Ummak Huriyya

The carrots are boiled and then crushed with a fork, not grated raw — it is a warm salad, closer to a mash.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg.

Ingredients

• 900 g carrots, in thick rounds
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 tablespoons harissa
• 1 teaspoon ground caraway
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• juice of 1½ lemons
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• salt

to finish

• a handful of parsley, chopped
• 12 black olives
• 2 eggs, hard-boiled and quartered

Method

1. THE CARROTS ARE BOILED AND THEN CRUSHED WITH A FORK, NOT GRATED RAW -- it is a warm salad, closer to a mash. Thick rounds simmered with whole garlic cloves until completely soft, drained, and then broken down roughly with a fork so there are still lumps in it. The grated raw carrot salads of elsewhere are crisp and bright; this is soft, sweet and sunset-orange, and it takes up the harissa and oil in a way raw carrot cannot. Served warm or at room temperature rather than chilled.
2. THE GARLIC IS BOILED WITH THE CARROTS AND CRUSHED IN WITH THEM. Six cloves, whole, in the same water. They come out sweet and soft and are mashed through the carrot, which distributes the garlic evenly. Raw garlic stirred in at the end would be harsh against such a sweet base.
3. THE HARISSA IS TWO TABLESPOONS AND IS THE POINT. Against nine hundred grams of sweet boiled carrot it needs to be assertive -- this should taste clearly hot as well as sweet. It is stirred into the oil first so it disperses.
4. IT IS CRUSHED WITH A FORK AND NOT PROCESSED. Lumps wanted. A food processor gives baby-food purée, which is the one texture this dish must not have.
5. THE CARROTS ARE DRAINED AND LEFT TO STEAM DRY. In the colander for five minutes before crushing. Wet carrot will not take up the oil and the salad goes thin.
6. CARAWAY IS THERE AND MATTERS. A teaspoon, ground. It is the thread running through nearly everything in this cuisine, and without it the dish reads as a generic spiced carrot mash.
7. IT IS DRESSED WHILE STILL WARM. The oil, harissa, lemon and spices worked in while the carrot is hot, so it absorbs rather than being coated. Dressed cold, the oil sits on top.
8. The carrots cut into thick rounds and simmered with the WHOLE garlic cloves in salted water 20 MINUTES, until completely soft.
9. DRAINED and left in the colander to STEAM DRY 5 MINUTES.
10. CRUSHED ROUGHLY with a fork, garlic and all, so LUMPS remain. Not processed.
11. The harissa stirred into the olive oil, then the lemon juice, caraway, coriander and salt.
12. Worked through the carrots WHILE STILL WARM.
13. TESTED: it should be lumpy rather than smooth and taste clearly hot as well as sweet. Purée means it was processed; flat means not enough harissa.
14. Scattered with parsley and arranged with olives and quartered eggs. Served warm or at room temperature.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Tunisia · All recipes