Dukkah: spice of life

Dukkah is an Egyptian snack, designed to be crunchily consumed with crusty bread, limpid olive oil and the Ethiopian coffee of your dreams.

Dukkah: spice of life
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To make a fragrant batch of Dukkah, you will need:

  • 100g shelled hazelnuts
  • 50g sesame seeds
  • 50g whole cumin seeds
  • 35g whole coriander seeds
  • ½ teaspoon za’atar
  • Zest of lemon

Dukkah is a light bite, usually part of a Middle Eastern or Greek meze menu, or on its own as a glorious solo event.My ingredient list is an approximation of many variations, not least from your own imagination. I grant you that za’atar may be a little puzzling. It’s a Middle Eastern herb (my bottle says it’s Palestinian), also known in the King James Bible as hyssop. If your local supermarket is out of za’atar, you can substitute a half-teaspoon of dried thyme and marjoram, in a fifty-fifty mix.

This ingredient list contains modest quantities on the assumption that you would rather make a smaller batch, just to be sure that what you get is what you want. The big deal here is proportionality. Stick to the ratios and regardless of batch size, all will taste superb. The only thing requiring preparation is the zest. This is not the entire peel of the lemon, but rather the very thin outermost layer; it’s fragrant, laden with aromatic oils and profoundly flavoursome.

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The best zest remover is a patented device stocked by Woolworths. Otherwise an ultra-sharp, small-bladed knife wielded with care and precision will do the job slowly. Dukkah time! Pour the hazelnuts, sesame seeds, whole cumin and whole coriander seeds into a saucepan. Bring the heat to medium and lightly toast the nuts and spices until uniformly light to medium dark brown. When done, remove from the pan and cool.

Pour the ingredients plus a little black pepper into a food processor. If using za’atar, don’t add salt. Pulse the processor a couple of times, paying careful attention to the production. We want neither powder nor dust: a nice coarse texture of visibly identifiable bits, in the case of the bigger nuts, is the desired outcome.

Eat this with the best bread you can find, dipped in olive oil. It is a magnificent experience, regardless of the time of day. Vary your dukkah recipes by replacing the suggested nuts with cashews and pecans. Or add tahini; it gives a powerful octane boost to the mix. This is sesame butter by any other name and can be sourced from Asian supermarkets. The ‘h’ in tahini is pronounced like the ‘g’ in Afrikaans. It will distribute itself evenly over the crunchy bits in the dukkah. Surplus dukkah will survive for a week in the fridge. It’s a great taste to come home to.