MUHAMMARA
Muhammara is a tasty, sweet, spicy dip or spread, a well-known meze made with Aleppo peppers, breadcrumbs, and walnuts.
The dish Muhammara (Moo-hum-mara) comes from Aleppo, Syria, famous for its delicious red chilli peppers. It is often serve as part of a meze. There are as many ways to make Muhammara as there are cooks who make it. This is typical for foods that have been around since before cookbooks and measuring cups. Most recipes have a base of walnuts and breadcrumbs, but some use bulgur instead of breadcrumbs and others only use walnuts.
I’m from a pepper-name town, thus chilli peppers dominate Muhammara. Peppers from Aleppo are sweet and spicy. They have 6,000 to 15,000 Scoville Heat Units, more than Hungarian hot paprika (100 to 500 SHU) but less than Cayenne (35,000 to 55,000 SHU). Aleppo peppers are made in several ways. Some recipes use fresh peppers, others powder dry peppers, and others roast peppers.
An Arab cook taught me how to make Muhammara. He kept a big mason jar of chilli paste made from Aleppo peppers. The spicy chili paste add by the spoonful in his version. It makes it hot and gives it a great earthy flavour of umami.
Chilli sauce is made by drying peppers in the sun briefly, then chopping them and putting them in a jar with salt and olive oil. After that, the jars ferment in the sun. The paste tastes great because of this. The process is similar to making Asian chilli pastes like doubanjiang (ferment fava beans) and sambal oelek (vinegar). If the Syrian version is unavailable, these are suitable alternatives.
I enjoy my Muhammara with chilli sauce and fresh peppers. Peppers add sweetness and fruitiness, while chilli paste adds spice and depth. Soaking breadcrumbs in olive oil and tahini overnight absorbs all the oil. The spread becomes creamier but the crumbs remain better. I roast walnuts beforehand to enhance their flavor. Grind them till breadcrumbs-like. You can hand-cut Muhammara into larger pieces.
There is also pomegranate juice, which adds sour and sweet. A little tomato paste helps bring everything together. When you’re done, you have a spread that tastes great on bread and sandwiches. It also makes a great dip for a platter of veggies like peppers, sweet onions, and cucumbers.
📖 RECIPE
Muhammara
Ingredients
- 1 cup unseasoned breadcrumbs
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons tahini
- ½ cup walnuts 60 grams
- 270 grams red bell peppers 2 small peppers
- ⅛ small red onion
- 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
- 1 tablespoon Syrian chili paste to taste
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Mix the tahini and olive oil with the breadcrumbs in a bowl. Cover and let it sit at room temperature overnight so the oil can soak into the breadcrumbs.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and cook the walnuts on a baking sheet until they turn golden brown the next day. Do not let them get too hot. Place the walnuts in a food processor and pulse them a few times until they look like breadcrumbs. Together with the breadcrumbs, add the walnuts.
- Take the peppers apart and cut them into small pieces. Combine the peppers, onion, chilli, and tomato paste in a food processor. Use pulses to chop the peppers and onions up very small, but not completely.
- The pomegranate syrup, cumin, and salt should all be added to the breadcrumbs and the pepper mixture. Stir the ingredients together. Taste and add more or less pomegranate juice and salt as needed.
- Cover the muhammara with a plate or small bowl and spread it out to serve. Spread olive oil over the top in the shape of a swirl.