Visit the Spice Market!

Welcome to the Spice Market! Driven by a love of cooking and an overflowing

spice cupboard I created the Spice Market to share the joy that spices can

bring to a meal.  

I often found that supermarket spices were samey, lacked umph and spice

blends could often contain more salt than spice, so I started to make my own

spice blends and source great quality spices, organic where possible.   

I make and sell home ground spice blends using high quality, predominantly

organic spices. I decided to sell spices in two sizes: 50g and small “try it” 20g

sized spice packs to help you get creative in the kitchen without having to stock

up on bags and boxes of spices. My small, but growing range is available to buy

on etsy, it's called thespicemarket and my “Middle Eastern Try it sized trio” is a fun place to start!

I’ve gathered some ideas for cooking with the spices, please let me know in the

comments section if you’ve tried them or if you have other ideas and recipes.

The Spice Market is proud to have a 5 start food hygiene rating from Waltham

Forest

Za’atar

A Middle Eastern blend of organic toasted sesame seeds, thyme and tangy sumac.

I based this Za'atar recipe on an Egyptian recipe I found. I love it as it has a little more about it than most blends as it has the warmth of toasted coriander seed and a little hit of heat from the Aleppo chilli flakes.

• I am a little bit obsessed with Fattoush salad dressing, it’ a rustic country style salad from Syria and Lebanon. It’s so simple to make it using my hand blended Za’atar and it turns a simple salad into something special. Check out the recipe here and don’t forget to buy some of my organic Sumac too.

• I think Ottolenghi and Claudia Roden opened the door to Middle Eastern spices for a lot of us here in the UK. Here is a brilliant salmon and Zatar recipe which also calls for Sumac so SpiceMarket has you covered with both. Ottolenghi’s Zaatar salmon and tahini recipe

• Try baking feta cheese with honey and Za'atar

• Another great and simple way to use Za’atar is to mix it with oil and use as a dip for Arabic bread.

Za’atar contains nuts (sesame seeds)

Sumac

A tart and fruity Middle Eastern spice

Sumac is made from dried berries and it has a lemony tartness that brings out the flavour of other ingredients. You tend to sprinkle it on dishes after they've been cooked. You can use sumac instead of lemon juice and it brings dishes to life.

Great with grilled fish, chicken or vegetable dishes or even just sprinkled over yoghurt or hummus.

• Use in this Fattoush salad dressing recipe

• Mix with yoghurt, chopped red onion and coriander for a dip

• Or how about this jacket potato with whipped feta and sumac receipe!

• Or try John Torode’s chicken with sumac, lemons and spiced yoghurt

Barberries

Dried sweet-and-sour berries used in Iranian cooking

I love barberries, they have a gentle, zingy tartness and are perfect in pilaf's. Use them where you would tend to use cranberries.

Before you use your barberries soak them for 10 minutes in just boiled water to rehydrate them, drain them and they’re good to go, plump, tart and ruby coloured.

• I recently fell in love with these sweet and sour berries after trying Diana Henry’s roast squash and feta pilaf, it’s amazing! I will add my version of this recipe soon. In the meantime try this Ottolenghi recipe for Saffron rice with barberries, pistachios and fresh herbs

• They are also essential for Persian jewelled rice

• Or how about trying your hand at making kuku’s? Best way to describe them is an Iranian omelette

My organic Iranian barberries are available on eBay in small 20g "try it" sized packages or 50g.

Aleppo Chilli Flakes

Medium hot, fruity Turkish chilli flakes

A store cupboard staple! This dried, flaked Turkish chilli is named after the Syrian city of Aleppo. With a sweet aroma and medium fruity heat these chilli flakes are great sprinkled on eggs, pizzas, added to meat marinades. I literally sprinkle them on everything.

• Use the chilli flakes in this lovely breakfast dish Shakshuka

• Try this Nigella recipe for Turkish eggs

• Muhammara is a brilliant dip made from roasted red peppers, walnuts and Aleppo chilli flakes.

Visit my etsy store for your Middle Eastern spices