Citra's Home Diary: How to make Hawaij Spice Blend.

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How to make Hawaij Spice Blend | Citra's Home Diary. #hawaijspicemix #spicemix #yemenihawaij #lambmandi #hawaij

What is hawaij spice blend?

Hawaij, also spelled hawayej (pronounced ha-why-adge) is a blend of spices from Yemen.

There are two types of hawaij, originating from Yemeni cuisine: savory hawaij l’marak or ‘hawaij for soup’, and another one is sweet hawaij l’cafe or ‘hawaij for coffee’.

The soup spice blend is also used in stews, rice dishes, vegetarian meals, and as a rub for barbecued meats.

The basic composition of this hawaij includes cumin, black pepper, turmeric, and cardamom. More complex variations may contain cloves, nutmeg, saffron, coriander, and dried onions.

Hawaij is a staple in Yemeni cuisine, often used generously as a rub for grilled meats, poultry, seafood, and vegetables. It's also great sprinkled into soups, stews, sauces, and rice to enhance the flavors. But you can add a pinch just about anywhere it makes sense, use it for vegetable stews, chicken marinades, fish, and meat. Even for chicken wings with it.

Hawaij, in every household has their special mix, some people make it a lot simpler, only use coriander, cumin, and black pepper, with a little bit of turmeric just to give it some color. Wiser home cooks will leave salt out, giving an individual more flexibility in adding salt.

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Or explore the "Spice Mix" category here for a variety of my homemade spices and sauces.

Sweet – hawaij l’cafe – hawaij for coffee

Sweet hawaij for coffee is a delightful blend of ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and fennel seeds or aniseed. While it’s fantastic in coffee, this spice mix also works wonders in a variety of baked goods and desserts, like gingerbread, fruit crisps, apple pie, oatmeal cookies, pain d’épices, carrot muffins, or even carrot cake!

Hawaij is prepared by roasting coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and whole black peppercorns until they become aromatic, then grinding them into a powder. This dish is made using a simple and minimal selection of spices.

Today I made my own hawaij spice mix (again 😊). Yes, besides Turkish spice (baharat) mix, this Yemeni Hawaij is also a staple in my kitchen. You may remember my previous Hawaij spice mix before; this time, I made it slightly different from that recipe. I use safflower instead of turmeric powder. Safflower is a "low-budget" version to replace saffron. Both saffron and safflower are similar to replace each other.

Hawaij Spice Blend.

Yield: about 1 small jar (300ml)

By: Citra's Home Diary

Ingredients:

🧂 15 g (2 Tbsp) cumin seeds

🧂 10 g (2 tbsp) coriander seeds

🧂 7 g (1 Tbsp) cardamom seeds

🧂 8 g (1 Tbsp) black peppercorn

🧂 1 g ( ½ tsp) cloves

🧂 1 stick (± 10 cm) cinnamon

🧂 35 g (3 Tbsp) safflower(*)

Note(*) You can replace it with 1 tbsp turmeric powder

How to make:

1) Place everything except safflower into a pan. Use medium-low heat, and toast them slowly until aromatic and fragrant. Be careful not to burn it.

2) Once the cumin and coriander have slightly changed color, remove them from the stove and allow them to cool to room temperature. Continue to stir the spices occasionally to prevent burning, as they will retain heat and continue cooking for a while.

3) After the spices have cooled down completely, they are ready to be ground. Place them in a grinder along with the safflower and process until they are powdery smooth. Then, sift the smooth spice mixture through a fine sieve and regrind any coarse one.

Now you have your hawaij spice blend ready. Keep it in a clean, airtight jar.