Red pepper dip with an ancient history translates well to the Tucson kitchen | Food & Cooking

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Muhammara, a mildly tangy paprika paste made with walnuts and cumin, is widely recognized as Syrian roots, although the Turks and others claim it too.

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Robin Mather Special for the Arizona Daily Star

Time and again I am amazed at how well Middle Eastern dishes, including today’s Muhammara, are carried over to our Sonoran palates.

When I think about it, it shouldn’t be that surprising I guess.

We share a similar climate with many Middle Eastern countries, and our altitude is also similar. For these reasons, many types of fruit and vegetables thrive in both regions.

Muhammara, a mildly tangy paprika paste made with walnuts and cumin, is widely recognized as Syrian roots, although the Turks and others claim it too.

The Syrian version would use flakes of dried Aleppo peppers, prized for their slightly sweet, raisin-like taste. The Aleppo pepper is so important that it was included in Slow Food’s Ark of Taste.

Unfortunately, the ongoing civil war in Syria has almost completely ended the cultivation of this particular pepper, and most of the pepper flakes labeled “Aleppo” are now grown in neighboring Turkey. As someone once noted, pepper does not care which side of the border it is grown on, but the farmers of the town of the same name are no longer a significant source of the pepper.

Many have fled the ravages of the civil war, and climate change has affected the ability of the remaining farmers to grow the famous pepper.

Here in the American Southwest, I imitate the mild, fruity taste of the original pepper by pureeing ancho chilies in a blender or in the food processor. Ancho chillies have a similar fruity taste and are just as mild. Sometimes I remove the seeds before I flash them; sometimes i don’t. Both work well in this dish, although the seedless version is a more elegant dish.

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