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Walnut Dukkah is a delicious seed and nut mix, warm with black pepper and spices. Try it mixed with olive oil and used as a dip for bread or sprinkled over a myriad of dishes from roasted vegetables to baked fish to houmous.
I have discovered this week that most meals are improved by a generous shaking of this walnut dukkah. On Wednesday, I sprinkled a conservative amount on my plantain for breakfast, then for lunch a tablespoon went over my chicken salad, but by dinner I threw nearly half the jar over my roasted butternut squash. This is how addicts are born.
The addictive quality I’m sure comes from the intense pepper heat. There is a good amount of smoky black pepper in here which, when sprinkled over whatever you fancy, softens a smidge, providing a comforting background to the savoury sesame seeds, the warmth of the spices and the earthy crunch of walnuts.
Dukkah is originally an Eygptian seed and nut mix, traditionally made with hazelnuts. It is most commonly used mixed with olive oil and then used as a dip for bread. As I described above though we should never restrict ourselves when we find a taste combination we love. Sprinkle it over everything, experiment with different nuts, add some fennel seeds or even add more black peppercorns if you are man enough. Then use it as a topping to houmous or whizz it up with olive oil for a rub for your barbecued meat. I am suddenly realising that this immediately needs to be stirred through buttered rice for a wonderfully aromatic accompaniment to Middle Eastern slow roasted lamb. Gosh, the possibilities are endless, the only limitations are our imaginations.
Walnut Dukkah
Ingredients
- 75 g walnuts
- 50 g sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoons black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
- Spread the walnuts out on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes.
- Remove the walnuts from the oven and chop roughly then set aside.
- Place the coriander seeds, cumin seeds and peppercorns in a small saucepan and lightly toast for a couple of minutes on a low heat until aromatic.
- Pulse the seeds and peppercorn and the salt in a spice blender or with a pestle and mortar until relatively fine.
- Finally toast the sesame seeds in a small saucepan for a minute or so until some of them are just starting to turn a light gold.
- Put the sesame seeds, the walnuts and the spice mix in a clean jar and shake wildly until everything is evenly dispersed.
- The dukkah can keep for a couple of months in a cool cupboard.
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