Zhoug

Zhoug

What it is

Yemeni cooks call it sahawiq, and it reached Israel in 1949 with the fifty thousand Yemenite Jews airlifted out during Operation Magic Carpet, becoming a standard hummus and falafel condiment within a generation. What travelled was the technique rather than the recipe: green chilli, coriander and garlic pounded raw, with cardamom the one warm note in a cold sauce.

In the kitchen

Pound it, do not blitz it — a blender heats the coriander and turns it grey and bitter within the hour. Made cold and covered with a film of oil it keeps five days; after that the garlic dominates everything.

Goes with

Chili pepper Cilantro / Coriander Garlic Cardamom Lemon Chickpeas Lamb Egg

Same species

Cilantro / Coriander Coriander seed

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