Tomato & Rose Petal Harissa Recipe

Tomato & Rose Petal Harissa sounded like a fascinating recipe and when my friend Darja said that she couldn’t find any for a recipe she wanted to make, I thought I would try making some. I had some rose petals from my rugosa rose (it has edible rose hips), ripe tomatoes ready to use and some chillies in the freezer. This recipe is adapted from Jamie Oliver – the original uses smoked paprika but I find the smokey flavour too overpowering for my taste and now make the recipe using sweet paprika instead.

350 g ripe tomatoes
200 g fresh red chillies
4 cloves of garlic
olive oil
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon paprika
1 handful of rose petals
3 tablespoons rose water
2 tablespoons caster sugar
red wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil

Halve the tomatoes, then place cut-side up in a large roasting tray with the chillies and unpeeled garlic cloves. Drizzle with olive oil, then season with sea salt and black pepper. Roast for 1 hour at 150C, giving the tray a little shake occasionally, then remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Once the chillies are cool enough to handle, remove their stalks and deseed them (wear rubber gloves!). You can do this under running water, as it helps with washing the seeds away.

Peel the garlic cloves and place in the food processor with the chillies. Pulse until roughly chopped, then add the cumin, coriander and paprika, season well with salt and pepper and pulse again.

Add the tomatoes, rose petals (wash first), rose water and sugar, then pulse to a chunky paste.

Transfer to a bowl and stir in a splash of red wine vinegar and 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.

Spoon into a sterilised jar – it will keep in the fridge for up to a month.