Roast Pepper and Walnut Dip

Firstly, apologies for the lack of posts lately. I'm a bit occupied with language studies these days, so there is not much spare time to devote for blogging. :((

Secondly, I want to publicly declare my love for Moroccan cuisine, which is absolutely amazing. At least by judging what I have tried lately. In fact a little while ago I even had a little dinner party inspired by this new fascination as well as some other Middle Eastern dishes.

But for now I want to share with you this wonderful dip, which I served with lavash (the thin bread that I heated on grill mode in the oven for the extra crispiness) and natural nacho chips.

The recipe is from BBC Good Food and original version is available here.

Here is my slightly modified, tried, tested and approved by everyone version:

• 1 tsp each ground cumin and ground paprika, plus extra to serve
• 6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 100g walnuts halves
• 400 g red peppers
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 garlic clove , crushed
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• salt and black pepper to taste

First I roasted the peppers. For that I drizzled some olive oil on the whole peppers and grilled them in the oven, turning sides as the top one had burned almost to black. After it was done, I removed them from the oven and let cool. Then removed the skin and the seeds.

In a pan, heat the ground cumin and ground paprika in the olive oil until fragrant. Combine the rest of the ingredients (including the roasted paprika) in a food processor, then season with salt and pepper. With the motor running, slowly pour in the spiced olive oil until incorporated. Add a tbsp of water if it's too thick. Scoop into a bowl and serve with freshly ground black pepper and ground paprika on top.