Homemade Ras el Hanout Recipe

Sunday Supper

Cooking projects for people who'd like nothing more than to spend a sunday afternoon surrounded by the wonderful aromas of the kitchen.

Jennifer Olvera
Homemade Ras el Hanout Recipe

[Photograph: Jennifer Olvera]

A slew of North African spices combine to make a fragrant, exotic mixture. Whether used as a grill rub, when pan-frying fish or as the foundation for tagine, diverse, distinctive ras el hanout is worth the investment and effort to make.

Note: Though this heady Moroccan spice blend can be purchased at ethnic markets and online at Amazon.com, there's something particularly rewarding about making it from scratch.

  • Yield:makes 1/2 cup
  • Active time: 5 minutes
  • Total time:5 minutes

Ingredients

  • One 3-inch cinnamon stick, broken
  • 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
  • 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
  • 1 teaspoon whole cubeb pepper (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
  • 10 green cardamom pods
  • 1 teaspoon whole allspice berries
  • 8 whole cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried anise seeds
  • 1 teaspoon fresh-grated nutmeg
  • 1 tablespoon, plus 1/2 teaspoon, sweet paprika, divided use
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground mace
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosebud petals
  • 1 teaspoon dried lavender

Directions

  1. 1.

    Add cinnamon, peppercorns, coriander seeds, cubeb, cumin seeds, cardamom pods, allspice berries, cloves, and anise seed to a dry skillet set to medium-low heat. Lightly toast until fragrant and a shade darker, shaking so spices don’t burn (about two minutes). Cool slightly and remove cardamom seeds from pods by tapping with something heavy, such as a pestle. Discard pods.

  2. 2.

    Add remaining ras el hanout spices and toasted spices to a small coffee grinder used only for grinding spices. Pulse the grinder to get things started, and let it run until the mixture is ground into a fine powder. Store in an airtight jar in a dark, cool place until ready to use.

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Jennifer Olvera Sunday Supper Columnist

Jennifer Olvera is the author of Food Lovers' Guide to Chicago, and she has all-but tested and developed recipes since toddlehood. She writes the Sunday Supper column for Serious Eats and regularly contributes food features to Chicago Sun-Times. She can often be found tending her garden, canning and traveling to far-flung destinations, where she writes about local edibles for pubs like Los Angeles Times and Frommers.com.

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