Spicy Yemenite Meat Stew with homemade harissa

👨‍🍳 Method

To assemble

1. 1
   Heat the oil in a wide pot and brown the beef cubes on all sides. Remove to a plate.

   StoveWide, shallow pot

   💡Brown the meat in batches, without crowding: in a crowded pot it stews in its own juices instead of searing.

   💡What you brown (meat, patties, schnitzel) goes into hot oil: in lukewarm oil it soaks it up and comes out greasy. For onion and garlic that you soften, oil heated over medium or low heat is enough; do not wait for it to smoke.
2. 2
   Add the onion to the oil left in the wide pot and fry 5–8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent and starts to turn golden at the edges. If it browns too fast, lower the heat.

   StoveWide, shallow pot

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
3. 3
   Add the garlic and fry about 30 seconds to 1 minute, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic brown.

   Stove

   💡Garlic burns quickly and turns bitter. Add it only after the onion has softened, over medium heat, and add the next ingredient as soon as it smells fragrant.
4. 4
   Add the hot paprika, cumin, turmeric and cardamom and fry 30 seconds, until fragrant.

   Stove
5. 5
   Soak the dried peppers 30 minutes in hot water, drain and remove the seeds.

   Bowl
6. 6
   Grind the peppers in a food processor with the garlic, salt and black pepper.

   Food processor

   💡In a food processor, grind in short pulses and check between pulses: it's easy to go from coarse to paste. (Sesame for tahini, on the other hand, is ground continuously.)
7. 7
   Add the oil in a thin stream, while Tahini, until a smooth paste.

   Food processor

   💡The thin stream is everything: fat that goes in too fast can't bind, and the sauce breaks. For mayonnaise and hollandaise, if this happens, start with a fresh yolk and slowly add the broken sauce to it; if the sauce is too thick, thin it with a teaspoon of water.
8. 8
   Add the harissa and water and bring to a boil.

   Stove
9. 9
   Return the beef cubes to the pot and season with salt.
10. 10
    Turn down to low, cover and simmer about an hour and a quarter, until the beef cubes soft.

    StoveLid

    💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.
11. 11
    Remove the lid and cook another 15 minutes, until the sauce thickens.

    Stove
12. 12
    Serve with the cilantro and with bread.