muhammara with pomegranate molasses
Muhammara is a walnut and red pepper dish which originally comes from Aleppo, in Syria, according to Barbara Massaad. There are many variations and we’ve borrowed Claudia Roden’s version from her cook book The Med. She uses a useful store cupboard jar of red piquillo peppers, which makes muhammara an even easier dish to prepare in a hurry. Zejd’s pomegranate molasses provides the sour to off set the sweetness of red piquillo peppers. The Lebanese pomegranate molasses has citrusy depth, made of 100% pomegranates, no added sugar or flavouring, it is the perfect foil for the crunchy walnuts and juicy peppers. So simple to make, muhammara brings colour to your table as well as texture and zing to your taste buds!
To avoid losing the texture, pulse slowly and carefully in the food processor. It doesn’t take that much longer to prepare muhammara by hand if you prefer.
ingredients
320g jar red piquillo peppers
100g walnut halves
1 slice of wholemeal bread (around 30g) crusts removed
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 1/2 tbsp Zejd’s pomegranate molasses
juice of 1/2 lemon
3-4 tbsp Zejd extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 – 1/2 Aleppo pepper (or other hot chilli pepper)
salt to taste
method
- Drain the peppers in a sieve, as you don’t want extra liquid.
- Put all of the ingredients, along with the drained peppers, in a food processor.
- Pulse until you get the desired texture, taste and add salt if required.
- Spread the muhammara in a serving dish, and drizzle a bit of pomegranate molasses over the top in a zig zag.
Serve with toasted flat breads, lettuce, radicchio or anything else you feel like dipping in it!