page_title: Mizrahi Jewish cuisine
section_title: Herbs, spices and seasoning blends
hierarchical_section_title: Mizrahi Jewish cuisine / Herbs, spices and seasoning blends
caption_attribution_description: Հայերեն: Տոլմա or Դոլմա English: Leaf Sarma. Türkçe: Yaprak Sarma. Deutsch: Gefüllte Weinblätter (Armenien)
context_page_description: Mizrahi Jewish cuisine is an assortment of cooking traditions that developed among the Jews of the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, and Arab countries. Mizrahi Jews have also been known as Oriental Jews. Jews of the Mizrahi communities cook foods that were and are popular in their home countries, while following the laws of kashrut. The cuisine is based largely on fresh ingredients, as marketing was done in the local souq. Meat is ritually slaughtered in the shehita process, and is soaked and salted. Meat dishes are a prominent feature of sabbath, festival, and celebratory meals. Cooked, stuffed and baked vegetables are central to the cuisine, as are various kinds of beans, chickpeas, lentils and burghul. Rice takes the place of potatoes.
context_section_description: Mizrahi cuisine makes liberal use of cumin, pepper, sesame seeds, and various spices common to all Middle Eastern cuisines.  Saffron, a staple of Sephardic cuisine, is also featured in certain Mizrahi dishes.  Many dishes are flavored with seasoning blends or pastes, and light sauces.  Hilbe, a paste made from fenugreek seeds and hot pepper, is added to soups and other traditional Yemenite dishes. Skhug, a hot pepper sauce, comes in red and green varieties. A diluted version of skhug is spooned over felafel. Hawaij is a Yemenite spice mixture that comes into two varieties. One, a blend of powdered ginger, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom, is added to coffee and baked goods. The other, a blend of turmeric, black pepper, onion, cumin, cardamom and cloves, is added to soup. Pastes and sauces are very often served on the side in small dishes on the table during meals, to be added by each diner as desired. 
   Certain spice combinations are characteristic of particular countries, such as coriander and cumin in Egyptian cuisine.
  The souqs of the Middle East and North Africa sell ready-made spice blends sold in bulk, but traditionally, Mizrahi Jews bought fresh herbs and prepared their own blends at home to maintain kashruth, fearing insects in the blends sold in the open-air bazaar.
  Adeni hawaij (Aden) - cumin, coriander, black pepper
  Adeni black tea spice (Aden) - cardamom, cinnamon, cloves
  Advieh-e halegh, halegh (charoset) spice (Iran) - It may contain: cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom (optional)
  Hawaij (Yemen) - black pepper, cardamom, turmeric, saffron
  Kama (Morocco) - black pepper, cumin, ginger, turmeric, nutmeg
  Quatre épices or four spices (Egypt) - cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves
  Za'tar or zahtar - za'atar, thyme or hyssop with ground sesame seeds, sumac and salt
caption: Yaprak stuffed vine leaves
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