Prawns with Maryam Zaira Sauce

The only thing this recipe has going for it is that it's easy... in my humble opinion. I can't say my tastebuds were tweaked by this one. Too much mayonaise for my palette. I felt like I was eating gobs of mayonaise...yulch! Husband quite liked it though...or so he said. He's such a shrimp fan though that I think he'd of loved it no matter what. But in my opinion don't waste your efforts.

I do have to say that I wasn't able to find any harissa (do you know what that is because I didn't). I wasn't surprised that my metro didn't carry it. As a matter of fact I'd have fallen over in the aisle had it been of the shelf. When I googled harissa I found this is a paste of sorts, like that of a curry, used in north african cooking. As if they were going to sell that in the middle of my middle-class uber-caucasian supermarket. Taking the super out of supermarket is all that's doing.

Like I said I was fully expecting this problem, so I out witted Metro this time I did. I found a recipe how to make your own harissa online and that is how I was able to make this recipe. Let me be the first to admit that I won't be starting an underground movement in north african spices with the harissa I made. But still - even for my mediocre harissa I was expecting more bang for my buck with this recipe.

If your able to get your hands on some shop bought harissa though and, like Husband, are a shrimp fanatic and just HAVE to try a new dip for your cocktail shrimp then by all means try this. And please let me know how you faired. I'm definitley interested in a third opinion. But as for now I think I'll stick to the old Seafood Sauce for the time being....