This spicy paste has a gorgeous earthiness with a good kick of chilli offering a unique vibrant taste of fresh herbs and dried spices, adding loads of flavour to your everyday meals. Easy to make and a great paste to have on your favourites list when looking at adding that extra hit of flavour to a dish.
This fragrant paste simply enhances everything it's slathered onto, from your cooked meats like lamb, beef, chicken and seafood. We love it on our baked vegetables like sweet potato, pumpkin and the humble spud, adding a lovely texture and punchy addition to your everyday veg. Tagines and many Middle Eastern dishes love a good drizzling of chermoula, where this delicious paste originates from.
The possibilities are endless and doubling the recipe for a handy marinated or to use warmed or cold as a sauce, dressing or simply served as a dip, this recipe is a good one to have in a jar on standby in the fridge.
NEED
5-6 large cloves of garlic - roughly chopped (I used our homegrown organic Italian garlic)
1 whole small or medium red chilli (seeds included) - roughly chopped (locally grown Rob Walker Southern Forest chillies)
2 tsps whole cumin seeds
1 tsp ground sweet paprika or turmeric
30g fresh coriander - roughly chopped OR substitute with parsley + basil if you're not a coriander fan
60ml olive oil
1 1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tbsp of lemon or orange rind (optional)
A good grind of rock salt + black pepper
MAKE
In a food processor or mortar + pestle if your feeling like releasing some spent energy...add garlic, chilli, cumin, paprika, coriander 1/2 salt and a good grind of black pepper with a good 3 tablespoons of olive oil and pulse or grind until you have a good coarse consistency.
Just before adding the chermoula to your favourite dish, add remainder of olive oil, lemon juice + the lemon or orange rind (if you like a bit of extra zestiness) and mix well. Set aside until you're ready to use on EVERYTHING!!
WIFEY NOTE
Cumin - you can dry roast the whole cumin seeds prior to making the paste to release the seeds flavours but I tend to just chuck everything in and process.
Chermoula freezes well for about 3 months, so don't throw away any leftovers + freeze for next time.
I find freezing leftover mix in ice-cube trays works well for ease of grabbing just what I need to use + I've recently added the leftover chermoula to butter and frozen in ice trays for a easy grab addition of buttery zestiness on top of a char-grilled steak...so good.
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