Stocking stuffer: Harissa in a tube for the Sriracha-addicted

Need a stocking stuffer for someone who’s addicted to Sriracha? Get them hooked on North African harissa from Entube in downtown L.A. The spicy sauce is flavored with paprika, cayenne, cumin, sumac, coriander and other spices.

The chile paste dispensed from a sleek silver tube quickly becomes a habit you can’t break. Put it on eggs, roasted vegetables, lentil soup or in your salad dressing. Use it as a rub on fish, meats and poultry. Blend some into your burger mix. Even use it to give cocktails (think Bloody Mary) some extra oomph.

Entube founder Richard J. Lasselle said he dreamed up this modern version of harissa during summers in Provence. Entube harissa is not strictly traditional, though. He’s given it a unique twist with his spicing and with the introduction of Amazonian acerola berry for its vitamin C and Ayurvedic (holistic healing) properties.

Entube harissa is vegetarian, vegan, paleo, Kosher, non-GMO -- all that good stuff -- and the tube and packaging are 100% recyclable.

The default is a 3.5-ounce tube, but some stores are selling mini-versions for about a dollar a piece. That’s inexpensive enough that you can sprinkle them like snowflakes in the Christmas stockings of everybody you know. The little tubes could even make unconventional gift ties.

Available at Urban Radish in the downtown arts district, Chiles Secos at the Grand Central Market, Monsieur Marcel at the Original Farmers Market, the Oaks Gourmet in Beachwood Canyon, Say Cheese in Silver Lake and Dinette on Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park, among others. Also available online from Amazon.com. From $7 to $10 per 3.5 ounce tube.

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