Hibiscus and Romano pepper Harissa

Posted by petra08 on March 23, 2018 · 23 Comments 

There are different ways to brighten up a grey day and mine was absolutely made better by a fantastic goodybag from a friend. It was filled with different kinds of dried chillies!

I unpacked them and immediately thought of making an harissa. Until a few weeks ago I had never made my own harissa. I did a burnt chilli green harissa and when I got the dried chillies I knew I wanted to use them to make another kind.

There was a bag of dried hibiscus flowers with the chillies so I thought I would use them instead of rose petals for a flowery note.

 

I got some Romano peppers from the green grocers. I love peppers and Romano peppers are absolutely delicious and I knew I had the last ingredient for my new harissa.

 

Hibiscus and Romano pepper Harissa

preparation time 5 minutes

cooking time about 15-20 minutes + 30 minutes resting

oven turn the grill on highest

serves makes about 2 dl or 1 cup

Ingredients

• 1 Ancho chile
• 1 Mulato Chile
• 1 Guajillo Chile
• 1 fresh Cayenne
• 6 Romano peppers
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/2 dl dried Hibiscus flowers
• 1/2 dl white wine vinegar
• 1/2 dl olive oil
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp sumac
• 1/2 dl soaking water
• 1/2 tsp sea salt, or to taste
• 1/2 lime, juice

Soak the dried chillies and Hibiscus flowers for a minimum of 20 minutes in water and give them a rough chop.

 

 

Cut the romano peppers in half and remove the core and seeds. Place them skin side up on an oven roasting tray, under the grill and roast until they start to go black. Remove them from the heat and place under a kitchen towel until they cool down. You can also wrap them in clingfilm, the steam created will make it easier to remove the skin.

 

 

Remove the dried, soaked chilies from the water. Save the water and remove the core. The core of one of the chillies looked a bit like an alien, I couldn’t resist taking a photo.

 

 

Place all of the ingredients in a pan and cook for 15-20 minutes. Add more soaking water if it gets too thick. Rest for 30 minutes for the flavors to come together.

Place everythign in a blender and blend until fairly smooth before placing the harissa in sterilized jars.

 

 

Add olive oil on top and and close the jar.

If you don’t use all of it in one go add more oil on top to keep the harissa fresh.

 

Most harissa has rose in them instead of hibiscus but I prefer the flavor of hibiscus, it works so well with the chiles.

I used it with chicken, a classic, I mixed it with a little more oil and roasted vegetables, I mixed some with butter and had it with steak, the possibilities are endless.

 

This week I am co hosting the always lovely Angie’s Fiesta Friday with

the very talented Zeba, Food For the Soul, let’s party!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed under Allotment/Veg, Chilli, Fruit, Garlic, Home made produce, Lime, Recipe, Vegan, Vegetarian · Tagged with harissa, Hibiscus Harissa