Egyptian Spices: Cumin, Coriander, Garlic, Chile and Dukkah in Egypt’s Everyday Dishes

From fava beans at breakfast to koshary from a street cart, Egyptian everyday cooking runs on a short list of seasonings: cumin, coriander, garlic, chile, sesame and onion, plus the nut and seed mix dukkah. Several go back a very long way here. Archaeologists found a basket of cumin seeds in the tomb of Kha at Thebes, and coriander seeds have turned up at Egyptian sites including the tomb of Tutankhamun. Below: each seasoning, the dishes it shows up in, and links to our full profiles.

At a glance

Cumin

Cumin is the dried fruit of Cuminum cyminum, a member of the parsley family, Apiaceae. Kew gives its native range as Iraq to Afghanistan. Its smell lives in an essential oil whose most important compound is cuminaldehyde, 20 to 72% of the oil depending on the study.¹ It’s especially popular in Asian, North African and Latin American cooking, and ground cumin is an essential ingredient of curry and chili powder.

Egypt and cumin go way back. Archaeologists found a basket of cumin seeds in the tomb of Kha at Thebes.² Pliny the Elder ranked the cumin of Carpetania highest, but noted that some people preferred African, Ethiopian or Egyptian cumin.

In today’s kitchen, cumin is a standard seasoning for ful medames, the stewed fava beans that a University of Michigan museum recipe sheet, adapted from Claudia Roden, calls Egypt’s national dish.³ Saveur’s version uses 2 teaspoons of ground cumin for two cans of beans.⁴ Cumin is also one of the usual seeds in dukkah. See our cumin profile and cumin uses.

Coriander

Coriander seed is the dried fruit of Coriandrum sativum, also in Apiaceae. Its oil is 60 to 80% linalool, and the seed tastes mild, sweet, warm and aromatic.⁵ The University of Michigan’s Kelsey Museum notes that coriander seeds have turned up in large quantities at Egyptian archaeological sites, including the tomb of Tutankhamun.⁶ Arabic cooking uses both the leaves and the seeds, in pickles, curries and chutneys.

Coriander is a key seasoning in molokhia. Saveur’s Egyptian molokhia, by Kat Craddock, uses a tablespoon of ground coriander with a whole head of garlic.⁷ It’s also one of the standard seeds in dukkah. See our coriander profile and cooking with coriander.

Garlic

Garlic is native from Central Asia to northeastern Iran. Its Egyptian record is long: a historical review in the Journal of Nutrition says garlic was found in Egyptian pyramids, and that ancient Egyptian medical texts prescribed it.⁸

It’s in all three everyday dishes on this page. The Roden-based ful medames recipe calls for 4 to 6 crushed cloves,³ UNESCO lists garlic among the condiments added to koshary to taste,⁹ and Saveur’s molokhia uses a whole head minced to a coarse paste.⁷ See garlic.

Chile

Egyptian food uses chile for heat, in measured amounts. The Roden-based ful medames recipe finishes the beans with chili-pepper flakes, and Saveur’s version adds a quarter teaspoon of cayenne.³⁴ UNESCO’s description of koshary lists hot sauce, alongside vinegar and garlic, as a condiment you add to your liking.⁹ The chiles themselves are New World plants: Capsicum annuum, the species that includes cayenne, is native from the southern United States to Brazil and the Caribbean.

You’ll often read that the chiles used in Egypt are usually cayennes. We found no source for that. Any moderately hot dried chile or flakes will do the same job. See cayenne pepper.

Dukkah

Dukkah (also written duqqa) is a crushed, dry mixture of seeds, spices and often nuts. The Oxford Companion to Food describes it as a Near Eastern spice mixture, served at breakfast in Egypt and usually eaten with bread dipped in olive oil. It lists sesame and coriander seeds, cumin, salt and pepper as typical, with hazelnut as a possible addition, and says the name comes from the Arabic verb meaning “to pound”. Claudia Roden, quoted there, insists it should always be a crushed dry mixture, and definitely not a paste.¹⁰

Recipes vary. The Oxford entry quotes a 19th-century list that includes zaatar or wild marjoram or mint, sesame, coriander, cinnamon and chickpeas,¹⁰ while a modern recipe in Food & Nutrition magazine is built on nuts, coriander, cumin seeds, salt and sesame.¹¹ See our dukkah profile, dukkah uses and dukkah substitutes.

Sesame and tahini

Ground sesame seeds become tahini, a paste used all over to thicken and flavor sauces. Sesame goes deep in Egypt, too: an Egyptian medical papyrus from about 1500 BCE lists remedies that include sesame oil and seed.¹² Tahini is a core ingredient of hummus; see hummus spices and sesame seeds.

Onion

Onion is a base flavor in Egyptian cooking. UNESCO lists fried onions among the core ingredients of koshary, with rice, pasta and black lentils.⁹ You’ll often see two more details repeated: pickled red onions called basal mekhalel, and raw green onions served beside ful and hummus. We couldn’t trace either to a source we could open.

Molokhia: the leaf in Egypt’s green stew

Molokhia isn’t a spice, but it’s the defining flavor of one of Egypt’s best-known dishes. It’s the leaf of Corchorus olitorius, an annual in the mallow family, Malvaceae, native across the tropical and subtropical Old World. Saveur describes it as a grassy-tasting green also known as jute or Jew’s mallow, and says frozen leaves are far easier to find than fresh, in Middle Eastern and North African grocery stores.⁷

In Saveur’s recipe, the leaves cook in chicken broth until the stew is smooth and slightly viscous. It’s seasoned with garlic, ground coriander, cardamom pods and bay leaves, and served with white rice.⁷

Three everyday dishes and their seasonings

Saveur says ful is usually a breakfast dish and a staple all over the Middle East, with lots of variations.⁴ The Kelsey Museum sheet says the recipe most likely dates to Egypt’s Dynastic Period, which is the museum’s estimate.³ UNESCO describes koshary as a filling, budget-friendly meal made at home and sold from restaurants and street carts.⁹

Related pages

• Cumin, cumin uses and cumin substitutes
• Coriander and coriander vs. cumin
• Dukkah
• Garlic and cayenne pepper
• Hummus spices
• The master list of herbs and spices