Muhammara Sauce

Muhammara sauce is a Syrian recipe. I used to make this simplified version a lot when I was a private chef in the south of France. It goes great with casual meals like grilled fish and seasonal vegetables. I made a similar sauce for work a while ago and used it on a grain salad - cooked bulghur, chickpeas, finely chopped red onion, raw broccoli and some leaves and it was delicious. It gave everything an unctuous, creamy vibe without using anything creamy. That’s what you see in the photo.

The sauce is traditionally made with walnuts, but if I don’t have them I use anything else I have in the house.  It’s great for using up bag-ends so I often use a mixture of nuts.

Ingredients

150g roasted red peppers, from a jar

100g walnuts (I often use almonds or mixed nuts instead)

1 lemon, juiced

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses

Preheat your oven to 150°C. Place your nuts onto a baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes, until fragrant and darkened. Allow to cool.

Once the nuts are cool, place them and all of the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. (If your blender is not great, give it all a rough chop first). Add salt to taste.