can be explained by the long rule of the Ottomans in Tunisia, beginning from the 16th century, who brought red peppers and hot peppers to other countries in which they ruled, for example in Hungary.
Harissa goes well with basil, enriched salt, spring onion, ginger, garlic, olives, orange peel, parsley, chives, lemon zest.
