rose harissa chilli sauce

Rose harissa chilli sauce - a real 'knock your socks off' chilli sauce with plenty of flavour - influenced by the traditional North African harissa sauce.  Great for marinades, as a dipping sauce or just serving as a condiment with your food.  My rose harissa chilli sauce is inspired by the brilliant Salt Sugar Smoke by Diana Henry and an adaption of her recipe for harissa.  I highly recommend you get yourself a copy - an inspiring and eclectic read about preserving.  Delicious!

Harissa has many uses in North African cooking and is also popular in countries where these populations have immigrated, for example in the UK and France. It is often seen served to accompany stews and cous cous dishes or as a marinade for meat. However as well as using harissa in the more traditional way it is also great on burgers or even a fried egg! 

My harissa recipe includes the addition of rose petal jam that I have had in my cupboard for ages picked up on a trip to France.  However you could easily substitute this with rose flower water - another North African staple ingredient.  The resulting sauce has a big chilli kick but also a really full and complex mix of flavours - citrussy, garlicky and floral all at the same time.  I hope you enjoy it.

My recipe for rose harissa lamb with roast vegetable salad will follow shortly........

ingredients:

3 tsp coriander seeds
3 tsp caraway seeds
3 tsp cumin seeds
6 fresh chillies (I leave the seeds in, but you can take them out if you want)
3 tsp dried chilli flakes
10 garlic cloves
juice and zest of 1 lemon
small bunch of fresh coriander
2 tbs rose petal jam or rose flower water
100ml oil  (plus more for storing)
100ml water
salt to taste

method:

• add the coriander, caraway and cumin seeds to a dry pan and toast for about 3-4 minutes to release the flavour - do not take your eye off this as you need to be careful not to burn the spices.  When this is done blitz in a spice mill or pestle and mortar. 
• next add all the other ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth.   At this stage you can omit the water for a thicker paste but I am going for a thick, pouring consistency. 

• pour the blended sauce into a sterilised jar and top with a layer of oil to help preservation. Store in the fridge -  I would use this within 3 weeks - but it will definitely be gone before then!  You can of course make a smaller batch of this recipe to start off with to see how you get on.

http://www.punkdomestics.com/content/rose-harissa-chilli-sauce

I am also entering this recipe onto: Four Seasons Food hosted by Delicieux and Chezfoti to go with their BBQ and BBQ sides theme.

how to make my ultimate hot and sweet chilli garlic and ginger jam

 

I am slightly addicted to chilli and eat it on as many foods as possible. This is a spicy and sweet chilli jam with garlic and ginger. I think it has a bit of a spicy kick but it is not mouth burning, and you can still taste all the individual flavours. You can make it less hot by deseeding or using a milder chilli. I hope you enjoy. This makes a great gift - especially good for the Christmas/holiday season :) I love this sauce on noodles or rice dishes - but it's also great in a cheese sandwich! It's also good to add into pasta sauces or stews while cooking to add a little chilli hit to your recipes.

ingredients:

225g chilli peppers (I used small green Thai/finger chillies but any would work - you can de-seed them if you want but I did not as wanted the extra heat)

400g red/bell pepper - cleaned, deseeded and roughly chopped

600g onion - chopped

400g tin chopped tomatoes

1.5kg sugar

750ml white/red wine vinegar (cider vinegar is also good)

50g ginger

1 head garlic - cloves peeled

1 tbs sea salt

preparation time: 20 minutes

cooking time: 45-60 minutes (depending on pan size/heat)

• clean your peppers and chillies well and de-stalk the chillies - you may want to wear rubber gloves while doing this to protect your hands - and remember don't touch any sensitive body parts after handling chillies!!!!!!
• add the cleaned and prepared chillies, peppers, onions, garlic and ginger to a large pan with the vinegar and salt and blend with a hand blender (or in an electric blender before putting in the pan if you don't have one) until well mixed together - keep your eyes out of the way as any splashes would be very painful!
• add the cleaned and prepared chillies, peppers, onions, garlic and ginger to a large pan with the vinegar and salt and blend with a hand blender (or in an electric blender before putting in the pan if you don't have one) until well mixed together - keep your eyes out of the way as any splashes would be very painful!

• add the sugar, stir with a wooden spoon and bring to a rolling boil for about 45-60 minutes until thickened and the wooden spoon leaves a trail when stirred in the bottom on the pan

• skim off any 'scum' that rises to the surface.

• while the jam is boiling away sterilize your jars (when you have about 30 minutes to go). You will need enough jars for about 1500 -1750ml of finished product. (I used a combination of 1/2 litre kilner jars and small preserving jars with lids)
• you can use your preferred method of sterilization but what I did was cleaned jars and lids well in very hot soapy water, rinsed in clean, hot running water, then put on baking trays in an oven preheated to 180C for 25-30 minutes.
• when the jars are sterilized and the jam is cooked, carefully add the jam to the prepared jars - remember you must add hot jam to the hot jars - otherwise the end product will not be sterilized and also the jars may crack. Seal the jars immediately and leave to cool before storing in a cool, dark place.

• the jam is ready to eat the next day but will also keep for at least 1 month unopened. Once opened store in the fridge.
• I hope you enjoy - let me know how you get on......

http://www.punkdomestics.com/content/hot-and-sweet-chilli-garlic-and-ginger-jam

I am also entering this recipe onto: Four Seasons Food hosted by Delicieux and Chezfoti to go with their BBQ and BBQ sides theme.

15 minute peanut butter and chilli noodles

an easy, quick, combination of peanut butter, chilli sauce, and soy sauce - creates this delicious Thai inspired noodle dish.  This is one recipe I will be making more than once!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. 

serves 3-4

recipe ready in 15 minutes (or less if you are really quick and not using meat!)

 

 

 

 

ingredients

 

250g egg noodles

1 bag stir fry vegetables (I used about 400g size)

300g minced beef (but you can use pork, prawns, chicken, tofu, extra veg - it's up to you)

1 tbs oil

 

sauce:

3 tbs peanut butter (I like crunchy for the texture but smooth is OK)

3 tbs soya sauce

3 tbs sweet chilli sauce

6 tbs boiled water

 

optional sauce extras:

crushed garlic

grated ginger

lime zest

 

optional toppings:

sesame seeds

lime segment

chilli flakes

chopped mint/coriander

chopped peanuts

sliced spring onions

• mix all the sauce ingredients together and leave to one side while you prepare everything else
• turn on frying pan and when hot carefully add oil and fry beef (or other ingredient of choice) for approx 10 minutes on a high heat. Make sure meat is hot and completely cooked through.

• at the same time add noodles to a pan and carefully pour over boiled water to soften (follow packet instructions as noodles take different amounts of time).
• drain when cooked and leave to one side

• when the beef (etc....) is cooked add the stir fry veg mix and fry for a minute on a high heat.
• add the noodles to the pan with the stir fry and meat and pour over the sauce mix
• heat through for a couple of minutes
• serve with optional toppings - I used chopped mint, chilli flakes, sesame seeds and lime segments
• enjoy your super quick and tasty noodles ready in only 15 minutes!