Ras El Hanout

Ras El Hanout translates to "top of the shop", and represents the best blend a spice merchant has to offer. This is a traditional Arabic blend, common to Muslim and Sephardic cuisines, made with the spices their culture prefers.

This recipe comes to us courtesy of Kitty Morse, a wonderful food and cookbook writer affectionally known as the Queen of Couscous. You might want to roast the ground mixture before cooking, as she does.

Use this seasoning blend with meat and potato tangines, meatballs, or lamb. It pairs deliciously with any Middle Eastern vegetable dish, and is a wonderful seasoning for curried rice and roasted vegetables.

If we were to choose a top of our shop blend, it would likely be one of our ethnic Chicago Neighborhoods blends. This blend, however, is the traditional Arabic blend. It is very popular, and gaining more notoriety as American food culture becomes exposed to Middle Eastern cooking.

Hand mixed from: Tellicherry black pepper, cardamom, salt, ginger, cinnamon, mace, turmeric, allspice, nutmeg, and saffron.

Cuisines and Categories

• Curry Powder, Middle Eastern

Recipes with this Spice