Baharat Spice Blend

Moving a little west of Iran on our food journey, we would be in Iraq.  When I was attending UT Austin, two of the fellows in my future husband’s social circle and roommates were Middle Eastern.  One, Sabah, was a native Iraqi and Farouk, whose father was Syrian and his mother was French (so he was fluent in French).  Farouk and I were even in a French literature class together there.  They often talked about the good foods from their native countries, both insisting the rice from their country was the best in the world.   Having never tasted rice from either country, I always said I personally couldn’t imagine any rice being better than that we ate in Iran.  

Intrigued about our culinary discussions I read in a Middle Eastern cookbook about Baharat Spice.  Never gave it another thought until after I married and started doing a little Mid-East cooking myself.  Baharat is quite common throughout all the Middle Eastern nations along the Mediterranian:  Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan,  even in Iraq.  I don’t recall it in Iran, but it might be possible they may have used it, too.  This spice mixture varies somewhat from country to country, and even from kitchen to kitchen.  I have seen recipes for it that also have dried mint and hot red chili pepper.  My husband is particularly fond of beef and lamb dishes made with this spice blend.

A couple of years after our tour in Iran, Dad was teaching at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas and was asked to ‘sponsor’ a visiting Iraqi officer stationed there for 6 weeks (military command school there).  Sponsoring a newcomer in the military means to help them feel welcome to the base/post, the city, the country, and to show them the ropes of American culture they have been abruptly immersed in.  Dad’s experience mixing with many Iranian officers gave him the experience to do so.

To make a long story short, This Iraqi officer dined in our home several times and before he went back home to Iraq, he insisted my mother allow him to cook us a traditional Iraqi dinner.  Let me just say it was delicious beyond words!  He was quite impressed my mother had Iranian rice on hand (200 lb. of which we had shipped back home with us when we left Iran, it’s THAT unusual and THAT good!).  He was blown away that she also knew how to prepare it traditionally, to create that wonderful nutty-tasting, crusty browned layer at the bottom of the rice pot that is so prized at the Middle Eastern dinner table.

He was also impressed she already had all the requisite spices to prepare his special meal.  Being a veteran recipe collector, Mom wrote down every little thing he was threw into pot the next morning lest she forget.  Sadly, I have not found it amongst her recipe collection or I would post it for you.

This spice mixture is also good in regional seafood dishes, on grilled fish and for most lamb recipes.  I use it on beef kebab as well.

INGREDIENTS:

2 T. black peppercorns

1 whole nutmeg, grated

1 tsp. turmeric

2 T. paprika

1 tsp. allspice

1 T. cumin seed

1 T. coriander seed

1 stick cinnamon, 3″ long (yields 1 tsp. ground)

1 tsp. cloves, whole (or allspice)

1 tsp. cardamom seed (Removed from outer husk/pod coating

DIRECTIONS: Break up the cinnamon stick a bit and place in spice grinder.  Grind until quite powdery.  Add all other spices and grind as fine as possible.  Depending on the size of your grinder, you may have to grind these in batches and then stir up in a bowl.  Place spice blend in an air tight jar and store in dark cupboard.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes about 1/2 cup (8 T.) of spice mixture.  Each tsp. contains:

6 calories, 0.26 g  fat, 1.25 g  carbs, 0.6 g fiber, 0.65 g NET CARBS, 0.24 g protein, 0 mg sodium