Harissa is the fiery red chilli paste at the heart of North African cooking and the culinary emblem of Tunisia, where roasted or soaked dried red chillies are pounded with garlic, salt and olive oil and seasoned with cumin, coriander and caraway. Thick, smoky, hot and deeply aromatic, it is at once a cooking base and a table condiment — stirred into couscous, stews, soups, eggs and shakshuka, smeared into marinades, or thinned with oil and water as a relish — and is far richer and more rounded than a thin vinegary hot sauce.