Hazelnut Dukkah

Dukkah (or duqqa) is an Egyptian dish, into which one might dip bread, which generally contains a mixture of nuts, spices and occasionally herbs. For instance, my recipe contains hazelnuts, which tends to be the norm for this side-dish. However, other potential nuts that will quite happily take their place in dukkah include, but are not limited to, pistachios and cashews. Indeed, almost any nut will work well here.

Since dukkah is supremely flavourful, necessitates very little preparation and takes a surprisingly long time to disappear, even with a number of people clawing at it at once, it is perfectly suited to gatherings and dinner parties. Of course, these characteristics also make it a very effective frugal dish, a very rare trait where nuts are concerned. Still, I guess that’s the current point of my existence – to prove that one can eat well on a budget!

The best and most common way for you and your friends to enjoy dukkah is to take a hunk of bread, slather it lavishly with olive oil (or not, depending on how frugal you need to be) and press it firmly into the warm embrace of your freshly prepared community of nuts and spices. The flavour this stuff imparts is truly exceptional and somewhat surprising and is made all the more stunning when a generous pinch of good quality sea salt is added to the party.

Whether dukkah should contain a herb of some sort, generally mint, is an interesting topic. On the one hand, one would expect a herb to feature in a traditional dukkah. On the other, however, it could be said that mint, or any other herb, detracts from the flavour of the hazelnuts and spices. I guess the jury is out on this one, though my mind is firmly made up. I do hope you enjoy this hazelnut dukkah, I shall leave it up to you to decide whether to include mint, though you know what my advice is.

Hazelnut Dukkah {recipe}

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

• 100g hazelnuts

• 1 tsp cumin seed

• 1 tsp coriander seed

• 3 tbsp sesame seeds or linseeds

• A generous pinch of sea salt, preferably flakes

Method:

1. Put your hazelnuts on a tray and roast for 10 minutes at 160C, until crunchy. Remove them from the tray and chop them finely, using either a food processor or a knife.

2. Gently toast the cumin and coriander in a heavy based pan. Transfer them to a pestle and mortar and grind until broken down but still a little coarse. Mix everything together in a bowl and dip away!

Cost: If one searches in the right places hazelnuts can be had for a reasonable price. Indeed, I managed to get my hands on 200g for around £1.50, a price which seemed rather pleasing. If one manages to do the same then there’s no reason this dukkah need set you back more than around 90p. Divine.