The spicy roast potatoes with tahini and soy recipe is easy and spicy, as promised by Yotam Ottolenghi. The kick comes from rose harissa, a staple condiment in Tunisia and Morocco, where it is often homemade.
The word harissa means “to crush or pound.” This is the way the chili paste is made—by grinding chiles together with olive oil, garlic, salt, and spices like coriander and caraway. The North African version contains rose petals and tends to be spicier. With or without the rose petals, it won’t disrupt the recipe. Furthermore, it’s fun making your own chili sauce and adjusting to the heat level you prefer. See the recipe for rose harissa below for details.
Perfectly roasted potatoes, according to the English tradition, call for peeling, parboiling and roasting previously cut potatoes in scalding fat. While I endorse this approach, I’m mindful that there are times you may go for minimum fuss without peeling and parboiling. Just coat the cut potatoes, skin on, tossed with plenty of harissa and olive oil, then bake. The result speaks for itself: crispy and great tasting potatoes. How deliciously exciting— and easy?
Equally compelling is the tahini and soy dressing. This dressing can go anyway and adds nutty savoriness to everything from potatoes, salads, rice, grains, noodles to chicken skewers. More than that, it is a simple four-ingredient dressing, including tahini, soy sauce, mirin (or maple syrup) and rice vinegar. All four ingredients, plus the rose harissa mentioned earlier are the foundational elements for many flavorful dishes on this blog. If they haven’t made it onto your list of pantry staples, they should. The proof is widely and loudly validated in recipes like this and many others.
Spicy Roast Potatoes with Tahini and Soy | Homemade Rose Harissa
Ingredients
- 2 lb/ 900g roasting potatoes, skin left on, cut into 1-inch/ 2½-cm cubes
- 50g rose harissa
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and black pepper
- 4 ½ tbsp chives (or any herbs on hand), finely chopped
- 4 ½ tsp black or white sesame seeds (and ideally a mixture of both), toasted
- FOR THE TAHINI SOY DRESSING:
- 1/4 cup/ 60g tahini (mixed very well, to combine the solids and fat)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 4 ½ tsp mirin or maple syrup
- 4 ½ tsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp water
- FOR THE HOMEMADE ROSE HARISSA:
- 40 grams dried Kashmiri red chilies or guajillo chilies
- 25 grams dried ancho chilies
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 ½ teaspoons caraway seeds
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon dried rose petals
- 1 ½ teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons Kashmiri chili powder, or paprika
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon rosewater, divided
- 4 tablespoons cider vinegar
- ½ cup olive oil, divided 1 ½ teaspoons salt
Instructions
Heat the oven to its highest setting, 500°F or 240°C fan.
In a large bowl, mix the potatoes, harissa, garlic and oil with three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and a generous grind of pepper. Transfer to a large sheet-pan lined with patchment paper, and spread out as much as possible. Cover tightly with foil, roast for 15 minutes.
Remove the foil, turn down the heat to 425°F or 220°C fan) and roast for 25 minutes more, stirring once halfway through, until the potatoes are cooked and nicely browned.
Meanwhile, whisk all the dressing ingredients until smooth.
Transfer the potatoes to a shallow serving bowl and drizzle over with the dressing. Finish with the chives and sesame seeds, and serve with extra sauce alongside.
To make the rose harissa:
Place a large frying pan over high heat. Once the pan is very hot, add the chilies and garlic. Toast until fragrant and charred, about 2 minutes. Pick out the garlic and set aside. Transfer the chilies to a heatproof bowl.
Pour enough boiling water over the chilies to cover them, and then weigh them down with a small plate. Soak for 30 minutes to soften and rehydrate, then strain. Roughly chop the chilies and add them to the bowl of a food processor.
Meanwhile, add the cumin, coriander, and caraway seeds to the same pan, and toast over medium-high heat until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the seeds to a mortar and pestle and roughly crush them before adding them to the food processor along with the chopped chilies, garlic, tomato paste, rose petals, sugar, and chili powder or paprika. Pulse a few times until roughly chopped and combined.
Add the lemon juice, half of the rosewater, the cider vinegar, 4 tablespoons of olive oil, and a pinch of salt to the food processor. Blitz until you have a coarse paste.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl and gently stir in the remaining rosewater and the remaining 4 tablespoons of olive oil.
Transfer the harissa to a sterilized airtight jar and keep refrigerated if not using right away. Harissa keeps, covered with a layer of oil, in the refrigerator for several weeks.
Notes
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/dec/21/yotam-ottolenghi-recipes-green-chilli-con-carne-spicy-potatoes-leftover-christmas-loaf#comment-136845389
3 Comments
Kim Tracy
January 31, 2021 at 6:59 pmWonderful, I’m compelled to make this so I can try the tahini soy dressing. I am so intrigued with that!
Jocelyne
July 3, 2021 at 8:37 amThe quantities for the Tahini dressing are incorrect … should be 4 ½ tsp mirin or maple syrup
4 ½ tsp rice vinegar.
Shirley@EverOpenSauce
July 3, 2021 at 10:38 amThanks for taking the time to make comment like this and to help correcting editing errors. I hope the mistakes did not ruin your dressing or the appreciation of it.