Moroccan Red Stuff

My best friend is Moroccan, and in college, she was famous for putting Tabasco on everything she ate. I never understood why until she made me this: the one ‘authentic’ recipe that was passed down to her from her grandmother. Similar to what’s called Harissa in stores, she’d always just refer to this as “red stuff” (I’m guessing because of the color). A condiment, it’s good with a number of things: on toast with a soft-boiled egg, in a bowl with rice and beans, alongside hummus and pita, mixed with yogurt and eaten with chips. It stores really well – put it in a jar or something else, it will keep for weeks.

Ingredients:
4 lbs tomatoes, peeled OR 2 large (24 OZ) cans whole peeled tomatoes
4-5 cloves Garlic
2 green bell peppers
4 small green hot peppers OR 2 tbs dried crushed chili peppers
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp tumeric
½ tsp salt
4 tbs olive oil

Utensils:
1 saucepan
1 garlic press (optional)
Paper towels
Plastic bag

Recipe:
Peppers: Turn on stove burner. Take bell pepper and place directly onto open flame, turning occasionally, until as much of the outer skin is blackened and blistered as possible (use a fork or a shishkabob skewer to avoid burning your hands). Once entire pepper skin is blackened, wrap pepper in damp paper towel and then wrap in plastic bag. Repeat for second pepper. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, mince the small green peppers (or crushed red pepper) and add to saucepan. Take the peeled tomatoes and crush them with your bare hands into the sauce pan. Add the 4-5 cloves crushed garlic. Place saucepan over medium-high heat, and cover. Stir often, making sure mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Cook about 20-30 minutes, until mixture is no longer liquidy but is thick.

While the tomato mixture is cooking, take the bell peppers out of the plastic bad and paper towels. Run peppers under cold water and remove all burnt skin, until all you’re left with is the flesh of the pepper. Take a knife and slit the pepper open: cut off the very top, being sure to remove the seed, heart and veins along with it. Slice pepper into bitesize chunks.

Once the tomato mixture has thickened, turn down the flame and add all spices. Mix thoroughly, then turn off heat and add the oil and bell peppers. Mix thoroughly again, cool and serve.