Why make green harissa when the traditional one is perfection?
I haven’t posted in fucking ages. Not that I didn’t do anything, I didn’t have the energy to tell anyone about it, let alone write about it. But what better reason to write again than food. Oh yes, glorious food! And I’m particularly proud of this one because I adapted the recipe without doing any research, a rather brave move on my side considering some past disastrous results.
I’m pretty sure I must’ve mentioned my modest obsession with Middle-Eastern cuisine. It is plainly impossible to talk about Middle-Eastern cuisine without including its neigbours Mediterranean and North African cuisines. I’m using the word cuisine in abundance today! Anyway, a while ago I fell in love with harissa. A quick internet search shows it is a hot chilli paste originally from Tunisia. (I mean, I have to show I’ve done some research here).
Usually, I buy the paste whenever I find it, BUT it so turns out that my new Ottolenghi cookbook has a recipe for harissa. Challenge accepted.
It was stupendously good… (I am not kidding here…) I ate it in and on everything. Fried a couple of chopped brown mushrooms, added the harissa, on top of rye toast with a little bit mature cheddar…best quick lunch in ages. Made some pasta with spinach and tomatoes, once again some harissa, and boom! dinner of the month. I overslept one morning and quickly scrambled an egg with a dollop of harissa, and I was ready to face the music. The stuff was just magic. I think the best part of it was the volume the recipe yielded. It almost filled a 370g jar. That is way more than the small jar from Woolies, and frankly, the Ottolenghi version is much better. That big jar lasted 6 days…actually 5.
Day 1 
I started to panic 
The final moment…
But this made me wonder; can I make a green version. It would be pretty straightforward. Just change all the red ingredients for green ones. The trick came to the tomato paste. What would I use instead of that? My friend suggested fresh herbs, coriander, or basil.
From past experiences, I’ve learned to keep better notes of what I’m doing while ‘creating’ new dishes. Hopefully, it shows in the recipe. Oh, and I’m not a great fan of either/or options, so I used fresh coriander AND basil. Because I can. And this was another sensational success. To make sure it tastes as good as I hoped, I gave some to my neigbour. Even the kids liked it! Which probably means I can add much more chillies to the recipe. It was so good, I immediately made a cracker with homemade labneh and some green harissa. And lunch this afternoon was toasted rye with labneh, fresh tomato, and (yes, you guessed it) more green harissa. I don’t think this bottle is going to make it until next weekend…
Look at that colour! 
Sooooooo good.
Oh, before I forget. Why make green harissa? Why not? I wondered whether it’s a thing. It turns out that green harissa is a thing. I, sadly, did not have a brand new idea. BUT from my quick research, green harissa commonly has fresh parsley instead of basil. I think I may have made something rather special here…try it.
That colour and texture…
Green Harissa
Ingredients
- 1 green Pepper
- ¼ tsp coriander seeds
- ¼ tsp cumin seeds
- ¼ tsp caraway seeds
- 1 small brown onion roughly chopped
- 3 garlic cloves roughly chopped
- 2 mild green chillies deseeded and roughly chopped
- 2 tsp sliced jalapenos in oil
- 2 tsp oil from jalapenos and some extra olive oil
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ tsp Maldon Salt
- 15 g fresh basil leaves & stalkes
- 15 g fresh coriander leaves & stalks
Instructions
- Under a hot grill, toast the green pepper until blackened on the outside. This takes around 15-20 minutes. Place the pepper in a bowl, cover with cling film (or a damp dishtowel), and leave to cool. Peel the pepper and throw away the seeds.
- While that is happening, place a dry non-stick frying pan on low heat and lightly toast the coriander, cumin, and caraway seeds for 2 minutes. You should be able to smell the wonderful aromas of the spices. I normally only smell the green pepper in the oven. I have to lift the pan to my nose to smell whether the seeds are toasted or not. Put them in a pestle and mortar and pretend you're a famous chef while grinding the seeds as close to a powder as you can muster.
- Add the onion, garlic, fresh chillies, jalapenos, jalapeno oil to a frying pan and fry over medium heat until the onion starts turning translucent. If the ingredients start sticking to the pan, add a little olive oil.
- Now blitz all the ingredients together. And there you have a Green Harissa!
