Pilpelchuma — from the Hebrew pilpel ("pepper") and chuma (a rendering of the Arabic thuma, "garlic") — is the fiery garlic-and-chilli paste of Libyan Jewish cooking, often called "the Libyan Jewish ketchup" for the way it turns up on almost every table. A thick, oil-slicked mash of raw or lightly cooked garlic, sweet paprika and hot dried chilli, caraway and cumin, salt and lemon or vinegar, it is at once a condiment, a marinade and a cooking base.