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Harissa is a North African sauce/condiment/seasoning most commonly associated with Moroccan food. I looked through my cookbooks, found 3 recipes and they're all fairly different. Sure, they all seem to use dried red peppers, coriander seed, oil and garlic but, after that, it's wide open. Caraway, bell peppers, mint, cumin, lemon, it's pretty wild.
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground caraway
1 cup mild chili powder (I was skeptical about using chili powder but it makes a lot of sense if you think about it...chili powder already has ground cumin, onion powder, garlic etc in it...saves you a step, imo)
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chopped mint
1. Heat oil in a small pan. When oil shimmers, add garlic and saute until golden. (This step takes a few minutes so be patient.)
2. Turn off heat. Add the rest of the ingredients. Let cool. Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
So whaddya do with this stuff? So far, I've used it as a rub for lamb and for fish. I also introduced some hummus into my standard hummus recipe. I'm going to spend the majority of the next two weeks cooking Moroccan/North African food so we'll see where else I go with this stuff.
Time- 5 minutes, if even that much.
Food Cost- More than I would've liked.
Chili Powder- $3.79
Caraway Seeds- ~$0.20
Incidentals- About a buck?
Total- $5.00. Servings--unknown. Alot. You'll probably have more than you can use. I probably should've made a half recipe. Next time. :)
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Have you ever owned a cookbook which you compulsively reached for? A book which took your taste imagination on a never ending journey? For me, The Soul of a New Cuisine by Marcus Samuelsson, is that book although it is far from perfect. (For those who don't know, this book focuses on African food and the New World countries populated by ex-Africans during the slave trade.) The writing kinda sucks, the pictures don't always match the recipes and the scope of the book is too broad to serve as a reference book but man, these recipes. I love 'em so let me tell you why:
Chile peppers are frequently used in African cuisine and if you've read this blog for any amount of time, you already know that I love spicy food.
Liberally spiced recipes. Much like Indian food, African food seems to be built on layers of spices. This philosophy appeals to me
Lots of condiments and sauces. I like dipping food into sauces...think Indian food and chutneys and you get the gist of it. African food seems to share this idea of little taste enhancers. In addition, the book contains recipes for interesting spice blends.
The book also intrigues because of Samuelsson's heritage. As I explained back in this post, Samuelsson was raised in Scandinavia but of Ethiopian heritage so his book represents an effort to get in touch with his roots. It's obviously extremely personal to Chef Samuelsson although it's a shame that so little of his passion comes through in the writing. Finally, it seems like only two African cuisines have made it to the United States: Ethiopian and Moroccan. It's nice to see some material on what the rest of the continent eats and, given my experience, they eat well so let's get to this recipe.
First, a note on callaloo. There is no definitive recipe for callaloo. Much like other beloved ethnic foods, there are as many recipes for callaloo as there are cooks. However, 15 minutes of Googling research have turned up a few commonalities.
Dasheen aka taro leaves and onions. I didn't feel like trekking to Chinatown to get taro leaves so I used a mix of mustard greens, kale and collard greens. The cookbook recommends spinach.
Some sort of pork product.
Okra
Chili peppers.
This version focuses on the Trinidadian version. Callaloo is sometimes eaten as a soup but is just as often used as a thick condiment. Either way, it's crazy delicious and very, very easy to make. Please please please please please please give this a try.
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons oil
1 medium Spanish onion, chopped
2 minced garlic cloves
2 bird's-eye chiles, seeds and ribs removed, finely chopped (I couldn't find these chiles in my 'hood so I substituted 2 whole, chopped serrano chiles...very mild heat, I will probably add a third serrano next time)
1.5 teaspoons ground cumin
1.5 teaspoons coriander seeds (I will grind the coriander seed next time...the blender didn't do a good enough job pulverizing the seeds)
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup bottled clam juice (I see you raising your eyebrows...I was equally skeptical but just roll with it...think of the clam juice as a substitute for crab meat which is a common addition to callaloo...I found clam juice at my local grocery store)
1 cup heavy cream (You could probably add another cup of coconut milk if you are lactose intolerant)
Two 10-ounce packages frozen chopped spinach (I used 1 16 oz. bag of mixed, chopped collards, mustard greens and kale from Trader Joe's...definitely one of the best things they sell)
Juice of 3 limes
1. Heat oil in a large pot. When shimmering, add the onion, garlic and chiles and saute until the onion is soft and translucent.
2. Add the cumin, coriander, chicken stock, coconut milk, clam juice and heavy cream and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
3. Add the spinach and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until spinach is cooked. (If using the bag of Trader Joe's greens, or if you are using other hearty leafy green, I recommend simmering the cumin, coriander, chicken stock etc. for 15 minutes, throw in the greens and simmer until the greens are mostly limp...it took me roughly 45 minutes)
4. Transfer the soup to a blender, in batches if necessary (definitely necessary), and puree. (Please exercise caution when blending hot ingredients.) Transfer to a bowl and stir in the lime juice. Serve hot.
(Next time, I will add even MORE greens. I was dubious that this amount of liquid would support such a large quantity of veggies but I was dead wrong. In addition, more greens equals a more vibrant color. Hmmm, I can't think of a reason why you couldn't use broccoli in this recipe in place of the greens. Both are from the brassica family, right? Hmmm, the wheels in my mind are spinning...)
Time: An hour, almost all of it inactive cooking time.
Food cost:
Clam juice- $3.15
Chicken broth-~$2.50
Greens- $2.29
Cream- $1.99
Coconut milk- $1.39
Incidentals- Maybe $1.00?
Total- $12.32. If you serve this as soup you'll probably get 4 large bowls so ~$3.00 per bowl. I've been using it as sauce over hot rice...probably 6 servings...~$2.00 per bowl.
This recipe might look a bit intimidating given its length but I encourage you to give it a try. It really is quite easy once you get past some of the chopping and prep work. Also, this curry was very well received by George & Carrie, my chief taste-testers, so that might give you the extra bit of incentive you need to tackle this recipe.
This recipe is from The Soul Of A New Cuisine: A Discovery Of The Foods And Flavors Of Africa which I've never cooked from. The author, Marcus Samuelsson, runs a couple of very well known NYC restaurants. When you hear the name Samuelsson, you might imagine a Swede and, in this case, you're half right. Samuelsson was born in Ethiopia, orphaned at the age of 3 and moved to Sweden shortly thereafter. His adopted Swedish parents raised him in a typically Scandinavian fashion...ice skating and all of that. He returned to Ethiopia when he was 28 years old and wrote this cookbook as a tribute to his native continent. In doing research, he discovered that relatively little had been written about African cuisine and he took it upon himself to change that. The fruit of his labor is a really neat book which is enlightening from an ethnographic perspective. I like to read books which focus on how people relate to food and this book sates my curiosity. It also satisfies my hunger so let's get to the recipe!
Keep in mind that my pictures reflect a double batch.
INGREDIENTS
For the spiced butter: 1 pound unsalted butter 1/2 medium red onion, coarsely chopped 1 garlic clove, minced One 3-inch piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon cardamom seeds 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric 8 basil leaves
Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over low heat, stirring frequently. As foam rises to the top, skim and discard it. Continue cooking, without letting the butter brown, until no more foam appears. Add the rest of the ingredients and continue cooking for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from the heat, let stand for the spices to settle. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve before using.
1/2 cup Spiced Butter (or 1 stick unsalted butter) 2 medium red onions, sliced two 3-inch pieces ginger, peeled and grated 6 garlic cloves, crushed 2 Thai chiles, seeds and ribs removed, finely chopped (if you can't find these, just substitute...say, 4 seeded and de-ribbed serrano chiles) 2 teaspoons paprika 2 teaspoons ground coriander 4 cardamom pods 2 bay leaves 2 cinnamon sticks 1/4 teaspoon powdered saffron (I omitted the saffron...BUDGET college cook and all) 1 teaspoon ground turmeric 1 teaspoon black peppercorns 2 pounds boneless leg of lamb, cut into 2-inch cubes (i used lamb neck...cheaper and more flavorful...) 6 tomatoes, chopped, or 3 cups chopped canned tomatoes 1 cup coconut milk (I used light coconut milk...I figured with the butter and lamb fat, the dish would be rich enough) 4 cups water 3 large Yukon Gold potatoes (1.5 pounds total), peeled and cut in half 2 cups 2-inch pieces okra 1 cup plain yogurt
(Man. Some little bastard just threw an empty Gatorade bottle through the open, front windows of my apartment. Ughh. Stupid disrespectful bastard kid.)
Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat. Stir in the onions, ginger, garlic and chiles and saute until the onions are transluscent, about 10 minutes. Add the paprika, coriander, cardamom, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, saffron, turmeric and peppercorns and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the lamb and tomatoes, bring to a simmer, and simmer, uncovered, fro 5 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk and 2 cups of the water and bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 1.5 hours. (At this point, I added salt.)
Add the remaining 2 cups of water and simmer, uncovered for 40 minutes. (I didn't understand this part. Why not just add all four cups of water at the same time? Does this make sense to anyone?) Add the potatoes, cover, and simmer until the meat is tender, about 40 minutes longer. (I tasted for salt and adjusted accordingly.)
Add the okra and cook for 10 minutes, or until tender. Remove from heat, remove the bay leaves, and stir in the yogurt. (I actually took my yogurt and blended it up with a bit of the hot cooking liquid. I find that when I add yogurt directly to a hot pot of food, I get these little yogurt pebbles...It looks kinda gross. So, to avoid this problem, I take some hot cooking liquid and temper the yogurt with it. The easy way is to just blend it in a blender....maybe a 2:1 ratio of yogurt to hot liquid.)
Re-taste for seasoning.
Done!
Pretty good recipe although there was a self-inflicted problem. The choice of lamb neck...it has fantastic flavor, texture and is very affordable but the amount of marbling in the meat means that there is quite a bit of fat released during cooking. I chose to skim off some of the fat. Normally, this isn't a problem but there is no way to segregate the spiced butter from the lamb fat so, by removing lamb fat, I also removed some spiced butter. This is unfortunate because the spiced butter has such a neat flavor. Next time, I might use a leaner cut of lamb...maybe well trimmed lamb shoulder? Something to keep an eye on but if you use the leg of lamb, as the recipe requests, you should be all right.
This recipe does nothing but encourage me to use this book sometime in the near future.
Time- 40 minutes of prep. This includes making the spiced butter. Actual cooking time is a few hours but it's just inactive simmering. No real work.
Cost- (For my double batch) Lamb- 4 lb. at $2.99/lb= $12.00 Butter- $2.00 (Not really sure...George bought the butter) Tomatoes- $3.00 Coconut Milk- $0.89 Potatoes- $2.75 Okra-$3.00 Incidentals- $3.00 Total-$26.64--Double batch serves 12-16 so $2.18-$1.66 per serving.
