Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times This week, the Recipes for Health columnist Martha Rose Shulman explores the Middle Eastern nut and spice mix known as dukkah.
The name is a colloquial Egyptian word derived from the word “dakka,” which means “to crush,” which is what you do to many of the ingredients that go into the mix. I went through my Middle Eastern cookbooks and searched online to look at how the mixture is composed in different places, and found so much variation that I didn’t think twice about creating some of my own combos: some are spicy; I used different types of nuts and seeds; and one version contains chickpea flour.
In the Middle East, dukkah is usually eaten with flatbread — either it’s sprinkled on top, or the bread is first dipped into olive oil and then into the dukkah. It’s also eaten with raw vegetables. I took it further with this week’s recipes, using dukkah to dust fish fillets that were then pan-cooked, sprinkling it on poached eggs that topped a pile of seasoned greens on a bruschetta, even adding the spice and nut mix to the cheese inside my son’s quesadillas (he loved it). But I also ate it on its own; I couldn’t resist.
Here are five ways to enjoy dukkah.
Peanut Dukkah: This dukkah is great with vegetables and with pita, and on its own as a snack.
Dukkah-Dusted Sand Dabs: This dukkah recipe can stand in for flour as a coating for fried fish or vegetables.
Pumpkin Seed Dukkah: This mildly spicy, nutty dukkah is good with Mexican food, particularly in quesadillas.
Bruschetta With Chard or Spinach, Poached Egg and Dukkah: This recipe adds coconut to the dukkah, to introduce some sweetness to the nutty/spicy mix.
Hazelnut Dukkah With Fennel Seeds and Mint or Thyme: Some versions of dukkah, like this one, are herbal as well as spicy.
Martha Rose Shulman on healthful cooking.
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