by Elisabeth Duckeck

Only about a year ago, we discovered an Arabic restaurant in town, and my daughter and I decided to give it a try.

It serves real, authentic Arabic food – absolutely delicious! You often read about ethnic restaurants claiming to offer authentic cuisine, only to discover that the chef does not actually come from that culinary tradition.

This restaurant, however, is different. It is run by a young Egyptian man and his Greek wife. On their menu, you will find dishes that the owner learned to cook from his mother, which means you can enjoy traditional Arabic recipes prepared with genuine knowledge and passion.

I immediately loved the flavors, especially the spices they use. Their aromas and combination of flavors transport your thoughts straight to the Middle East.

When I found a lovely recipe for a Crispy Air Fryer Halloumi, one of the ingredients was Ras El Hanout. As I prefer to create my own spice blends – my husband sometimes reacts allergically to certain ingredients in ready-made supermarket mixes – I started researching this wonderful blend.

I discovered that Ras El Hanout might actually be the spice mixture used in that Arabic restaurant, which inspired me to create my own version at home.

When I prepared the Halloumi dish, the flavors immediately reminded me of this special restaurant, and the wonderful spice blend they use. It brought back the same warm, aromatic notes that had impressed me during our visit and made me realize that this was probably the flavor I had been searching for.

I created this homemade Ras El Hanout spice blend especially for my Cypriot Haloumi recipe, where it adds a unique depth of flavour and creates a beautiful connection between Cypriot and Middle Eastern cuisine.

Tips for the success of your cooking

You will find many different Ras El Hanout recipes online, as every family has its own blend, often passed down from generation to generation.

From all these variations, I created the perfect blend for our taste. As my husband does not enjoy very spicy food, I made my mixture rather mild and balanced.

With this recipe, you can easily adjust the quantities and decide how intense and spicy you would like your own Ras El Hanout to be.

This Middle Eastern spice blend is incredibly versatile. It can be used not only for dishes with Manouri cheese, but also for seasoning vegetables, roasted potatoes, rice dishes, couscous, chicken, lamb, soups, stews and even marinades. It adds a warm, aromatic depth to both vegetarian and meat dishes.

Cooking tip: Whole Spice or Grounded – which is better

For this recipe, I used ground spices for convenience. However, you can also use whole spices and grind them finely yourself using a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle.

If you choose whole spices, I recommend lightly roasting the seeds in a dry pan over medium heat until they begin to release their aroma. Be careful not to burn them, as this will make the spices bitter. Allow them to cool completely before grinding.

Freshly ground spices will give your Ras El Hanout an even more intense and aromatic flavor.

Last but not least:

I have also included the quantities of the whole spices needed to achieve the correct amount of ground spice required for this recipe.

Spice Blend Ras El Hamout

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Course Spices

Cuisine Arabic, Mediterranean

Servings 8 Teaspoons

Equipment

• 1 small mixing bowl
• 1 small jar with lid
• 1 electric spice blender (optional) or mortar (optional)
• 1 frying pan (optional)

What you need

  

• 400 gr oats you can even use whole grain oats if you want it more healthy
• 75 gr hazelnuts
• 75 gr almonds peeled or unpeeled
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 vanilla sugar
• 200 gr brown sugar
• 200 gr honey
• 50 ml sunflower oil

How to prepare

 

• Add the honey, sugar and oil into a pot, heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
• In a blender chop coarsely the almonds and the hazelnuts. Mix together with the oats, cinnamon and vanilla sugar in a large bowl. Add the sugar-honey mixture and stir well.
• Lay a baking paper on the baking tin of your oven and spread out the oats evenly all over the tin. Bake in the preheated oven (150 degrees on air) for 15-25 minutes depending on how crunchy and caramelized you like to have your muesli. I recommend to stir the mixture on the baking tin after 10 minutes to evenly caramelize the oats. If you bake longer, stir again every 5 minutes.
• Let cool the muesli completely, break into flakes and mix with anything you like for breakfast.
• In the picture I  mixed to the ready crunchy muesli

Notes

In the picture I  mixed to the ready crunchy muesli
50 gr dried banana
50 gr raisins
50 gr cranberries
50 gr chocolate drops
You can store your homemade crunchy muesli in a well closing box up to 3 weeks (if it lasts until then)
If you like you even can make your own muesli bars! Just do not break the oats after cooling but cut them into bars and cover with melted chocolate couverture.
Have a nice and healthy breakfast!

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