We Checked Four Shop-Bought Dukkahs. Not One Had Nuts In It.
Mac pulled three supermarket dukkah blends off the shelf, plus one sold online, and lined them up on the counter. Not a single one had any nuts in it. They'd bulked it out with toasted chickpeas instead, presumably for shelf life, which isn't dukkah at all. The nuts are where the whole thing lives, the richness, the flavour, the point of making it in the first place.
Dukkah, if you haven't come across it, is an Egyptian mix of toasted nuts, seeds and spices, crushed into a dry, crunchy crumb you scatter over just about anything. David's read on it: a bit like Bombay mix, but healthier. One jar, made properly, turns a bowl of soup or a plate of roast veg into something that tastes like you actually tried.
It takes ten minutes. One pan, no oil, everything going in together. The trick isn't in the ingredients, it's in two moments most people get wrong: how you toast it, and how long you leave it before you touch it with a pestle. Get either one off and you end up with a paste instead of a crunch, and paste isn't the point.
If you made last week's red lentil dhal, this is its perfect finish. Dhal is soft and comforting, but short on texture. A spoonful of dukkah scattered on top, alongside a swirl of yoghurt, gives it the bite that takes it to the next level.
We're not writing out the method here. The full technique, both moves that actually make or break it, is this week's Technique Tuesday lesson on Spice Circle.
