Discovering Dukkah

We discovered this delicious Egyptian dry mixture of chopped nuts, seeds and Middle Eastern spices and flavors at a Christmas market in Wellington.

We love festive markets like this, as it's a chance to experience new flavours and tastes, especially local produce, home-made jams, dips and honey. It's like going to a Japanese supermarket, where you get to sample different food products, all for free. And it's no surprise that we ended up buying a lot of stuffs.

This Dukkah mix of sesame, almonds, sunflowers, garlic, oreganum and basil has lasted us quite some time. To enjoy, dip your bread into extra virgin olive oil (or avocado oil), then onto the nuts. Yum yum.

When to enjoy? Do like the French do, with their endless courses for dinner. Start with Dukkah as "apperatif". This is before the formal dinner, when everyone relaxes in the living room or garden with finger food or snacks. It's common to invite friends for just chitchat over "apperatif" without the dinner option. Less work to do in the kitchen.

After which the dinner begins with starter, main course, cheese, desert and ends with coffee or tea (and small slice of chocolate).