When I was in the Middle East this past six months, I
went to visit friends in a gorgeous place called "Jaffa" (or Yafo)
which is a predominantly Arab old city inside the city limits of Tel Aviv in
Palestine (or Israel). In this part of the world, there seems to be alternate
spellings and names for everything.
Readers, I fell in love.... with Zhug - a spicy green
sauce that I first tasted on falafel and then on Sabic and then on everything!
You can buy it fresh at the Tel Aviv airport and so at any given time I had
three or four jars of it in my house in Jordan. Oddly, I could not find it in
Amman. However - its easy to make at home!
According to the internet: Zhug was brought to
Israel by Yemenite Jews and is now the hot condiment of choice in Israel. Zhug
is made with fresh chiles, garlic, coriander, cardamom, and other spices. It is
usually very hot, so you should start with a small amount. Mixed with soaked
and ground fenugreek, it becomes hilbe (which I'll try to make should
I ever find any fresh fenugreek).
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| Spice Girl/ Ottolenghi Fangirls |
I've since returned to Thailand and I'm sure I won't find
any here. I had dinner with my Ottolenghi Cooking Group (with
lovely Mistress ofSpices, Mango-Ginger and Momomoeats and our designated
eater, Vionette) in Bangkok the other night and we made hummus. And I
started craving Sabih and Zhug. Tonight, I'll fry some eggplant but
this morning, I made Zhug and had it with some hummus on a piece of pita.
Here's the recipe I used this morning:
2 bunches of cilantro/ coriander (the perfect herb
for the middle east as it has two names)
1 bunch curly parsley
2 green chiles serrano chilies, seeded
6 jalapeno chiles, seeded
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 pinches cardamom
2 pinches salt
4 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tbsp olive oil
I blended it all together and made a nice size jar to
keep me doing through the cravings.
Enjoy!