Harissa is a North African hot red
sauceIn cooking, a sauce is liquid or sometimes semi-solid food served on or used in preparing other foods. Sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to another dish. Sauce is a French word taken from the Latin salsus, meaning salted...
or
pasteIn physics, a paste is a substance that behaves as a solid until a sufficiently large load or stress is applied, at which point it flows like a fluid. In rheological terms, a paste is an example of a Bingham plastic fluid....
whose main ingredients are
chili pepperChili pepper is the vegetable of the plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Botanically speaking, the fruit of capsicums are berries...
s (often smoked or dried) and
garlicAllium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion family Alliaceae. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, and chive. Garlic has been used throughout recorded history for both culinary and medicinal purposes. It has a characteristic pungent, spicy flavor that...
. Though most closely associated with
MoroccoMorocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
,
TunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
and
AlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
, it is a standard ingredient of
North African cuisineNorth African cuisine is primarily a mixture of Arabic and Mediterranean cuisine. It also shares characteristics with Turkish cuisine, particularly in the Eastern part which was more influenced by the Ottoman empire....
.
Harissa often contains
corianderCoriander is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. It is also known as Chinese parsley or, particularly in the Americas, cilantro. Coriander is native to southern Europe and North Africa to southwestern Asia. It is a soft, hairless plant growing to 50 cm [20 in.] tall...
,
carawayCaraway also known as Meridian Fennel or Persian cumin is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to western Asia, Europe and Northern Africa....
, or
cuminCumin is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native from the east Mediterranean to East India.-Etymology:...
, and usually
olive oilOlive oil is a fruit oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The wild olive tree originated in Asia Minor and spread from there as far as southern Africa, Australia, Japan and China. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and...
. It may also contain
tomatoThe tomato is a herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family that is typically cultivated for the purpose of harvesting its fruit for human consumption...
es. It is used both as a
condimentA condiment is a relish, sauce, or seasoning added to food to impart a particular flavour or to complement the dish. Often pungent in flavour and therefore added in fairly small quantities, popular condiments include salt, pepper, ketchup, mustard, olive oil, vinegar and sugar.Usually applied by...
and as an ingredient in
recipeA recipe is a set of instructions that show how to prepare or make something, especially a culinary dish.Modern culinary recipes normally consist of several components:*The name of the dish...
s.
In Tunisia, harissa is served at virtually every meal as part of an appetizer.
Harissa is a North African hot red
sauceIn cooking, a sauce is liquid or sometimes semi-solid food served on or used in preparing other foods. Sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to another dish. Sauce is a French word taken from the Latin salsus, meaning salted...
or
pasteIn physics, a paste is a substance that behaves as a solid until a sufficiently large load or stress is applied, at which point it flows like a fluid. In rheological terms, a paste is an example of a Bingham plastic fluid....
whose main ingredients are
chili pepperChili pepper is the vegetable of the plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Botanically speaking, the fruit of capsicums are berries...
s (often smoked or dried) and
garlicAllium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion family Alliaceae. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, and chive. Garlic has been used throughout recorded history for both culinary and medicinal purposes. It has a characteristic pungent, spicy flavor that...
. Though most closely associated with
MoroccoMorocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
,
TunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
and
AlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
, it is a standard ingredient of
North African cuisineNorth African cuisine is primarily a mixture of Arabic and Mediterranean cuisine. It also shares characteristics with Turkish cuisine, particularly in the Eastern part which was more influenced by the Ottoman empire....
.
Harissa often contains
corianderCoriander is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. It is also known as Chinese parsley or, particularly in the Americas, cilantro. Coriander is native to southern Europe and North Africa to southwestern Asia. It is a soft, hairless plant growing to 50 cm [20 in.] tall...
,
carawayCaraway also known as Meridian Fennel or Persian cumin is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to western Asia, Europe and Northern Africa....
, or
cuminCumin is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native from the east Mediterranean to East India.-Etymology:...
, and usually
olive oilOlive oil is a fruit oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The wild olive tree originated in Asia Minor and spread from there as far as southern Africa, Australia, Japan and China. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and...
. It may also contain
tomatoThe tomato is a herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family that is typically cultivated for the purpose of harvesting its fruit for human consumption...
es. It is used both as a
condimentA condiment is a relish, sauce, or seasoning added to food to impart a particular flavour or to complement the dish. Often pungent in flavour and therefore added in fairly small quantities, popular condiments include salt, pepper, ketchup, mustard, olive oil, vinegar and sugar.Usually applied by...
and as an ingredient in
recipeA recipe is a set of instructions that show how to prepare or make something, especially a culinary dish.Modern culinary recipes normally consist of several components:*The name of the dish...
s.
In Tunisia, harissa is served at virtually every meal as part of an appetizer. It is also used as an ingredient in a meat (goat or lamb) or fish stew with vegetables, and as a flavoring for
couscousCouscous or kuskus as it is known in Brazil, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt is a dish consisting of spherical granules made by rolling and shaping moistened semolina wheat and then coating them...
. It is also used for
lablabiLablabi is a Tunisian dish based on chick peas, small pieces of bread and a thin cumin-flavoured soup. It is commonly eaten in cheap restaurants. Partially-cooked egg is often added to the mix, along with olive oil, harissa, capers, tuna and/or olives...
, a popular
chickpeaThe chickpea is an edible legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Chickpeas are high in protein and one of the earliest cultivated vegetables...
soup usually eaten for breakfast. Lemon juice is sometimes added. In Saharan regions, harissa can have a smoky flavor.
The paste (which may vary from one region to another) is also sold in tubes, jars, and cans. In the West it is eaten with
pastaPasta is a generic term for foods made from an unleavened dough of flour and water, and sometimes a combination of egg and flour. Pastas include noodles in various lengths, widths and shapes, and varieties that are filled with other ingredients like ravioli and tortellini...
, in
sandwichA sandwich is a food item consisting of two or more slices of bread with one or more fillings between them, or one slice of bread with a topping or toppings, commonly called an open sandwich. Sandwiches are a widely popular type of food, typically taken to work or school, or picnics to be eaten as...
es and on
pizzaPizza is a world-popular dish of Italian origin, made with an oven-baked, flat, generally round bread that is often covered with tomatoes or a tomato-based sauce and cheese. Other toppings are added according to region, culture, or personal preference.Originating in a part of Italian cuisine, the...
. In some
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an countries like
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
it is popular as a breakfast spread for
tartinesAn open sandwich, also known as an open face sandwich, Ulrich Sandwich,open faced sandwich or tartine, consists of one single slice of bread with one or more food items on top of it...
or rolls, and one finds varieties of harissa or harissa-themed spreads in almost every supermarket. Harissa paste can be also used as a rub for meat or
aubergineThe eggplant, aubergine, or brinjal , is a plant of the family Solanaceae and genus Solanum. It bears a fruit of the same name, commonly used as a vegetable in cooking...
.
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