H is for Harissa {Turkey Burgers & Yogurt Sauce}

I have a condiment crush on harissa.

Yup…I think it may have surpassed Tapatio and Sriracha as my new favorite spicy accompaniment. Don’t worry, if you don’t know what harissa is, I didn’t either until a few days ago. That’s one of my most favorite things about my blog. I find things that start with the letter of the week and I teach myself how to make it. Sounds simple, but I get geeky excited about it.

So back to harissa. Probably my first experience with it was the harissa aioli I had a few months ago at NOPA, which they served with their fries. It’s a North African chili sauce, most commonly associated with Tunisia, Libya, and Algeria, while also making some appearances in Moroccan food. You can buy it in specialty markets, but as I discovered, it’s super easy to make on your own!

Most recipes and articles I’ve read recommend a mixture of gaujillo and New Mexico chiles, so that’s what I did. Put seeded/stemmed chiles into a medium bowl, cover with boiling water, and let sit until softened, about 20 minutes. 

While your peppers are soaking, toast your spices. (Your house will smell AH-mazing!) Heat caraway, coriander, and cumin seeds in an 8″ skillet over medium heat. Toast spices, swirling skillet constantly, until very fragrant, about 4 minutes. Transfer spices to a grinder with the mint and grind to a fine powder. Set aside.

Drain chiles and transfer to the bowl of a food processor with the ground spices, olive oil, salt, garlic, and lemon juice. Purée until the paste is very smooth. Transfer to a sterilized 1-pint glass jar and fill with oil until ingredients are submerged by 1⁄2″. Refrigerate, topping off with more oil after each use. Harissa paste will keep for up to 3 weeks.

From there, it was a matter of deciding what to do with my harissa. I considered doing an aioli, but since I’ve never actually made aioli from scratch, I didn’t want to tackle it on this particular day. I remembered I had some ground turkey in the freezer, so I came up with turkey burgers! I combined the turkey along with panko, egg, grated onion, garlic, basil and the harissa in a bowl with my hands, taking care not to over mix. Form into patties and place on a baking sheet lined with foil and/or coated with cooking spray. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

As I mentioned, I’m officially obsessed with this stuff, so I also made a harissa yogurt sauce to put on the burgers. I mixed Greek yogurt with a little harissa, onion, garlic, lemon juice and mint. Refrigerate until ready to use.

I opted to bake my turkey burgers in the oven, but you could totally grill these as well. Top with harissa yogurt sauce on a whole wheat bun and serve with a side of sweet potato fries. (And if you REALLY like harissa as much as I do, try mixing it with ketchup or mayo to make a dipping sauce for your fries. :))

The verdict? I LOVE, LOVE, LOVED these. My usual “beef” with turkey burgers (haha) is that they often end up kind of dry and bland. Not these. They were so moist (I know, I hate that word too) and so flavorful. Considering I have two more packages of ground turkey in the freezer…this will definitely become a new regular in the rotation!