Perfectly seasoned and spiced with homemade harissa paste for roasting chicken.




I'm smitten with harissa sauce and blogged about it once.
Again I was searching for store-bought sauce and again my search led me to - nowhere!

I don't mind making the sauce, but it would be nice to at least have a taste of the 'original' sauce.
A commenter suggested trying to make harissa sauce with roasted capsicum instead of chili.
Brilliant idea.



I have a few capsicums in my fridge, took out a couple of them; red and yellow (I find these colors are the sweetest of all capsicums).
I set out to chargrill capsicum, early in the morning, as soon as I stepped into the house after sending  E off to the train station.

 She hates capsicum, and can't stand the smell, let alone eat!! She finds capsicum repulsive.



By the time she came home in the evening, the chargrilled capsicum aroma had dissipated into thin air, and the only aroma wafting through the house was the spiced-up roast chicken roasting in the oven (no lingering aroma of capsicum)

 She walked through the door with her daily/ritual question


"Mom, what's for dinner?" and I replied

A few minutes later, she asked again
"Mom, is there capsicum?"
Mom had to tell white lies with a straight face - "No"

but mom's straight face cannot fool her, one taste one bite, she knew...

The rest of us enjoyed our roast and will definitely have it again (minus capsicums for E)