Egyptian Dukkah | How to make Dukka | Seasoning Blend
Dakka, Dukkah, Dukka, an Egyptian spice blend, consisting of a mixture of herbs, nuts, usually hazelnut, and spices. It is typically used as a dip with bread or fresh vegetables.
Egyptian Spice Blend | Arabic Spice Blend | Dukkah Spice | Duqqa Spice | Pounded spice with nuts | Nuts and spices | Arabic spice for dips | Spice blend for dips | Egyptian Du'aah Spice | Dukkha with hazelnuts
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Duqqa : Arabic Spice Blend
Dukkah, traditional Egyptian spice blend, the name can be spelled dukkah, dukkha or even duqqa; translated from the Arabic, it means "to pound" .
The mixture of spices and nuts are pounded together after being dry roasted to a texture that is neither powdered nor paste-like. The actual composition of the spice mix can vary from family to family. There are texts that support, the use of marjoram, mint, zaatar and chickpeas as further ingredients in the mixture. Check this recipe here with chickpeas.
There are varied recipes for this versatile spice blend. But the common ingredients, are nuts, sesame, coriander, cumin, salt and black pepper. Hazelnuts are the most common nuts used, but modern variants include pine nuts, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds, instead of hazelnuts.
How to use Dukkah
- Use it as a dip for breads. Just mix it with some olive oil or butter and you have an aromatic dip to go with breads. Here are some amazing Arabic breads to try, Lebanese Kaak bread, Yemeni Saluf, Jordanian shrak bread or a simple pita bread
- Add it to your stir-fried vegetables, check this Tacos with roasted broccoli & chickpeas stuffing, or try this Baked potatoes with ras-el-hanout, switch the Moroccan spice with Egyptian dukkha .
- If you eat meat, then this coarse spice blend adds a nice crust to your meats. Vegetarians and vegans worry not, add this to your paneer or tofu marinate and make your family wonder what is that nutty delight.
Ingredients to Make Du'aah Spice
- Nuts & Seeds : Hazelnuts & Pistachios, Sesame seeds
- Spices : Coriander seeds, cumin seeds and black peppercorns.
- Salt
Some Delish Arabic Recipes to try
How to Make the Egyptian Spice Blend
Please check recipe card below for exact measurements of each ingredient used and also for the detailed instructions
- Measure and Keep all the ingredients ready. I have used the Microwave to roast the spices, you can use stove-top or the oven.
- First add the hazelnuts to an microwave dish, microwave power high for 2 minutes. Remove, stir the nuts and microwave high for another 2 minutes. Remove the hazelnuts, transfer it to another plate.
- Rub it vigorously with a kitchen towel to remove the skin. Take pistachios in the same microwave dish, Microwave power high for 2 minutes. Remove to the hazelnuts tray and let it cool down.
- Take coriander seeds and cumin seeds in the microwave safe tray. microwave high for 3 minutes. Remove to the nuts tray.
- Now take sesame seeds and black peppercorn in the same microwave safe dish, microwave power high for 2 minutes. Remove to the nuts tray.
- Let this all cool down completely. Take them together in a food processor jar or a mixer jar and pulse them together to a coarse texture.
- Let the ground mix cool down. Store it in an air-tight container.
Egyptian Dukkah | How to make Dukka | Egyptian Seasoning
Equipment
- spice grinder
Ingredients
- ¾ cup hazelnuts
- ¼ cup pistachios
- ½ cup sesame seeds
- ½ cup coriander seeds
- ¼ cup cumin seeds
- 2 tablespoon peppercorns
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Roast each of the ingredients separately. I roasted the ingredients in the microwave, you can roast it in the oven or on the stove-top.
How to Roast the Spices in the Microwave
- In a Microwave safe round dish, first take the hazelnuts. Microwave high for 2 minutes. Remove the tray, stir the nuts well. Microwave high for another 2 minutes.
- Remove the tray. While the nuts are warm, use a kitchen towel and rub it vigorously, to remove the skin. Separate the skin and remove the nuts to a flat plate to cool down.
- In the same tray take pistachios, microwave power high for 2 minutes. Remove and add it to the hazelnuts tray to cool down.
- Now take coriander seeds and cumin seeds in the microwave safe dish, microwave power high for 2 minutes, remove the tray, stir them once and microwave high for another 1 minute
- Remove the roasted coriander and cumin to the nuts tray, to cool down. To the microwave safe dish, finally add sesame seeds and peppercorns.
- Microwave high for 2 minutes. Remove and add them to the nuts tray. Let all the roasted ingredients cool down well.
Let us Grind
- Take them together in a food processor and pulse few times to get a coarse mixture.
- Take care not to grind continuously, you will end up with a paste. Pulse the processor, to get a medium-coarse spice mixture.
Store
- Store this spice-mix in a air-tight container and this can be used on variety of dishes.
- I prefer to refrigerate as they contain nuts.
How to use
- You can sprinkle it on regular veggies, bread, soups, or can be used to make spice-oil/butter.
Notes
- Microwave power varies from brand to brand. So always keep an eye while roasting spices.
- If you are not sure about the time and power of your microwave, roast it at high for 1 minute, check and continue.
Nutrition
Disclaimer
I m not a Doctor or a Nutritionist The Nutrition information provided above comes from the plugin and is only an estimate.
That bowl of soup is inviting me, now am tempted to give a try to this dukkah..Sounds interesting;
Both the dishes seem to have come out so well Priya..love the soup's bright colour!
I had read up on the spice powder and found it very interesting. Roasted carrot soup would sound so good on a cold winter day. Love it.
Dukkah seems to be the wonder spice in Egyptian kitchens as sambar powder is in south Indian kitchens! Roasted carrot soup would be a wonderful soup in the next few weeks for folks in the Northern hemisphere.
super!
Bookmarked. That dukkah is really unique. Never came across a spice powder with nuts and that bowl of soup is colorful.
Love the color of the soup , Priya and the spice sounds very flavorful!
very beautiful spice mix...glad you introduced it.....
that soup must e so flavorful with dukkah..
Now I know what to do with my dukkah spice that I bought a while back. That roasted carrot soup sounds delicious.
amazing combo of ingredients in the spice mix
ahhhh now I know this was spice in the butter yesterday 🙂 very tempting carrot soup priya , I wud love to try this flavorful soup 🙂
I saw this in nandinis blog and bookmarked it.Now I also have a soup to try with this spice blend. Roasted carrot soup sounds delicious Priya!
Love that ingredients and very flavor full dukkah
I too made this for E Priya! But i used almonds and walnuts. Your addition of pista makes it looks colourful too. Used the spice only in cookies and crackers so far. Must try your soup next
Lovely and yum. I wish I can have some now Priya and I have just had a heavy dinner. I love the spice mix.
Very comforting soup.
This is such a versatile spice blend. Since I do not have hazel nuts, I will you pumpkin and sun flower seeds to make this. The fact that you have said that I can use it in sit fries is another reason for me to try this asap. Lovely share
very interesting spice blend there, Priya ! Dukkah sounds and looks very fancy too - esp mixed with oil as a dip.. am thinking if some / all of the hazelnut could be replaced with something native here.
This is an interesting spice and nut mixture Priya. And so versatile. Can imagine the crunch it would add to paneer and as a dip with some exotic bread, wow. Must try this recipe out. Thinking of making it for the Christmas party. I can keep it ready and add olive oil on that day.
What a lovely spice blend and like you said so versatile. I made a small batch of cheese ball to try for Christmas party and I used this Dukkah spice blend to coat the cheese. It was delicious with crackers and vegetables.
Thank you sandhya, yes dukkah is such a versatile spice, nice idea to use it in cheese ball, glad to know you liked it !
Wow! Dukkah is definitely a yummy spice mix. I have tried it once and I am hooked. Never thought of making it home. Sounds easy thanks will make a batch.