The Essential Ingredient South Melbourne in September 2018

Greg Malouf – Cooking a Lamb Kifta Tagine

Renowned chef and master of Middle Eastern spices Greg Malouf demonstrates how to make his lamb kifta tagine with egg and artichoke.

Featured Products

Graupera   Graupera have been producing traditional ceramic cookware in Spain for over 60 years, and their tagines are elegant enough that they can be taken straight from the kitchen to the table. Nothing compares to lifting the lid off a tagine at the dining table, revealing the dish within. Pair your Graupera tagine with The Essential Ingredient Tagine Spice Mix and cook the perfect dish every time. View Product

The Essential Ingredient Tagine Spice Mix   Create the richest, most authentic flavour from your tagine with The Essential Ingredient Tagine Spice Mix. Carefully crafted to combine paprika, cardamom, cloves, chilli, cassia and more, The Essential Ingredient Tagine Spice Mix will bring your meat, fish or vegetable tagine to life. View Product

The Essential Ingredient Thai Yellow Curry Paste   The Essential Ingredient Thai Yellow Curry Paste is a turmeric rich and fragrant paste which may be used as a marinade for prawns and chicken, as the base for a noodle soup or to make a traditional yellow Thai curry. View Product

The Essential Ingredient Aleppo Pepper Flakes   Add dramatic colour and aromatic mild smokyheat to your dishes with The Essential Ingredient Aleppo Pepper Flakes. These pepper flakes are a versatile spice that can be used anywhere pepper flakes are called for and are perfect for adding a bit of heat to Middle Eastern and Mediterranean dishes. It pairs especially well with meat or tomato based dishes – try it on sprinkled on grilled or roasted meats. View Product

This Month’s Ingredient

Spanish Paprika

Like paprika from other countries, Spanish paprika is produced from the dried red fruits of peppers, but if you’ve tasted it you’ll know that’s where the similarity ends. The most distinctive of Spanish paprika is Pimentón de La Vera, or smoked paprika. This is made from smoking freshly harvested peppers over oak wood fires, which creates a paprika that is slightly sweet with an intense smoked flavour.

There are two leading producers of Spanish paprika – the La Vera and Murcia regions. The production of paprika is regulated by quality-control Denomination of Origin boards to ensure that the traditional process of growing, smoking and grinding the peppers is closely followed.

In the La Vera region, the peppers grown are high in carotene, due to the unique soil and climate, which gives the peppers an iconic bold red colour. After picking, the peppers are slowly smoked in a smokehouse for 10-15 days over a small oak wood fire. This fire gently dries the peppers and gives them a distinctive smokey flavour. Different peppers are used to create the different types of paprika available (picante/spicy, agridulce/bittersweet, and dulce/sweet).

In Murcia, only one type of pepper is used to produce paprika. This is the sweet Bola pepper, which are picked by hand and dried in the sun over several days. Unlike the La Vera paprika, they are not smoked, which produces a uniquely sweet paprika.

Paprika is a key ingredient in Spanish cooking and adds amazing depth to stews, marinades and sauces. With each type having a subtly different flavour, when cooking we recommend considering how sweet, pungent or hot you’d like your dish to be, and then experimenting with the various types of Spanish paprika that is available.