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Aleppo Pepper Carrots with Labneh is your new favorite side dish of the season. Inspired by Kenji Lopez-Alt’s Roasted Carrots with Harissa and Crѐme Fraîche, it’s super flavorful, simple to make, and will be loved by the whole family.
Aleppo Pepper Paste
Aleppo Peppers are a vibrant red pepper grown in northern Syria and southern Turkey. They’re air dried, pounded, then preserved into a paste with salt. They have a wonderful fruity flavor and range in spice levels, from sweet to blaringly spicy.
Aleppo Pepper Paste is by far my most used pantry ingredient. It’s the key ingredient in my family’s muhammara recipe. It’s also wonderful on grilled chicken and roasted salmon. It even makes a delicious sauce on top of pan-fried eggplant. In this recipe, it adds the perfect complexity to sweet and earthy carrots
Where to Find It?
The best Aleppo pepper paste I’ve found is at Bait al Moonah al Halabi in Sharjah, UAE, who stocks directly from Aleppo. You might be able to find a jarred Turkish variety, like Sera in the US, which is definitely acceptable for this recipe.
Let’s talk about the other ingredients in this dish.
Ingredients
Carrots - Carrots are packed with nutrients, like potassium, vitamin A, beta carotene, vitamin K, and antioxidants. They have a lovely earthy sweetness that goes really well with the Aleppo peppers. Keeping the skin on the carrots allows them to soften without losing too much moisture in the oven and shriveling up. Here, I used rainbow carrots, which I kept whole. If you’re using the thick orange kind, I would quarter them.
Salt - The water is going to get a nice healthy dose of salt. Don’t be nervous, you want a heavy hand, about 3 tablespoons, since the carrots will boil for only about 5 minutes.
Aleppo Pepper Paste - Koreans have gochujang, Tunisians have harissa, and Syrians/Turks have Aleppo pepper paste (dibs flefli). Aleppo peppers are a temperamental variety of red pepper that are harvested in northern Syria (Aleppo region) and southern Turkey in the late summer and early fall. The flavor profile is quintessentially Aleppan: fruity, sometimes mild, and other times super spicy. The paste preserves the pepper to season dishes throughout the year.
Can’t find Aleppo pepper paste? No problem, you can make your own with red bell peppers and a chili pepper or 2. Antonio Tahhan, food historian and anthropologist, developed a recipe, which dehydrates the peppers in the oven at 170° F/77° C for about 4-6 hours, processes them until smooth, and then seasons with salt. The paste keeps in the fridge for a week or 2, and if you cover in olive oil, even months. I usually store mine in the freezer and take a spoonful as needed.
Cumin - The earthiness from cumin pairs so well with the fruitiness from Aleppo pepper. Honestly, they’re like a match made in heaven. You can toast and grind whole cumin seeds or use store-bought cumin powder.
Cilantro/Coriander Leaves - Bright cilantro is so lovely here. You don’t have to worry too much about separating the leaves from the stems, as long as they’re tender. They also add some really nice flavor. They also freeze really well when chopped in zip top bags. Try it! It becomes so easy to add to any dish.
Olive Oil - Any good olive oil that you use for cooking will do.
Labneh - Strained yogurt was originally made to help preserve milk, but it’s become trendy because of its tangy, cool complexity. It’s kind of like sour cream but way better. You can find it at your local Middle Eastern supermarket, or making your own is surprisingly easy. Take a 1 kg/2 lb tub of plain, full fat yogurt. Line a colander with a few layers of paper towel and set it over a bowl. Mix about 1-2 teaspoons of salt with the yogurt and dump the mixture onto the layers of paper towel. Allow to drain on the counter for about a day. Scrape it off into a container. And that’s it! That’s labneh.
Method
I borrow Kenji Lopez-Alt’s method of parboiling the peel-on carrots in heavily salted water for about 5 minutes, 1-2 mins longer if using whole rainbow carrots.
You then combine them with half the olive oil, cumin, and Aleppo pepper paste, and roast them in a 180° C/375° F oven for about 40 minutes, tossing 1-2 times.
Next, you mix the carrots with the cilantro and remaining pepper paste blend, spread the labneh on the platter, and scatter the carrots. You can serve them immediately, or at room temperature. Both are divine.
Top Tips
You probably won’t need to add much salt, if any, to the dish, after parboiling the carrots. Pepper paste usually has a decent amount of salt, but always sample a bit and adjust before topping the labneh.
These carrots would be wonderful next to any steak, fish, or chicken. You can even have it as part of a mezze spread for an unexpected twist.
I hope you love this recipe as much as my family does! If you give it a try, leave your thoughts in the comments to let everyone know how it works out. I also love to see your creations! You can tag me at #omayahcooks on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter.
Other sides:
Hindbeh (Sautéed Dandelion Greens with Caramelized Onions)
Stewed Green Beans in Olive Oil (Loubieh bi Zeit)
Recipes using Aleppo/Turkish pepper paste:
Braised Leg of Lamb with Spicy (or Sweet) Onion Sauce
Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini and Aleppo Pepper
Muhammara (Pepper and Walnut Dip)
Chickpeas with Crispy Pita, Warmed Yogurt and Caramelized Garlic (Fattet Hummus)
Aleppo Pepper Roasted Carrots with Labneh
Ingredients
- 1 kg/2 lbs whole rainbow carrots, or quartered orange carrots, cut into 3-inch pieces
- 3 tbsp salt
- 1/4 c olive oil
- 2 tbsp Aleppo/Turkish pepper paste (see note)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro/coriander
- 1/4 c labneh (see note)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180° C/375° F.
- Set a pot of water to boil and add salt. Boil unpeeled carrots for about 5 minutes if quartered, 6 minutes if using whole rainbow carrots. Drain.
- In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, pepper paste, and cumin. Transfer about half to a small bowl and toss the carrots in the remaining mixture until fully coated.
- Tip onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, spreading evenly. Roast for about 40 minutes, tossing 1-2 times.
- Once the carrots are tender, sprinkle with coriander leaves.
- Smear the labneh onto a serving platter, top with carrots, and drizzle with remaining pepper paste mixture. Serve immediately with your favorite protein, or at room temperature for an exciting mezze option.
Notes:
Aleppo/Turkish pepper paste can be purchased at your local Middle Eastern market or on Amazon. Choose sweet, hot, or a combination of both.
If you can't find labneh, make your own by lining a colander with a few layers of paper towel set over a bowl. Add 1 tsp of salt to 1 kg/2 lb tub of plain, full fat yogurt. Allow to strain on the counter for about a day.