Harissa (Diana Henry)
African · Condiment · Middle Eastern · Sauces · Spicy · Vegan · Vegetarian
A thick red chile paste: toasted coriander, caraway and cumin pounded with soaked guajillos, fresh red chillies, garlic, fresh coriander, lemon and olive oil, kept chilled under a layer of oil.
Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Peppers and Hot Sauce pages and is adapted from the source named in the Notes.
Ingredients
- 2½ teaspoons coriander seeds
- 2½ teaspoons caraway seeds
- 2½ teaspoons cumin seeds
- 5 dried guajillo chillies
- 5 red chillies, halved and deseeded
- 6 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 small bunch fresh coriander (cilantro)
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 125 ml (½ cup) olive oil, plus extra for pouring
- 1 teaspoon fine salt, about (see Notes)
- Chipotle paste, to taste (optional)
Directions
Key ingredients
- Toast the coriander, caraway and cumin seeds in a dry pan for 1 minute, then grind them in a mortar.
- Soak the guajillos in warm water until soft, then drain and deseed them, keeping the soaking water.
- Blend the ground spices, soaked chillies, fresh chillies, garlic, fresh coriander, lemon juice, olive oil and salt, adding chipotle paste to taste if a smoky flavour is wanted, and a little of the soaking liquid to reach a thick paste.
- Spoon the harissa into a jar, pour a layer of olive oil over the top and keep it chilled for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Source Adapted from Diana Henry, “Harissa paste,” BBC Good Food (2019, modified 2022). It makes about 235 ml.
Gaps in the source Salt appears in the method (“some salt”) but not in the ingredient list; the 1 teaspoon above is an estimate, so taste and adjust. The chipotle paste has no quantity in the source.
How Tunisian it is Mexican guajillos stand in for Tunisian sun-dried peppers, and the fresh coriander leaf and lemon are not in UNESCO’s 2022 description of Tunisian harissa, whose core seasoning is salt, garlic and coriander seed. Caraway, which most English recipes treat as essential, is not in that description either.
Refrigerate it, and why Garlic and other fresh aromatics can carry botulinum spores, and oil shuts out the air those spores need to be kept from, so a garlic-and-oil sauce at room temperature is the textbook botulism hazard (garlic in oil caused outbreaks in Vancouver in 1985 and New York in 1989). The CDC’s advice for homemade oils made with garlic or herbs is to refrigerate them and throw them away after 4 days; UGA Extension gives the same 4 days for non-acidified infused oils. This paste carries raw garlic under oil and is only lightly acidified by the lemon, so keep it chilled always; the source’s own limit is 2 weeks.
The dish The Peppers and Hot Sauce section (/hot-sauce/) covers harissa’s UNESCO inscription and what the Tunisian method actually includes.
The photo The photograph shows homemade harissa being made, not this exact recipe.