Shredded Salad with Dukkah Dressing

Dukkah is an Egyptian blend of nuts, seeds, and spices. It is usually used in Egypt with a bowl of olive oil for dipping hunks of bread. The dukkah mixture is made from toasted hazelnuts and sesame seeds, and the flavouring comes from cumin and coriander, also toasted.

Cumin and coriander seeds are "more likely to be found together than apart" in Middle Eastern cooking, according to The Flavour Thesaurus by Nikki Segnit (see my review of this astoundingly useful book). The brightness of coriander seeds offsets the dustiness of the cumin. Together with the nuts and seeds, they make an interesting and versatile mixture. I haven't been to Egypt yet, so I'm happy that this dukkah let me pretend for a while.

I bought this dukkah (pronounced "DOO-kah") at a local deli but you can also make your own at home; here is a recipe from The Kitchn. (I admit that the Weck jar was one reason that I bought this. After the photo shoot I was putting the dukkah away, accidentally dropped the jar, and both the spice mixture and the jar were cried over.)

To make this easy salad, just shred a selection of your favourite vegetables. I always use carrots because they are my favourites, but you could also thinly slice snap peas on a diagonal. Ribbons of raw beetroot would work, so would very thin celery slices. Adding some chickpeas would keep the Middle Eastern feeling, while adding tofu and daikon would allow you to call this a "fusion" salad.

Shredded Salad with Dukkah Dressing
serves 1

for the salad:
1 carrot
1 small or 1/2 large courgette (zucchini)
1 red pepper
2 eggs

for the dressing:
1 T dukkah
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T mild vinegar, such as white wine vinegar

Shred the vegetables using a grater, mandoline, or sharp knife.
Hard or soft boil the eggs.
Combine all the dressing ingredients.
Arrange the salad and eggs in a bowl and top with the dressing.

Here are some other ways you can enjoy dukkah:

• dukkah crusted salmon, from The American Bite
• sticky dukkah chicken thighs, from Steak and Sass
• roasted pumpkin soup with dukkah oil, from The Saffron Girl
• dukkah crusted baked brie, from Gourmande in the Kitchen

Have you ever been to Egypt? How would you eat dukkah? Tell me in the comments or tweet it to @simplycooked!

Connect with Simply Cooked on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/SimplyCooked