Nyora
Small, round, sun-dried sweet red pepper. The defining ingredient in romesco and a backbone of many Catalan, Valencian and Murcian dishes.
The nyora is a small round red pepper, dried in the sun until it's brick-red and leathery. It's not spicy. The flavour is concentrated, sweet, faintly smoky, and once rehydrated in warm water it gives up its pulp to the wooden spoon and disappears into a sauce. Romesco depends on it. So do many Catalan rice dishes, the Valencian arròs a banda, the Murcian zarangollo and a long list of stews. Murcia is the historic production centre; the dried peppers travel widely. Catalan cooks usually keep a bag in the pantry and rehydrate them by the handful as needed.
How it's served
Not eaten whole; the dried pepper rehydrates in warm water for 20 minutes, the soft pulp gets scraped off the skin with a spoon and added to the sauce or stew. Romesco, sofregit and rice-dish stocks all use them this way.
Regional variation
The Murcian variety (DOP Pimiento de Murcia, with the variant called ñora in Castilian) is the most-cited reference. Catalan and Valencian recipes use the same pepper under the local spelling. Spanish dried-pepper cooking also uses choricero (larger, hotter) and guindilla (smaller, hotter still); the nyora is the sweet workhorse.
- Origin
- Murcia (introduced to Catalonia from the south)
- Etymology
- Catalan/Valencian, possibly from a regional Arabic root via Murcian Spanish.
- Also called
- ñora
Frequently asked
What is a nyora?
A small round red pepper, sun-dried until brick-red and leathery. Sweet, not spicy. The defining ingredient in romesco sauce and a backbone of Catalan, Valencian and Murcian rice dishes and stews. Rehydrated in warm water before use, with the soft pulp scraped from the skin.
Is a nyora the same as a chorizo pepper?
Different peppers, related role. The chorizo pepper (pimiento choricero) is larger, fleshier and slightly hotter than the nyora. Both are sweet dried red peppers used as a flavour base. Nyora is the smaller, sweeter Mediterranean version; choricero is the bigger Basque and northern Spanish workhorse.
Where do you buy nyoras?
Sold dried in small bags at any Spanish market, from La Boqueria to neighbourhood ultramarinos. Online Spanish food shops carry them too. Once you have a bag, they keep for over a year in a cool dry place. Buy more than you think you need; they're used by the handful, not the pepper.
Related terms
- RomescoA Catalan sauce of roasted tomato, garlic, almond, hazelnut, dried nyora pepper and olive oil. The default dip for calçots.
- SofritoA slow-cooked base of onion, tomato and garlic in olive oil. The starting point for most Spanish rice dishes, stews and sauces.
- PaellaValencian rice dish cooked in a wide flat pan over fire. The original is chicken, rabbit, snails and beans, not seafood.
- FideuàA Valencian paella made with short, hollow noodles instead of rice. Comes with allioli on the side.