Rose Harissa

This makes plenty, which you can keep in the fridge. I make the main dish very plain so the boy is tempted to have the tiniest dab. To be fair it is very hot. The perfect cure to the Winter blues.

Turn the heating up and get some Khaled on the CD player!

200g red chillies

4 cloves garlic, chopped

Olive oil

 1 tsp caraway seeds

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp tomato puree

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp Rosewater

A squeeze of lemon juice

Salt to taste

Dry fry the whole cumin and caraway seeds and add the ground coriander. Put the chillies and garlic in a food processor with a little olive oil and whizz until smooth. Add the cumin, caraway and coriander and all the other ingredients. Whizz again. If it’s too loose add a little smoked paprika. If it’s too thick, add more rose water or lemon juice.  A quick taste will tell you which.

I like to make this with a fairly meagre chicken and vegetable stew – carrots, onions, squash and celery dominate with bits of chicken turning up as a lucky treat.  I think that makes it more African. You can of course, be more generous. Use thigh meat, rather than breast.  The stock needs to be well flavoured of course. Serve with fluffy couscous and be generous with the harissa when you do get a bit of chicken.

Use a good brand of couscous – Ferrero is a classic. Dress with olive oil and plenty of finely chopped flat leaf parsley. Chopped black olives on the side is not authentic, but I’m tempted. Sliced tomatoes and cucumber would also cool the heat when your dab of harissa is bigger than you planned.

The boy will be unsure about this. He’ll hope it’s a phase you’ll get over – he’s not used to you giving him anything meagre as far as meat is concerned. Make sure you’ve got a great dessert to follow.

Hopefully you will have some Harissa left over. Keep it in the fridge. It is amazing with lamb steaks.