Harissa

Harissa is Tunisian in origin but is used widely in Morocco and other North African countries.  It can be used as a condiment, paste or a sauce.  Rub it dry on a roast, coat a rack with a mix of paste and yoghurt or add it to your favorite veggie dish.   Use the paste as a replacement for mustard if you like your sandwiches hot.  The Yemeni spice Zhug is made by adding cloves and cardamon to this mix.

I have split the recipe in two parts, as I like to keep the dry mix and make a paste when required. 

Ingredients:-

Makes about 1 cup (250ml) of dry mix.    Preparation Time 15mins.    Cooking Time 4mins.

Dry Mix:-

A mild chilli mix.

4 tsp Coriander Seeds
4 tsp Cumin Seeds
2 tsp Caraway Seeds
16 Dried Chili , chopped or blended (8Tbs, 100g):  I like to mix the chillies.  Include seeds for hotter, for a milder version, use dried Red Peppers. 
1 tsp Mint Dried
4 tsp Paprika Smoked
2 tsp Salt Sea/Kosher
2 tsp Garlic Powder

Paste:-

3 Tbs Olive Oil
1 Lemon, Juice of
Water for consistency

Method:-

In a small fryingpan, heat over moderate heat, the Cumin, Coriander and Caraway seeds and toast until fragrant (4min).  Let the seeds cool down and add all the ingredients to a coffee grinder and grind.  If using a mortar and pestle, grind the seeds, finely chop the chillies and then mix all the ingredients together.

Store into an air tight container in your spice rack...

To make a paste of your premix, just add the the Olive Oil and Lemon Juice and mix.  Add water to adjust consistency if required.

A good article on Harissa and its uses can be found here.