Syrian Muhammara
After a few weeks of unheard-of laziness, when I let my Mac languish in its case and my new recipes in my notebook, I finally came back online to share a small summery culinary experiment with you, an irresistible dip sauce called muhammara.
In my household, there is no such thing as “enough” dips, salads, and nibbles for starters: hummus, baba ganoush, tzatziki, tershi, labna… these are just some of the ways we ring in a summer dinner! All of these dips come together in minutes as long as you have a blender, and guests always eat them in abundance with pita or challah. Muhammara, our recipe for today, enriches the dips repertoire with new flavors: bell peppers, nuts, pomegranates, cumin … I bet you will love it!
Muhammara is a typical Syrian appetizer, very tasty and full of character. It is an almost unknown dish compared to the other dips I mentioned above, so it is a great opportunity to surprise your guests with something entirely new to their palate.
As with all traditional dishes, you will find versions of muhammara that are more or less spicy than mine, smoother or coarser. Below is how I like it, but feel free to experiment and make this recipe yours!
Muhammara
Ingredients
- 3 peppers
- 1 pinch chili pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon sweet paprika
- 90 g shelled walnuts
- 25 g breadcrumbs
- 50 g extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
- 30 g tomato concentrate
- ½ onion
- 100 ml warm water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 handful of hand-chopped pistachios, to serve
- ½ teaspoon of sumac, optional, to serve
Instructions
- Roast the peppers cut into strips in a hot oven until they are nicely charred.3 peppers
- Grind all the ingredients, including the peppers with their peel, in a blender or grinder, adding lukewarm water a little at a time, to obtain a homogeneous paste. The texture is really a matter of preference, so stop when you get a consistency you enjoy.1 pinch chili pepper, ½ teaspoon ground cumin, ½ teaspoon sweet paprika, 90 g shelled walnuts, 25 g breadcrumbs, 50 g extra-virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses, 30 g tomato concentrate, ½ onion, 100 ml warm water, ½ teaspoon salt
- Transfer the muhammara into a bowl and decorate it with a handful of chopped pistachios and a sprinkling of sumac.1 handful of hand-chopped pistachios, to serve, ½ teaspoon of sumac, optional, to serve
