Mina Harissa Spicy Traditional Moroccan Red Pepper Sauce - 10 Ounce

Spicier than I like but very good

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I ordered this harissa paste to use in a Moroccan-style chicken recipe that called for it because our grocery store doesn't carry it in our local store. We are exploring some new recipes for our family and this was a new condiment for us. The recipe was a success and the harissa paste was a hit with our teens and graduate student on the chicken and on the couscous we made to go with it. Our kids started putting the paste on rice and other things at later meals, so this product will become another one of the condiments we have in the fridge pretty much all the time. I was expecting a little more heat but was not disappointed. The flavor-heat balance is good for my tastes. The paste definitely has some heat but it didn't phase anyone and we all ended up putting more on our chicken than was suggested in the recipe to turn it up a notch.

I was disappointed at first with this product, because this isn't authentic harissa, but i will explain how i got it to work. Harissa is not only just chili pepper paste, oil. vingegar, salt nd garlic as the ingredients list, but has toasted caraway seeds and/or cumin seeds, and coriander which gives it that earthy flavor. However, this product does not have that. It is a very good pepper paste/sauce more reminiscent of a pepper salsa. I was concerned about using it in a recipe, but I added 1 tsp of toasted cumin 1/4tsp of caraway, and 1 tsp coriander seed and ground that in to the mina harissa with a mortar and pestle. what came out was perfect. will i buy this again? i will, but i will also buy an authentic harissa. i have since found uses for the mina harissa for other types of application that don't need the spices, also great in sandwiches, and as a spicy condiment.

Spice up your spaghetti with a decent tasting hot tomato sauce.