Muhammarah, also spelled muhammara, is a vibrant dip that originated in Aleppo, Syria. It’s red from roasted red bell peppers, and also contains walnuts. Whoever decided to combine these ingredients is a genius.
When I was visiting my daughter a while back in Brooklyn, New York, she took me to the Palestinian restaurant Al Badawi for lunch. It’s a simple, sort of unassuming restaurant.
When I read the menu I got so excited. Everything sounded wonderful. We started with the Mezze Fillistini. You can see the muhammarah on the left.
Being a huge fan of Middle Eastern food, I’ve had muhammarah before, but never as good as this one. To recreate it, I searched online. The recipe I chose to make is from Eat Palestine. It’s a straight-forward blog offfering classic Palestinian foods, created by a couple when they moved away from home and no longer had access to his mother’s cooking!
For another source of Palestinian food, use Falastin, by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley, published in 2020.
Muhammarah
1/2 cup walnuts
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup fine bread crumbs
8 ounces roasted red pepper, from a jar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses
1 garlic clove, peeled
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
A few walnuts for garnish
Toast or roast the walnuts for about 10 minutes.
Place the walnuts, cumin, red pepper flake, and the salt in a food processor and pulse until it’s in between coarse and fine ground. Transfer everything from the processor to a large bowl.
Stir in the bread crumbs. Set bowl aside.
Place the roasted red bell peppers, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses, and garlic in the food processor. Grind coarsely.
Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients, and stir everything together. Add the olive oil and stir until combined.
To serve, garnish with walnuts, drizzle with a bit more olive oil.
Serve with warm pita or pita chips. I used a thin lavash.
