My roommate went for Moroccan food last night with his girlfriend. He's not big into spicy food, so he gave me the little cup of harissa from his doggy bag. Harissa is a North African chili sauce, not all that different from the Chinese sauce aleshanee was talking about upthread.
It's delicious. I want to learn how to make it now.
But, man, is it
hot. I've got a pretty decent tolerance for hot food, but just smelling this stuff was making my mouth sting. I used it as a dip for chicken nuggets. It's very weird having your face burnt off by a condiment that tastes like mint.
And speaking of delicious North African foods, the aforementioned girlfriend's upstairs neighbours are Algerian Muslims, and a few weeks ago, just before Ramadan ended, they gave her and her roommates a big tub of
harira (not to be confused with
harissa). This is a soup consisting of legumes (mainly chickpeas and lentils), tomatoes, and meat, usually lamb and lamb stock, and a few other things. It's traditionally eaten at sundown to break the fast during Ramadan. I've never had a soup based on lamb before. Man, was it
good.
en.wikipedia.org