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Home > posts > 2014 > 10 > 20141027_213502_african-peanut-soup-and-carrot-salad-with-harissa.html

African Peanut Soup and Carrot Salad with Harissa

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We made a really good meal of African Peanut Soup and a carrot salad

African Peanut Soup

We followed our general soup recipe from my recipe book^[@rev]. For the most part, we stuck with it but I decided to use more peanut butter. I think I essentially 1.5x the peanut butter and it was too much. A bit over powering. Still very good but not as good as in the past. Next time, I'll stick with the recipe more.

Carrot Salad

Meredith made most of this but we basically followed the Smitten Kitchen Recipe (and linked locally below). We only topped one with feta and the other with olives and capers (to still give the briney bite that feta has). This was so good. Super simple and really healthy.

Meredith made her own harissa. She is still working out the recipe but below is the one we followed. This is not exactly like the harissa you see in the store. It is a bit sweeter and more flavorful (as opposed to just heat). It is largely inspired by the harissa from Cava. It has stewed (and sun dried) tomatoes to temper the heat and bring out a bit of the flavors. The version Meredith made for this was very good but a little smokey.

We doubled the recipe (but quarter the oil). The complete list of changes are

• Extra Harissa (1 heaping Tbsp for doubled recipe. Essentially 2-3x it)
• 1/4 of the oil (1 Tbsp per recipe, 2 Tbsp for the doubled)
• No parsley
• Mint was fresh peppermint from the garden
• Meredith's Harissa (see below)

Other than that, we stayed pretty true to the recipe. We used big carrots that we grated into as-long-as-possible strands with the food processor. We considered spiralizing but opted not to since the carrots may be too thick then. Also, not sure if we have it the full hour to infuse but it did have some time.

Carrot Salad with Harissa, Feta and Mint (From The Smitten Kitchen)

Local Copy ^[@rev] password is the name of my dog, all lower case

Meredith's Harissa

• 7 chile de arbol
• 3 pasilla chiles
• 3 morito (need to check)
• 8 sun dried tomatoes (w/o oil)
• 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tsp caraway seeds
• 2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp cumin (ground)
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/3 can stewed tomatoes (no liquid)
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp olive oil
• salt, to taste
• little bit of sugar (about 1 tsp at most)

De-seed and de-stem the chiles and place in a heat-proof bowl. Pour hot water to cover them and let soak for about half an hour. Meanwhile, toast the whole seeds over medium-high heat until they start to pop and dance and smell fragrant. Remove them from the heat and grind them with a mortar and pestle or spice grinder (lame). Add everything but the olive oil, salt, and sugar to the bowl of a food processor and grind until smooth. Taste, and add salt and sugar, as/if needed. Grind some more. When the flavor is where you want it to be, add the olive oil and pulse to combine.

Full Photos

Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9101, 2014-10-27_213502