Dukkah

Where This Goes Wrong

Toast each thing separately. The timings are not close.

Pound, do not blend. Blending makes nut butter.

Keep it dry — no oil in the mix itself.

Making Dukkah

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1. Toast the hazelnuts in a dry pan over medium heat for 8 minutes, shaking often, until the skins darken and loosen. Tip into a tea towel and rub the skins off.

   Mark done Start 8 min timer

2. Toast the coriander, cumin and fennel seeds together for 2 minutes, until they smell warm and begin to pop. Tip out.

   Mark done Start 2 min timer

3. Toast the sesame seeds alone for 90 seconds, until pale gold. They burn faster than anything else here.

   Mark done Start 90 sec timer

4. Grind the peppercorns and toasted spice seeds in a mortar or spice grinder to a coarse powder.

   Mark done

5. Pound the hazelnuts separately to a rubble the size of coarse gravel. Stop well before they turn oily.

   Mark done

6. Combine everything with the sesame seeds, salt and dried mint and toss well.

   Mark done

7. Serve in a bowl beside a dish of olive oil, with bread for dipping into one and then the other.

   Mark done

Related guide: Ingredient substitutions.

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What's Going On Here

Everything is toasted separately, because a hazelnut needs eight minutes and a sesame seed needs ninety seconds, and toasting them together guarantees that something is either raw or burnt. The texture is the other half: dukkah is pounded, not blended, and it must stay dry and uneven. A food processor run for more than a few pulses releases the oil in the nuts and turns the whole thing into a paste, which is a different and much worse condiment.

Leftovers, Reheating and Keeping

An airtight jar in a cool cupboard for 4 weeks. It goes stale rather than off; the nuts lose their crispness first.

Common Substitutions & Variations

• Fresh herbs work in place of the dried mint at roughly three times the quantity — a teaspoon of dried is about a tablespoon of fresh, chopped.

Serving Dukkah

• Flatbread and olive oil
• Boiled eggs
• Roast vegetables

Dukkah Nutrition Facts

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: an ingredient listed without an amount is not counted, so the figures run low. How the figures are worked out.

Gluten-free when served without the aish baladi or flatbread.

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