harissa and zaatar

I just bought some bottled harissa (liquid sauce), powdered harissa seasoning, and powdered zaatar* seasoning via iHerb. Just tried all three... and I must say, after all the hype, I'm not really all that impressed. 

The zaatar's top notes are oregano/thyme (the bottle's label says thyme) and citrusy sumac, and there are little chunky bits that look like ground sesame seeds, making me think I could make this seasoning myself just using my mortar and pestle (although I'd have to buy hyssop). The bottled harissa is also a lot more tomato-y than I expected, although it's got a peppery kick from chilis,** as well as a smooth undercurrent that feels almost like roasted red bell peppers. The best item of the bunch is the powdered harissa seasoning, which I look forward to combining with other sauces to make my own blend of red sauce.

The Berlin street döner kebab (I fell in love with these when I lived in Switzerland in 1989) often features both a tzatziki-like white sauce and a harissa-ish red sauce, but the döner red sauce is normally spicier. I've been looking to recreate that sauce for a long time, and I'd thought that harissa would be a major step in the right direction, but if the bottled harissa I now have is any indication, the real thing (supposedly Moroccan) is kind of mundane, kind of meh, almost like an arrabbiata, but chunkier. I think I can do better on my own. 

Not to worry: I'll be using the sauce and seasonings in future dishes for sure, but the experience isn't going to be nearly as exciting as I'd thought it would be.

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*Many spell zaatar with an apostrophe (za'atar) to indicate the glottal stop.

**A brief sorry-not-sorry to my British readers, who are probably frustrated that I wrote chili, not chilli. That's the Yankee spelling, I'm afraid. One lone L. This applies to many other words as well: traveled, not travelled; canceled, not cancelled, etc., although plenty of Yanks do intentionally or inadvertently spell words the UK way, and no one really cares.