Chermoula is a strongly-flavored Moroccan herb sauce. I’ve only had it once, at one of Monica Pope’s former restaurants, and I was fascinated with the intense, dark red sauce. I scoured the internet for a recipe, but there are a ton of different chermoula recipes, most of them are for green chermoula, and none were as good as Monica’s. To my delight, I found her chermoula recipe in Green Beans and Guacamole, a collection of recipes from Houston’s top chefs.
The recipe makes quite a bit, and it keeps in the refrigerator for months. I’m posting the slightly modified recipe for the chermoula, and the next two posts will be recipes for our favorite ways to use it — as a component of an appetizer, and with fish. The sauce alone is not terribly photogenic, but I’m including a photo of a smear of it so that you can see the color and texture.
- 1-1/2 teaspoons chopped garlic
- 1 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup parsley, coarsely chopped
- ½ cup paprika
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground cayenne
- 1 tablespoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup freshly-squeezed lime juice
- 1-2 tablespoons water, as needed to thin to desired consistency
- Place garlic, cilantro, parsley, paprika, cumin, cayenne, salt, and pepper in a food processor, and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add olive oil and lime juice, and process until a coarse paste forms. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water, as needed, to thin to a thick sauce consistency. Transfer to a jar and store in refrigerator until ready to use.
Great things await this intense sauce