Zhug

Ingredients

• 1/4 tsp coriander seed
• 1/2 tsp cumin seed
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 3 green cardamom pods
• 4 garlic cloves
• 4–6 Thai bird chilies or dried chiles de árbol
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 cup parsley
• 1 cup cilantro
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Method

Toast the coriander seed, cumin seed, and cardamom pods in a dry pan over medium heat for two minutes, moving them constantly. You want them fragrant and fractionally darker, not blackened — burnt spice turns bitter and ruins the balance. The heat volatilises the aromatics and deepens their flavour profiles. Tip them into a food-processor-mixing with the black pepper and grind to a fine powder. This early grinding matters: whole spices oxidise slowly; ground spice in a sauce stays bright longer.

Add the garlic cloves, chilies, and kosher salt. Pulse until the garlic is in fine pieces no larger than a match head and the chilies are broken down completely — about thirty seconds of processing. The salt acts as an abrasive, helping break cell walls and preventing the aromatics from balling into a paste. Scrape down the bowl.

Add the cilantro and parsley in two batches, pulsing between them until you have a loose, wet mass. Don't overprocess — you want the herbs chopped, not bruised into a bitter slurry. The chlorophyll will darken within minutes, but that's normal; zhug should be a dark, murky green, not a pale spring colour. Twenty seconds total for both batches is the target.

Now the emulsification: with the motor running continuously, pour the olive oil in a thin, steady stream — not a drizzle, an actual thread. This forces the fat into the water contained in the herbs and spices, creating a stable sauce rather than an oily puddle. If you dump the oil in, you'll break the emulsion and end up with pools of grease sitting on gritty spice. This takes about thirty seconds. Stop when the mixture looks thick and cohesive, like a chunky mayonnaise.

Taste and add more salt in quarter-teaspoon increments. Zhug should hit hard — it's a condiment built to cut through rich meat or neutral bread. If it tastes flat, salt is almost certainly the answer. Store covered in the fridge; the sauce keeps for ten days and deepens in flavour as the spices continue to bloom.