Zhug (or Skhug)

Just pronouncing the name of this fabulous condiment brings you to the Middle East, with the harsh "kh" sound that sounds like you are clearing your throat. It originated in Yemen and is said to have great medicinal qualities.

Zhug comes in both red and green varieties and is the essential hot sauce for adding heat to falafel, meat dishes, fish dishes, well...pretty much anything. I am partial to the green variety, mostly because it's the one my mom made for us when I was growing up, so it tastes like home.  The cilantro and cumin add an earthiness that gives the heat an added dimension.

It keeps for a really long time in the fridge, which is great because a little bit of this stuff goes a very long way.  A fun gift idea is to put zhug into small glass spice jars as a fun holiday treat.  You can bring both red and green zhug together as a fun Christmas gift.

For today, we will focus on green zhug.  You will need:

2 whole heads of garlic, separated into individual cloves and peeled
1/2 cup of chopped hot pepper (I used red this time because I didn't have really hot green ones on hand, but you can use either, depending on how strikingly green  you want it and the level of heat you can handle)
2 cups of chopped, fresh cilantro leaves
1 TBS salt
1/2 lemon
Spice mix (grind together 10 cardamom seeds, 10 garlic cloves, 1 TB peppercorns, 1 TBS cumin seeds - for best results toast the spices first and then grind)






Using either a food processor or mortar and pestle, mix the pepper flakes, garlic and cilantro until well combined.  Add the spice mix to the cilantro mix and finish with salt.

Pour into a jar with a tight seal and top with lemon juice to seal in the flavor.