Harissa and Figs

Dried Figs and  Spicy Harissa

The laundry on my rooftop dries in about half an hour. The hot winds whip and crack the sheets and in no time they are smooth and dry to the bone. It’s the third week of August and the heat only lets up after about 9 at night. During the day my roof is like an oven, and so Ive decided I might as well use it as one. After the success (repeated success I should say) of  drying  tomatoes I decided to try figs. Fresh figs don’t really need too much help – they are usually deliciously sweet and fragrant. However, in this climate they really ripen fast and go from perfect to don’t overhandle in no time at all. So rather than gorge myself silly on oozing figs, I thought I’d give drying them a try.

Nothing to it at all – not even salt or olive oil this time (!) I just split them open and laid them out on a rack. It took a good 3 days to get them to that point of being soft and chewy – rather than hard and chewy – and yes, quite delicious! I did exactly what I did with the tomatoes, covering them to keep off bugs ( which I also do for the tomatoes now), and bringing them in at night. Now I did read that Jamie Oliver does the same thing to figs using the oven (overnight/ lowest heat) so there you go. You could probably do tomatoes and figs at the same time.

These sweet sticky figs can be eaten just as they are, thrown into salads or eaten with cheese. They can also be used in stews such as in a Moroccan tagine of lamb, figs and walnuts which I had once  in the Atlas Mountains and have never forgotten . As soon as I can bear to turn on the heat in my kitchen, that’s what I want to try.

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The chilies on my plants didn’t  wait for me but dried themselves out alone. Yesterday I picked a large handful and turned them into harissa. Harissa originates from North Africa, in particular Tunisia and is basically a spicy chili paste with distinctly North African/Middle Eastern overtones. Until recently I always bought it ready prepared  in a lovely colourful tube but I’ve discovered  this homemade version which is so much better.

 

     Harissa

• 10-12 dried red chili peppers
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground caraway seeds (I’ve made it without)
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• Big spoonful of tomato puree (this not in the official recipe but I think it improves taste and texture)

All you do is….

Soak the dried chilies in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain them and remove the stems and seeds  (The heat is in the seeds so this is up to you).

Combine the chili peppers, tomato paste, garlic, salt, and olive oil and blend.

Add the spices and blend to a smooth paste.

Store in airtight container with a bit of olive oil on top to keep fresh. It will keep for a month in the fridge (if it lasts that long!)

Now what you are looking at in that little blue bowl is fiery hot and that’s because my peppers were probably 3 times hotter and longer than the little bird’s eye chilies Ive used before. So when I say 10 -12 chilies, that really is going to depend on size and strength. Use your own judgement. Im personally happy with scorching hot but I know not everyone else is. And if you are not sure at this point how you would use the stuff, then just make it then decide. Once you taste it you will realise that you can use it for all sorts of things that could do with a spicy kick. Besides, it takes less than 5 mins to put together so theres no sweat there -just in the tasting!