On a relentless quest to impress guests, tickle tastebuds and create healthy, organic and gluten free dishes… I sometime’s hit a cooker’s block. Yesterday was one of those days.
But then I remembered this out of this world delicious chickpea harissa concoction I had for breakfast a few months back from this perfect little farm to table restaurant a few blocks from my house (shout out to Cooks County!) and was inspired.
I headed to Whole Foods (even though I’m trying to boycott them – read why here) to pick up a jar of Harissa sauce… but was miserably disappointed by what I found. Corn syrup laden, canola oil based, and far from organic. So I decided to make my own. I read the ingredients and started picking up what I saw on the label. Yet more to my dismay, my whole foods didn’t carry quite a few of the essentials I needed. So per usual, I shrugged my shoulders and said, eh, I’ll wing it.
And wing it I did.
I love harissa. The spicy goodness that gives flavors to my favorite Moroccan dishes. But oh my do I love a good curry with coconut cream and my favorite super-spice turmeric. I didn’t intend to create the worlds best sauce by marrying these two together, but I think I just might have.
The sauce is cross between a Curry and a Harissa. I present to you: Curissa.
Curissa Sauce
-3 hot chili peppers (fresno peppers work great)
-1 large tomato cut in 6 sections
-1 large bell pepper, any color, sliced into 6 sections
-1/4 white onion, skin removed
-1/4 cup organic extra virgin olive oil
-1 tsp ground cumin
-1 tsp ground flaxseed
-1 tsp turmeric
-2 fresh garlic cloves
-splash of coconut milk
-1/2 tsp of chili powder
-1/2 tsp paprika
-1 drop of stevia (or 1/2 packet) (can also be substituted for 1 tsp agave or 1 tsp brown sugar)
Other Ingredients:
-1 package of Melissa’s organic peeled and skinned garbanzo beans
-sprinkle of sea salt & pepper
-1 cup of fresh spinach
-1/4 cup golden raisins
-2 eggs/person being served
-1-2 sweet potatoes, cut lengthwise into 1/2 inch slices (can be subbed for 1 piece of bread)
-1 tsp coconut oil or organic butter for skillet
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Spread peppers and tomato slices evenly on a cookie tray. Cook for 2 hours. Remove and let cool.
2. (skip this step if you are using bread instead of sweet potato) Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Heat skillet on medium high with coconut oil and lay down sweet potato slices. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Heat for 2 minutes each side and transfer to baking tray. Bake for 20 minutes, or until ready to serve.
3. In a food processor: combine all “Cerissa” ingredients. Pulse for 15 seconds, scrape sides and pulse for another 15 seconds. Consistency will be smooth with some full pepper pieces still intact.
4. Empty contents of Melissa’s garbanzo bean package onto a medium-low heat skillet. Transfer Cerissa sauce to the skillet and stir. Add spinach and stir until wilted. Reduce heat to low and add raisins.
5. boil water with salt in a separate pot. Poach eggs.
6. Remove sweet potato wedges from the oven and place on serving plate. Top with a generous scoop of cerissa chickpea mixture. Top that with two poached eggs!
Serve with fruit and wait for the applause. 🙂
