Dukkah

I love the nutty, spicy flavour and crunchy texture of dukkah, especially when I eat it with soft, warm turkish bread dipped in fruity, grass-green extra virgin olive oil. The word dukkah comes from the Arabic word meaning “to pound” since the spices and nuts are pounded together after being dry roasted. There are many different combinations of ingredients, but most of the recipes I’ve seen include sesame seeds, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper. This is my fairly tradtional version, although I sometimes vary the combination of nuts by adding pistachios or pecan nuts. This recipe makes about 2 cups of dukkah.

100g sesame seeds
125 g hazelnuts
25g whole cumin seeds
25g whole corainder seeds
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes (I like Maldon Sea Salt)
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Toast the sesame seeds in a small frying pan for 1 – 2 minutes until they are lighty golden and then put in a medium sized bowl. Toast the cumin and coriander in the same pan for 1 – 2 minutes, or until they release their aromas. Pound them up in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder until quite finely ground and then add to the sesame seeds. Roast the hazelnuts in a 180 C oven for 4 – 5 minutes and then tip into a tea towel, wrap them up and rub vigorously to remove most of the skin from the nuts. Coarsely grind the hazelnuts in the mortar and pestle or spice grinder and then add them to the bowl along with the salt and pepper. Stir everything together and when completely cold, store in a glass jar.