Muhammara is a red pepper and walnut spread from the Middle East. (Not to be confused with muhammar, which is a rice dish from Bahrein!) It’s a dip that’s very easy and quick to make. It tastes especially great with some fresh pita bread.
Originally, muhammara is a dish from the Syrian city of Aleppo. Unfortunately, Aleppo is nowadays mainly known for the massive destruction it suffered in the Syrian civil war. In the past however, Aleppo was a rich city, known for both it’s culture and cuisine.
While muhammara is a Syrian dish, it’s popular all over the Middle East. Recently it has also started gaining popularity in the rest of the world. The fact that it’s both tasty and easy to make surely has something to do with that.
The type of hot peppers used in the recipe are called Aleppo (because, you know… it’s from Aleppo…) It’s a reasonably mild pepper scoring about 10,000 on the Scoville scale. You can sometimes find the dried version of this pepper in shops as Pul Biber or Haleb Biber. Hot paprika powder is a decent substitute as well. We happen to have Aleppo peppers in our vegetable garden. They’re pretty easy to grow, so if you want to try them fresh, you can always give that a try as well.
As I mentioned before, muhammara is easy and quick to make. Roasting the bell peppers is probably the biggest job when making this dish… which is why I skipped that and bought a jar of roasted red peppers. Just in case you’re not as lazy as me, there are instructions on how to roast your peppers provided in the recipe.
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- 2 roasted red bell peppers
- 3 tbsp bread crumbs
- 75 g walnuts
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp dried aleppo pepper or hot paprika powder
- 2 tsp pomegranate molasses
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
Ingredients
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- If you're using fresh bell peppers, you first need to roast them. If you use peppers from a jar, you can obviously skip the next step.
- Place the bell peppers in a ovenproof dish. Then roast them in a pre-heated oven at 200°C (390°F), for about 30 minutes. Turn them over once in a while, until the skins are completely wrinkled and slightly charred. Then put them in a covered bowl to cool. When the peppers are cool enough to handle, remove the skins and seeds.
- Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth.
- If you want the consistency of the muhammara thicker or looser, either add some more breadcrumbs or olive oil.
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