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.

Quinoa & red pepper nut roast

ingredients

Serves 8-10

• 150g mixed nuts, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, toasted

• 150g quinoa

• 1 red onion, chopped finely

• 1 red pepper, small dice

• 1 clove garlic, chopped finely or grated with a Microplane

• 150g mushrooms, chopped roughly, but fairly small

• 180g cooked chestnuts, chopped finely or blitzed in a food processor

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• 5 tbsp plain or GF flour

• 2 heaped tbsp tomato purée

• 2 heaped tsp Dijon mustard

• 150g cheddar cheese, grated

• 2 tsp sea salt

• 3 large eggs, beaten

• Black pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºc. Line a 2lb loaf tin with parchment, or I like to use a liner as they just slot in.

2. Put the nuts, sunflower and pumpkin seeds on a tray and roast for 7-8 minutes. Set aside to cool.

3. Heat the olive oil in a large pan and add the onions, pepper and garlic, frying gently for 10-12 minutes until soft.

4. Next add the mushrooms and cook for a further 8-10 minutes, letting any excess liquid evaporate.

5. While the veg is cooking, blitz the chestnuts in a food processor to a bread crumb texture and then put in a bowl. If you don’t have a processor, just chop finely.

6. Add the chestnuts, oregano and flour, mixing well and then the tomato purée, mustard, cheddar, nuts, seeds, salt and finally the beaten eggs. Combine well.

7. Spoon the mix into the tin, press it down lightly, so it sticks together and cover with a piece of tin foil. Place in the oven for 30 minutes then remove the tin foil and put back in for another 15 minutes.

8. Serve with my red onion gravy roasties and lots of greens.

tip

• If you have any left overs, once cooled, slice the roast and freeze with baking parchment separating each piece, so they don’t stick together. As my daughter is veggie, I like to have a few slices in the freezer ready for when we have a chicken roast.

• I also do the same with my red onion gravy - freeze a few portions so I always have a nice homemade sauce for her.

Chestnut, mushroom & pecan roast

I know nut roasts are a bit retro, the original vegetarian alternative, but believe it or not they’ve come on a bit since those dense, claggy 80s originals. They’ve become a bit more imaginative since those days with less nuts and more veggies, sourdough crumbs instead of plain and added spices and herbs to make them a bit more interesting. I think the other thing that puts people off is the perception that nuts roasts are quite labour intensive, well, in this recipe I’ve tried to keep the chopping and ingredients to a minimum so it’s not too much work. You can also freeze a few slices so next time all you have to do is defrost!

The fact is this much maligned veggie alternative works really well in place of meat with a roast dinner. After mostly giving up meat last January, I’ve struggled to find a better stand in where roasts are concerned, yes you can buy a Quorn ‘joint’, but it’s never going to be as interesting as a slice full of veggies, spices and nuts; or be as nutritionally diverse.

I’ve tried a few recipes (Felicity Cloake, Jamie Oliver and BBC Good Food) over the last few months and taken inspiration from all of them to create this one. The mushrooms, chestnuts and pecans make a good rich base with a few veggies for freshness crunch and flavour, plus paprika and oregano for depth. I have used plain, rather than smoked paprika (which is used in a lot of nut roast recipes) as I think it works better with traditional British roast flavours.

If you’re making this for Christmas I definitely recommend you make my gravy too as they work perfectly together even if I do say so myself!!). Both can be made ahead and frozen, which is exactly what I’m doing as I’ll be cooking turkey and making a meaty gravy so I don’t want too much work to do on the day!

Ingredients

Serves 8

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 large onion, finely chopped

• 2 sticks celery, finely chopped

• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 300g chestnut mushrooms, blitzed

• 180g cooked chestnuts, blitzed

• 1 tsp oregano

• 1 ½ tsp paprika

• 2 tbsp tomato purée

• 2 carrots, grated

• 100g fresh breadcrumbs

• 150g pecans, roughly chopped

• 150g mature cheddar, grated

• 1 tsp sea salt

• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180ºc. Line a 2lb loaf tin with parchment, or I like to use a liner as they just slot in.

• Heat the olive oil in a large pan and add the onions and celery, frying gently for 20 minutes.

• While they’re cooking blitz the chestnuts in a food processor and then put in a bowl, do the same with the mushrooms - both should be a rough bread crumb like texture, so not pulverised! If you don’t have a processor, just chop finely.

• Turn up the heat a little and add the mushrooms to the pan for 10 minutes until all their water has evaporated and the mix is fairly dry.

• Then put in the garlic and cook for another minute, before adding the chestnuts, oregano and paprika. Allow the paprika to warm for a minute to release it’s flavour, then add the tomato purée mixing well before adding the carrots, breadcrumbs, pecans, cheese, salt and finally the beaten eggs.

• Spoon the mix into the tin, press it down reasonably firmly so it sticks together and cover with tin foil. Place in the oven for 30 minutes then remove the tin foil and put back in for another 15 minutes.

• Serve with my vegan gravy, roasties and lots of greens.