My -and Bella’s- Recipe for Charif

Posted on 25th of March, 2011 by Lévana

When life gives you jalapenos, make charif!

This past Saturday night, Erev Purim, my daughter Bella complained that she had placed her Shabbos produce order online, and that something got lost in cyber-translation, turning 4 jalapenos and 4 tomatoes into 4 pounds jalapenos and almost 6 pounds plum tomatoes. But since she had just mentioned she was still looking for one more interesting item to put in her Mishloach Manot bags, I had an inspiration: Let’s make Salsa! I said. Let’s make Charif! said my Israeli son in law (duh! what do you expect?) Let’s make Schug! said one of her guests.

When life gives you jalapenos, make Charif! Bella has just come up with this parody on the old lemons-lemonade adage – and the fabulous Charif that was born spontaneously, as it were, from our jalapeno-tomato-overload  serendipity: She made many people happy, including some Israeli friends who dunked their pita in it with a vengeance at a Purim party she took a vat to, and just last night, three days after Purim, I distinctly remember her husband clamoring for more of that charif-schug-salsa-whatever-you-call-that-mean-stuff: One big happy spicy family! Go Bella: Chip off the old block: I adore you!

So here comes! I am cutting the recipe to size, but of course feel free to receive the wrong order and multiply it! Make it for Passover too!

PS: Dear faint-of-heart: no offense, but just stick to your ketchup, OK?

Ingredients:

6 jalapenos, more if you like it hotter

6 plum tomatoes

6 cloves garlic

3/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup paprika

1/4 cup cumin

2 tablespoons dry coriander

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Process everything in a food processor, coarse or smooth, depending on what you prefer. Makes about 4 cups. Store in a glass jar, in a refrigerator. Use as a dip, or as a smear on salmon or chicken breast before roasting.

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Filed under: Condiments, Gluten Free Recipes, Jalapeno, Kosher Ingredients, Kosher Natural Foods, Kosher Recipes, Kosher for Passover Recipes, Natural Foods, Pareve Recipes, Tomato, Vegetarian Recipes | No Comments »

Filed under: Charif Recipes, Condiments Recipes, Gluten Free Recipes, Jalapeno Recipes, Kosher for Passover Recipes, Kosher Ingredients, Kosher Natural Foods, Kosher Recipes, Pareve Recipes, Schug Recipes, Sephardi Recipes, Stories, Vegetarian Recipes