Zaatar
Zaatar names both a wild herb and the blend it goes into. A homemade version often beats a shop one for a simple reason: cheaper ready-made blends tend to be heavily salted and bulked out with fillers, because sumac and thyme are expensive. Three proportions and one technique decide it here: the sesame is toasted separately, because it has to carry the aroma, and toasted with the herbs they would burn.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Toasting the sesame 8 min
- Cooling 10 min
- Mixing 7 min
Step by step
0 / 5 doneToast the sesame in a dry pan
Toast the sesame for 3 minutes over medium heat, shaking the pan constantly, until pale gold and fragrant. Do not walk away: sesame goes from gold to burnt within seconds, and burnt sesame is bitter and ruins the whole batch.
Ingredients: 60 g dried thyme · 40 g sumac · 50 g sesame seeds · 15 g marjoram · 1 tsp sea salt
Pale gold and fragrant — stop there.Cool the sesame completely
Spread the sesame on a plate and cool to room temperature, about 10 minutes. Warm sesame shut in a jar with the herbs gives off steam and oil, so the blend clumps and stops being loose.
Ingredients: 60 g dried thyme · 40 g sumac · 50 g sesame seeds · 15 g marjoram · 1 tsp sea salt
Rub the herbs between your palms
Tip the thyme and marjoram into a bowl and rub them between your palms, breaking up the larger pieces. This releases the essential oils — the same herbs tipped straight from the jar smell noticeably weaker.
Ingredients: 60 g dried thyme · 40 g sumac · 50 g sesame seeds · 15 g marjoram · 1 tsp sea salt
Rubbing between the palms releases the oils.Mix everything without grinding
Add the sumac, salt and cooled sesame and stir with a spoon, without grinding. Zaatar should stay loose and clearly three-coloured: green, deep red and white. Ground to powder it loses its texture and looks like a supermarket spice mix.
Ingredients: 60 g dried thyme · 40 g sumac · 50 g sesame seeds · 15 g marjoram · 1 tsp sea salt
Three colours still distinguishable — do not grind.Jar it and serve with olive oil
Transfer to an airtight jar. Serve in a bowl next to a second bowl of olive oil: bread is dipped first in the oil, then in the zaatar. A dry blend will not cling to dry bread — the oil is part of how it is eaten.
Ingredients: 100 ml olive oil · 300 g bread
Before you start
The sumac decides the quality
Good sumac is moist, deep burgundy and clearly acidic. Pale, dry and powdery means old or cut with salt. It is the easiest ingredient to skimp on, and skimping shows most here.
Three months in a jar
In an airtight jar away from light zaatar keeps its aroma for three months. After that the thyme fades and the sesame starts to go rancid. Make small batches — it is fifteen minutes of work.
Beyond bread
Scatter it over scrambled eggs, roast potatoes, hummus, yogurt with oil, grilled chicken or a tomato salad. Mixed with oil it becomes the paste for manakish. It provides salt, acid, herb and crunch all at once.