A thick, orange, spicy, slightly sweet Algerian sauce with very fine bits of melted onion, like the kind served in chip shops and kebab shops.
Ingredients
- 250 g good-quality plain mayonnaise
- 90 g classic ketchup
- 1 piece fresh yellow onion
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 25 g tomato paste
- 25 g harissa in a tube or jar
- 1 clove fresh garlic
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp ground sweet paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 pinch ground cayenne pepper
- 2 pinches fine salt
- 1 pinch ground black pepper
Method
- Peel the onion and cut it as finely as possible. The pieces should be tiny, since they will remain noticeable in the sauce without dominating its texture.
- Heat a small skillet over low heat with the sunflower oil. Add the onion and sweat it gently, without browning, until translucent, soft, and slightly sweet-smelling. It must not brown or crisp.
- Add the finely grated garlic to the skillet. Stir briefly, just until the garlic perfumes the oil and loses its raw smell. If it colors, the heat is too high.
- Add the tomato paste to the skillet and work it with a spatula until it darkens slightly and smells of cooked tomato. This short cooking removes the metallic acidity and deepens the sauce’s color.
- Add the paprika, cumin, and cayenne pepper off the heat or over very low heat. Stir until you have a glossy red-orange paste, without letting the spices burn.
- Pour this base into a bowl and let it cool until just warm. It should barely feel warm to the touch before the mayonnaise is added, or the sauce may turn oily.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the mayonnaise, ketchup, harissa, white vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Whisk until evenly colored, a deep orange, with a thick texture that clings to the spoon.
- Add the warm onion base to the bowl. Mix carefully to distribute the small onion pieces throughout the sauce. The final texture should be creamy, coating, and slightly granular from the onion, never runny.
- Taste and adjust only the final balance: more harissa for heat, more vinegar for brightness, more sugar if the acidity dominates, or a pinch of salt if the sauce tastes flat.
- Cover and refrigerate before serving. Resting rounds out the chili, hydrates the spices, and gives the sauce its characteristic snack-bar flavor. Serve chilled or slightly cool with fries, kebab, sandwiches, grilled meat, or a filled flatbread.
Nutrition
Per serving
- Energy
- 186.6 kcal
- Protein
- 1.28 g
- Carbohydrate
- 11 g
- Fat
- 15.42 g
- Fibre
- 1.62 g
- Calcium
- 25.17 mg
- Iron
- 1.64 mg
- Magnesium
- 15.89 mg
