Harissa

Since you can buy very good harissa, I make no apology for the fact that this home-made version is fairly labour-intensive. If, however, the idea of pounding the whole spices appals and yet you still want to make your own, then use ground spices (the caraway doesn’t come ground, but can be dealt with in the processor later), reducing quantities slightly, and frying them first not in a dry pan, but one with a tablespoon or so of oil in it. The strength of chillies I tend to get for harissa r