Dukkah: nut, seed and spice blend

Dukkah is an Egyptian and Middle Eastern spice and nut blend that adds a massive flavour injection when sprinkled on many different types of food. I love it on any kind of eggs, roasted veggies, labneh dip, houmous, roast chicken, or grilled fish.

I’ve tweaked the traditional recipe a little, adding more sunflower, pumpkin, and sesame seeds and switching hazelnuts (as I didn’t have any!) for almonds, so this is my take on dukkah, and I hope you like it.

You’ll be doing your gut a favour by adding fibre and a few more plants to your weekly total, as each ingredient counts as one of the 30 you are recommended to eat by @zoe @timspector. Happy microbes!

Ingredients

Fills a 0.5 litre Kilner jar (medium-sized)

• 2 ½ tbsp coriander seeds
  2 tsp cumin seeds 

• 2 tsp fennel seeds

• 40g black and white sesame seeds

• 40g sliced almonds, toasted

• 40g sunflower 

• 40g pumpkin seeds

• 1 tsp dried oregano 

• 1 tsp paprika

• ½ tsp salt

Method

• Toast the nuts, sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds for a few minutes in a hot frying pan until they pop a little and start turning golden, then remove and set aside in a bowl. Separate 1/3 of this mix into another smaller bowl.

• Add the coriander, fennel, and cumin seeds to the pan for about a minute, followed by the paprika and oregano for 30 seconds.

• Mix all the ingredients and leave to cool in a bowl.

• Put the mix into a small blender and blitz for a few seconds until you have a rough texture.

• Mix in the remaining nuts, sunflower, pumpkin, and sesame seeds.

Poached egg with guacamole toast

This is one of my go-to lunches any day of the week and it’s a good one to make if you’re working from home at the moment. It’s quick, easy and nutritious so you can’t really go wrong. As long as you have the right bread (I like a sourdough doorstep) and don’t over cook your egg, it’s never going to disappoint. I’m not reinventing the wheel here, but it’s a useful basic to have in your back pocket!

Ingredients

Serves 2

• 2 slices of sourdough or wholegrain toast

• 2-4 eggs

• 1 avocado

• 5 cherry tomatoes, quartered

• 1 thin slice of red onion, or 1/2 spring onion, chopped finely

• Juice of 1/4 lemon

• Pinch of cayenne

• Salt & pepper

Method

• Slice the bread and place in the toaster ready to go

• Boil a pan of salted water and reduce to a simmer.

• Prep the avocado - mix all the ingredients together mashing the avocado a bit as you go. Just enough to break it up, don’t puree it!

• Put the toast on.

• Place each egg (shell on) gently in the hot water for just 10 seconds to help keep the shape when you poach it. If you have very fresh eggs you probably don’t need to do this.

• Remove the eggs and crack each one gently into the pan, allowing enough space for them to float separately - I usually don’t cook more than a couple at a time.

• Cook for 2 - 2 1/2 minutes to get a perfect yolk - no longer!

• At the same time, get the toast on to your plate, spoon on the guacamole mix and top with the egg. Sat and pepper to taste