Recipe | Muhammara

A quick and easy dip to bring a bit of Syrian sunshine and spice to your garden gathering

Summer is definitely a good time for cold dips and a bit of gentle spice. So let us introduce you to the unctuous, nutty, slightly spicy, Muhammara. The recipe is from our feature Food, Family, Friends, in which Anas Atassi introduces us to the food, culture and community of his native Syria.

Muhammara is a really easy recipe to put together and is great mixed with houmous, or on its own, with flatbreads, raw veg and whatever you like to dip into it. Best served alongside cold drinks in the garden.

Serves 4

150g roasted red peppers from a jar

1 tsp red pepper paste

1 hot red chilli pepper

75g walnuts

50g flatbread or breadcrumbs

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbsp pomegranate molasses

Juice of 1/2 lemon

To serve:

Extra-virgin olive oil

Pomegranate molasses

Small handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Small handful of walnuts,
roughly chopped

In a food processor, pulse all the ingredients for about 2 mins. It should be thick and keep some texture from the walnuts. Drizzle with oil and pomegranate molasses. Garnish with chopped parsley and walnuts.

Taken from Sumac: Recipes and Stories from Syria, by Anas Atassi (Murdoch Books)

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Recipe: carrot houmous

Photography: Ryland Peters & Small

Shop-bought houmous comes in many flavours. This roasted carrot version is brilliant with savoury pancakes.

Serves 8

500g carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

200g chickpeas

1 small garlic clove, crushed

Squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1⁄4 tsp ground cumin

1 Preheat oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4 and line a roasting pan with baking parchment.

2 Place the carrots, olive oil, salt, pepper and 1 tbsp of water into the prepared pan, cover with foil and roast for 40 mins until tender. Set aside to cool.

3 Drain the chickpeas, reserving 3 tbsp of their liquid. In a food processor blitz the carrots, chickpeas and reserved liquid, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, cumin and some salt and pepper until smooth.

4 Serve, spread on the turmeric pancakes you can find in the February issue of The Simple Things, topped with seasonal raw veg, herbs and salad.

Recipe from Modern Pancakes (Ryland Peters & Small).

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