Harissa

Cut the stems off the California chilis and discard. Remove the seeds (it's okay if some seeds remain) and discard. You can slit the peppers open to remove the seeds.

Cut the stems off the red hot chilis and discard, but keep the seeds in. The more seeds, the spicier. Remove all seeds for mild harissa or keep all seeds for spicy harissa. I like my harissa mild-hot, so I add 1 hot chili pepper with seeds.

Put the dried peppers in a large metal or ceramic bowl and cover with boiling water. Place a plate on top to prevent them from floating. Soak for 20 minutes and drain. The best way to dry the peppers is in a salad spinner—dry them as much as possible.

Put the peppers in the food processor with the rest of the ingredients and process until smooth.

Store in a jar or container, drizzle a little olive oil on top, and keep in the fridge for up to 1 month. I usually divide the harissa into 2 small jars. That way it doesn't go bad. We give 1 jar to someone we love or freeze it until we finish the other jar.