I had a glut of red, orange and yellow peppers to use and this seemed like a delicious way to use them up. Should you not wish to roast peppers and make Muhammara from scratch, you can actually make this with a jar of roast peppers from the store. I can say that, once you have tried this, you will find yourself making it again and again and finding multiple uses for it.
I ate it as a dip with pita chips, I added it to a plate of lamb chops that I had marinated in olive oil, garlic and za'atar before grilling, and I made a sandwich of sliced grilled eggplant and zucchini and use it instead of mayo. All really good options which I either forgot to document with a photo or, in the case of the lamb chops took such a horrible photo that I did not wish to share.
makes about 2 cups of Muhammara.
2 red peppers, halved, deseeded and destemmed
1 small hot chili pepper
1 cup walnuts, broken into pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, unpeeled
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
Juice from 1/2 lemon
generous pinch of cumin
Salt to taste
Preheat the oven to 425.
Place the red pepper halves cut side down on a lined baking tray. Nestle the garlic clove and the hot chili in the middle of the peppers. Drizzle with about a tablespoon of the oil before placing the tray in the oven.
Cook for about 20 -25 minutes, until the peppers are fork tender. Turn off the heat and let the peppers cool to room temperature in the oven.
Remove the tray from the oven and peel the peppers; the skin should come off easily. Slip the garlic from its peel.
Place the peppers and garlic in a blender or Vitamix, along with the olive oil, cumin, pomegranate molasses, lemon juice and some salt. Blitz until smooth.
Little by little, add the walnut pieces until a grainy paste has formed with no large walnut bits remaining.
Serve at room temperature as described above.
Inspiration recipe, here.