the daily dose of green

crostini with one of Sylvia Richter-Krancher's herb butter gugls

dukkah

Dukkah is an Egyptian spiced nut and seed mix. Perfect to enjoy just with bread and olive oil.
Today I paired it with fresh ricotta and Duca Carlo Guarini's L'Agrumato al Limone, a native olive oil infused with the aroma of Apulian lemons. Add a glass of Campo di Mare  Negroamaro  from the same Apulian Azienda Agraria and you are in heaven!

Dukkah

1/2 cup hazelnuts
1/3 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons black peppercorns
1 teaspoon sea salt

The basic ingredients are always nuts, sesame seeds, coriander seeds, cumin, black pepper and salt. As for the range of nuts you may substitute the hazelnuts by almonds, you may add pine nuts, pistachios  or cashews. If you like you may also experiment with dried thyme, mint, anise seeds, fennel seeds or chili.

Roast the nuts in the oven for 8-10 minutes at 180°C.

Roast the seeds in a skillet over medium heat. Sake and stir them frequently, until they crackle and become slightly browned.

Scrape them into a bowl together with the hazelnuts. Add the salt.

You may grind the mixture in a mortar or in a food processor until the mixture is well ground, but not too fine. I pestle the nuts, seeds and spices in my suribachi because there's no better way to inhale the still warm flavours of Egypt!

Store dukkah in an airtight glass at room temperature.

100 ayurvedic cookies

My dear readers, this is not a joke, I really mean one hundred cookies!

Antje passed by and brought me a nice little paper bag filled with some super healthy cookies. When I later asked her for the recipe, she sent me the below:

Ayurvedic cookies

18 cups oat flakes
3 cups sunflower seeds
3 cups raisins (soaked in warm water, strained)
3 ts salt
6 ts cinnamon
3/4 ts clove powder
3/4 ts ginger powder
3/4 ts pure vanilla powder
12 cups whole wheat flour, freshly ground
1 1/2 sachets baking powder
6 x 250g butter
1 1/2 cups whole cane sugar
3 cups honey

Mix the dry ingredients with the raisins. Melt the butter and dissolve the sugar in the liquid butter. Add the honey and stir well. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients, stir and let cool down.
Stir again.
Presss dough into the plastic lid of a honey jar and discharge it on a baking sheet.

Bake the cookies for 15 minutes at 170-180°C.

A short extract of our email conversation: 

B: Are you sure about the quantities? It seems to be a lot..

A: Yes, yields about 80-100 cookies, depending on the size, and this is only half the recipe

B: what the hell do you do with so many cookies?

A: they make you come over the winter and people love them, they are a kind of Lembas, you know, the elves' bread in the Lord of the Rings...