Appetizer Recipes : Dukkah

Ingredients :

2 cups of roasted nuts. You can select from peanuts, pinenuts, macadamia nuts, almonds, cashews and hazelnuts. Your choice. My favorite is peanuts and cashews combined. You can choose your own mix.

1 Tbl of whole coriander seeds
1 Tbl of whole fennel seeds
1 Tbl of cumin (ground)
one quarter cup of toasted sesame seeds
1 Tbl of crushed red pepper flakes
one quarter tsp of paprika (try to use Smoked Spanish paprika or Red Hungarian)
1 Tbl of sea salt
2 tsp of coarse black pepper.
1 loaf of artisan bread. Can be French bread, sour dough or Italian one half cup (or more) of extra virgin olive oil. (They even make fully organic olive oils now)

Directions :

Chop your 2 cups of roasted nuts in a food processor (or crush) until they are small pieces. Big breadcrumb-sized. Quarter inch or less is fine. Don't process too much or too fast or you'll end up with nut butter. Just use your pulse action.

In a sauté pan put in your coriander seeds, fennel seeds, cumin, sesame seeds, red pepper flakes, and paprika. Heat them over medium heat with no oil just to toast them lightly. Sort of shake the pan so they don't sit in one place too long or they can burn. This will only take a few minutes. When you smell the aromas from the mixture you are just about ready to turn it off. Turn off to let cool.

Now add your salt and pepper to this mixture.

The seed mixture now needs to be ground up. You can't do this in a large food processor but one of the little processors will work pretty well. Or you can get out your mortar and pestle. Grind until fully mixed and the pods are broken up; especially the coriander pods or they will hurt when you get them stuck in your teeth.

Combine the seed mixture with the nuts. Stir thoroughly. You can store the dukkah mixture in your refrigerator--covered.

To serve : Cut the bread into one inch cubes (or so). Pour olive oil on a small plate or dish. Put a few tablespoons of dukkah on another small dish. People can help themselves to the dipping of the bread into the olive oil and then into the dukkah. Replenish the olive oil, bread and dukkah as needed.

Tips : My idea for a unique holiday gift this year is to make dukkah for friends and family. I'm going to package it up with a perfect bottle of extra virgin olive oil and a couple of the cute shallow dishes they served the dukkah and the olive oil on. I'm sure I'll be able to find them in the local gourmet specialty stores. Try dukkah yourself and see if you don't get hooked!

What's dukkah?
It's a dish that originated in the middle east. It's a mixture that I can tell you best resembles bird seed. It sort of took me by surprise but I decided to go with the flow. All you do is take a cube of bread, dip it in extra virgin olive oil and then dip the wet end into the dukkah. Pop that in your mouth and moan. Exotic flavors burst in your mouth. Coriander is the first thing that makes your taste buds come alive. Then there's fennel, cumin, paprika and nutty flavors all competing for your attention but they all meld so brilliantly together that you just want to swallow the first bite and try this new experience again. Definitely addictive.