Muhammara

Hummus has taken the world by storm but there are other more interesting Middle Eastern dips out there. This red pepper and walnut muhammara is delicious!

Ingredients
makes 400g
3 red peppers
50g fresh breadcrumbs
½ tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
1½ tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp dried chilli flakes
1 garlic clove, crushed
50g walnuts, finely chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
Salt

Method

Put the peppers on a tray and place under a hot grill, turning occasionally, until the skin has charred black. Next, wrap the pepper in cling film and leave to cool enough to handle. Peel the skin, remove the stalk and seeds.

Put the prepared peppers in a food blender. Add the walnuts, breadcrumbs, lemon juice, pommegranate molasses, cumin, chilli and garlic. Gently pulse blitz the mix, pouring in the olive oil until it's well combined.  It's better to still have some texture and not a smooth paste.

Add salt and more pomegranate molasses to taste.

Serve in a bowl and drizzle with some more olive oil.

If you have time keep in the fridge for 24 hours to let the flavours develop but serve at room temperature.