Recipe: Harissa/Hareez
I am back home in Chicago after an incredible two weeks in Yerevan. I thought I’d share one more recipe I drew as part of the two week comics workshop I led at TUMO!
I had never heard of this dish before. I only knew harissa as the Tunisian red pepper paste! But Harissa/Harees is a type of porridge made in Armenia and in the Arab gulf states. It’s grains and chicken boiled down for a very long time until they fall apart and blend together. Like with Kalagosh, my (teenaged) Armenian students did not like this dish very much and were not excited about drawing this one! So I drew it, to prove to them that we could make it look appetizing and delicious. :) While researching the dish, I found this amazing looking recipe from Andrew Janjigian. I had to use the recipe provided to me by the school, but if you do make this dish, use Andrew’s! Chicken stock will make for a much richer flavor than water, and the Aleppo pepper spiced brown butter he uses looks amazing.
I want to talk about my time in Yerevan but I almost don’t know where to start! The city was breathtakingly cool, TUMO was amazing, and my students were so talented and fun! Together we made over 40 pages of recipe comics of traditional Armenian cuisine. It was a phenomenal experience. Here are a few photos for you:
It took me 25 straight hours of travel to get back home, and I’m very tired, but my heart is full. I haven’t even talked about the food! I’m hoping to put together a food-based travelogue minicomic of my trip, so I’ll probably preview some pages here. Stay tuned!
Upcoming things:
October 11: aka This Saturday! I’ll be leading a recipe comics workshop at the Logan Square Library. This event is free, but you need to register for it. Come draw recipe comics with me!
October 18: I’ll be exhibiting at SLICE in St. Louis!
October 24: I’ll be in Madison speaking at the Wisconsin Book Festival in conversation with Ian Gurfield of Ian’s Pizza.
December 6: I’ll be speaking on a few panels and selling books at Sulzer Regional Library in Chicago!
What I’m into lately:
On my long, long trip home, I listened to the entirety of the audiobook for The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones. I had read a few things by Jones already, but this is my very favorite so far! It’s a stunning, sprawling story about colonialism, family, belonging, grief, revenge, and more, and it’s also one of the most interesting takes on vampires I’ve ever encountered. It was never boring, always nuanced, intricately complex and just flawlessly written. Can’t recommend this more!
What Toki’s into lately:
Being real clingy since I got home. I don’t know how I went two weeks without snuggling my garbage son, but we’re making up for it now. :)
