watery muhammara- help?

I made this recipe today. It tastes good, except that it's too watery. I'm guessing I should've made sure the roasted peppers were drier after I sliced them open. However, I really don't want to dump the whole batch- it took forever to make, it DOES taste good, under the wateriness, and the ingredients aren't exactly cheap. I'm wondering if it would work to heat it and try to reduce it? For those who don't feel like reading the whole recipe, the ingredients are:

roasted red peppers
walnuts
cashews
toasted cumin seeds
chili pepper
salt/smoked paprika
balsamic vinegar
lemon juice
garlic olive oil


What do you guys think?

SweetSalty,

Bread crumbs will absorb excess water without changing the basic flavor of the dish.

Add slowly in small increments, it will take a few minutes for full absorption to take place. You don't want to exchange watery for brick like mass.

Enjoy,
Gary

oooh, thank you! Off to try that right now.

Given the ingredients and prep, I'm not entirely sure how it came to be too watery, but I wonder (this is one of those things that only first-hand observation can discern) whether letting it drain in a fine colander or sieve might not be the best thing? Gary's idea will work, depending on the amount of excess liquid but, after a point, will change its consistency in a not-necessarily positive way. I'll be curious to hear how things go. Good luck!

You know, that's got me stumped, too. It's not exactly a complicated recipe. I can only guess that the condensation while the peppers were cooling was more than I appreciated, and they were too moist when I added them to the bowl of the (perfectly dry) processor. it's just weird.

The only breadcrumbs I have in the house are a bit stale anyhow, so I'm going to leave it alone for now. maybe I'll try straining it and then add breadcrumbs if that doesn't work.

Penicillin and bed-rest can also help in clearing up even the wateriest cases of muhammara.

I've always made it with bread crumbs too . . . 1/2 cup for a 3 cup preparation.

id try what GB suggested or use a cheesecloth to drain.

gp60004 wrote:id try what GB suggested or use a cheesecloth to drain.

Are you sure it's watery, and that it's not fat from the nuts that has separated? If it might be the latter, just give it a good stir before serving.

Instead of the vinegar and lemon juice in your recipe, I use Pomegranate Molasses which has a fairly heavy consistency and doesn't dilute the mixture.

Jyoti

It definitely wasn't fat because stirring didn't solve anything, and also, it actually tasted watery.

Jygach, the original recipe called for pomegranate molasses but said you could substitute balsamic. the lemon juice was included either way. Again, I'm not sure that was the issue, because it wasn't just textural, it actually tasted watered-down.

I did run it thru a fine-mesh sieve, and it's considerably better now. I think next time I'll leave the red peppers laying out after I peel and slice them, I really think that was my error.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! Very much appreciated.