Some like it Hot – Others do not

Oct 28, 2021 by Chef David

By Chef David

Traditional kosher cooking is not particularly exciting as far as the flavor palate goes. Spice staples in most kosher kitchens begin and end with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. More adventurous cooks include paprika, cinnamon, sometimes onion powder, and oregano. While interesting meals can be produced using these kitchen favorites, it is possible to enhance flavors without fear of heartburn using hot sauces. The key is finesse. Using a light touch to sprinkle a small quantity, a drop of two, enhances the natural flavor of your dish without overpowering, or numbing your taste buds, and making you feel like a fire-breathing dragon. Sure, there are folks with an iron gut, proud of how much heat they can endure, who can eat handfuls of ghost peppers or add a generous dose of hot sauce, but for the rest of us, there is a way to kick your meal up a notch, by adding a dash of taste.

Take a walk on the wild side, experiment with Hamsa Brand Harissa a kosher hot sauce certified kosher by OK.org that has become my go-to condiment, as a ketchup substitute.

The History of Hot Sauce

Hot sauce can be traced to the Aztecs, who combined chili peppers with water and used it for cooking, medicine, and warfare. Chili peppers, native to the Americas, were spread by birds and later domesticated by man. Today, hot sauce is a big business.

Tastes vary based on the peppers used, measured on the Scoville Scale (SHU), which measures the concentration of capsaicinoids (the chemical responsible for the heat in peppers). At the low end are bell peppers with a SHU index of zero, to the hottest Carolina Reaper with a SHU rating of 2.2 million.

Heat in Kosher Cooking

Kosher cooking has its own taste profile. Spices were originally incorporated into Sephardic, Middle Eastern cooking as a preservative or to mask unpleasant tastes or odors of food. These flavors were not embraced by Eastern Europeans, Ashkenazis who lived in colder climates. That said, there is no reason not to enhance traditional recipes with a splash or dab of flavor.

Harissa Hot Sauce with Middle Eastern Roots

The Hamsa Brand is a squeezable harissa hot sauce, inspired by Moroccan cooking and heritage. The brand was created by a husband, wife duo, Michael Vakneen, the chef, and Joanna Bensimon, the visionary.

Harissa comes from the Arabic word which means ‘to pound.’ It is a paste made with chilies, salt, and olive oil. Hamsa brand is made in small batches, from the Lacto-fermentation of fresh and dried chili peppers, they use salt and lactic acid bacteria as a flavor enhancer without preservatives.

Hot or Not?

The Hamsa Brand is a moderate level heat. The chilis, smoky peppers, and garlic add a taste complimenting, rather than overpowering the food. What I like best is the chili flavor. It provides a nice mid-ground condiment which I substitute for ketchup and BBQ sauce on pizza or burgers. It is the perfect sauce for chicken nuggets, nachos, or it can be a nice dip for French fries if you don’t mind a little heat.

Healthful and Natural

Hamsa Harissa contains 65 mg of sodium per teaspoon making it a healthful alternative to ketchup which has around 160 mg of sodium and significantly more sugar. The natural ingredients tell the story. Water is listed first, followed by red jalapeno pepper, distilled vinegar, peeled garlic, dried chili pepper, lemon juice, kosher salt, cumin, smoked paprika, and chili de Arbol. According to the label, it contains less than 2% organic cane sugar, lactic acid, and xanthan gum.

Experiment and Enjoy

Through kitchen experimentation, I discovered ways to use hot sauce to build on basic recipes, adding a flavor spark to marinades, stews, soups, or dressings. Hamsa embodies a subtle warmth while adding additional complexity to traditional recipes. Just a little will enhance the flavors, challenging your taste buds and transforming a staple dish into something extraordinary. Or share your secret, by putting the Hamsa bottle on the table for your guests to use.

There will always be friends and family that consider paprika to be an extreme flavor, but for the rest of us, there is The Hamsa Brand. Set your mouth on flavor!

Moroccan Cigars and Triangles (taken from the Hamsa website)

Ingredients

- 1 pack of parve puff pastry
- The filling can be ground beef, or potato and mushrooms (for a parve option)
- 1 small onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp The Hamsa Brand Harissa hot sauce and marinade
- 1 tbsp of water for sealing

Method

In a pan cook the meat or vegetable filling, with garlic, onion, and cumin. Season with harissa hot sauce and fresh pepper to taste
Place one sheet of puff pastry on a clean work surface
Put a generous teaspoon of the ground mixture near the edge of the dough, tuck the edges of the pastry around the filling and roll up tightly into cigar rolls, or fold into triangles
Seal the edges off with a water mixture to ensure they remain tightly closed
Bake until they are golden brown
Remove
Serve with spicy aioli sauce (recipe below)

As an alternative, prepare the vegetable filling like a hash and serve it as a side dish. It is delicious.

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Aioli

Ingredients

- 1⁄2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1⁄2 teaspoon Harissa hot sauce and marinade
- Fresh ground pepper, to taste

Method