I have been a fan of sriracha, or rooster sauce, as it is also known, for many years. The fiery-hot sauce perks up everything it touches. The thick, bright orangey-red liquid is a flavorful (and I think better) alternative to hot sauce, especially if you aren’t a fan of vinegary sauces like Tabasco or Cholula.

Now sriracha has some competition with my recent discovery of harissa.

Harissa is a North African condiment made with ground spices and chile peppers. It is popular in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.

It is delicious on egg dishes, stirred into soups, on grilled or roasted meats or mixed with mayonnaise or sour cream to make a spread.

You can buy it at specialty stores, but it isn’t difficult to make at home. And by making your own you can tweak the ingredients to control the ferociousness of the heat.

This version, made with fresh chile peppers, is a bit milder than most and adds garlic and tomatoes. You can adjust the heat by using different varieties of hot peppers and discarding the seeds.

Harissa

1 tablespoon coriander seeds (see notes)

1 ½ tablespoons cumin seeds

1 ½ teaspoons fennel seeds

1 ½ teaspoons caraway seeds

8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

8 red chile peppers such as Fresno, serrano and/or cayenne stemmed and roughly chopped (see notes)

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 (15-ounce) can whole canned plum tomatoes, drained

¼ cup olive oil

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or tomato vinegar

Salt

Toast the seeds in a small dry skillet over medium heat,stirring or shaking frequently, until seeds are lightly toasted and fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Transfer seeds to a bowl or plate to cool.

Once cool, place seeds in a spice grinder or, using a mortal and pestle, grind seeds to a fine powder; set aside.

In a blender or food processor, combine the garlic, chile peppers, tomato paste, plum tomatoes and olive oil and process to a paste. Transfer paste to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, simmering, for 15 minutes or until mixture is very thick, stirring occasionally to keep mixture from sticking and burning on the bottom. Stir in the spices, vinegar and ½ teaspoon salt and immediately remove from heat. Cool to room temperature before serving.

Mixture will keep for about 2 weeks in the refrigerator or about 3 months in the freezer.

Makes about 1 cup.

Note: Whole spices will provide the best flavor, but if you must use ground, use the amount listed plus a pinch or two extra. For a milder sauce, use Fresno peppers only and remove the seeds and membranes.

Recipe adapted from 1000 Sauces, Dips and Dressings by Nadia Arumugam

This soup continues my lower calorie dinner options series and weighs in at just under 300 calories per serving. That is a generous estimate based on using a whole tablespoon of olive oil to saute the onion.

Black Bean Soup With Harissa

Olive oil

½ small onion, diced

2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon harissa

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

1 (15-ounce) can seasoned black beans, lightly drained

1 ½ teaspoons vegetable stock base PLUS 1 ½ cups water OR 1 ½ cups vegetable broth

1 lime OR 1 clementine, quartered

In a small saucepan, heat over medium burner just enough olive oil to coat pan bottom.

Add onion and saute until it’s beginning to soften. Stir in harissa and paprika and continue cooking until onion is translucent and softened. Add the beans, vegetable broth base and water.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Using an immersion blender, puree soup to desired consistency.

Serve with a squeeze of lime or clementine juice.

Makes 2 servings.

Food, Pages 31 on 02/05/2014