Muhammara

This was our first time making muhammara, but I’m sure it won’t be the last! Muhammara is a rich, sweet dip/paste/sauce made from red peppers, walnuts and pomegranate molasses. We mostly followed a recipe from Cooking with Amy, but with a few modifications.

One of the things we really noticed during this challenge is the importance of tasting as you go: both the hummus and this muhammara needed pretty significant tweaks to get the flavors into balance. Not that there was anything wrong with the original recipes, but there’s natural variation in the ingredients and quantities being used.  So many ingredients can vary widely in size and potency of flavor.

Anyway, here is the finished dish, decorated with a little sumac:

And the recipe:

Muhammara

3 large roasted red peppers
1 cup walnuts
2 cloves garlic
1 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin (freshly ground, use more if you’re using pre-ground)
1 Tablespoon mulberry molasses
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper

Roast the peppers, then peel off the skins. While the peppers are roasting, toast the walnuts in a dry pan on top of the stove. Let cool.

Place the garlic and bread crumbs in the food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the red peppers and their juice along with the walnuts, cumin, mulberry molasses, pepper and salt. Drizzle in the olive oil while the machine is running.

If possible, make this a day in advance, as the flavor really comes together overnight.