Muhammara is a Middle Eastern dip made with breadcrumbs, walnuts, charred peppers and pomegranate molasses. It is an utterly delicious combination of sweet and sour flavours with a hint of smokeyness from the peppers.
If you are a regular here or follow me on social, you’ll know my love of adding flavour bases to salads. Muhammara is one that I keep going back to.
Here I added crunchy lettuce leaves, chicken, parsley and toasted seeds to that base to create a wholesome salad that is packed with flavour.
Feel free to swap the chicken for eggs, chickpeas or halloumi. The same thing works with other protein combos.
If you are fond of salads, or are totally bored of them and need new ideas, there is a salad guide here: To the 5* salad guide.
Ingredients for 2:
For the muhammara:
1 slice of bread, toasted and left to cool completely
3 red peppers
1 clove of garlic, crushed
50g of walnuts
1 teaspoon each of ground cumin and sea salt
A pinch of chilli flakes
Juice of 1/4 of a lemon
2 tablespoons of olive oil plus a little extra for drizzling
1 tablespoon of pomegranate molasses plus a little extra for drizzling
Freshly ground black pepper
For the salad:
2 little gem or 1 cos lettuce
A large handful of cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons of sprouted seeds (like this one, you can find these in most supermarkets on the salad isle)
2 tablespoons of fresh parsley, leaves only
3 tablespoons of toasted seeds, I used this one, it’s in most supermarkets
2 chicken breasts, cooked to your liking
Sea salt and black pepper
Method:
1. To make the muhammara, preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
2. Put the peppers on a baking tray or ovenproof dish and roast in the oven for 30 minutes until the skin blackens and bubbles up. There is no need to drizzle oil on top and the peppers should be roasted whole.
Set them aside to cool.
3. Once the peppers are cool enough to handle, peel them and remove the seeds. Discard the skin and seeds and tear the pepper flesh into strips.
4. Cut the toast into cubes and transfer to a food processor or blender.
Pulse the toast to make breadcrumbs.
5. Add the remaining muhammara ingredients to the blender, season well with freshly ground black pepper and pulse again. Don’t over blend it, it should be chunky, not smooth.
6. Divide the muhammara between two plates, pressing everything down so it is flat on the plate.
7. Drizzle olive oil and extra pomegranate molasses over the top.
8. Divide the salad ingredients between the two plates.
9. Season with sea salt and black pepper and drizzle a bit more olive oil on top if desired.