Ras el hanout

(rass el hanut, ras el khanout, rass hanoute)

Dear friends, I didn’t ever try to make ras el hanout by myself. I have put this recipe for curious people who would like to know approximate ingredients of this blend.

List of ingredients #1 (they should be whole, not ground):

1. 1 nutmeg
2. 1 star of star anise (=badiam)
3. 2 buds of clove (=Syzygium aromaticum)
4. 15 g of anise seeds
5. 15 g of fennel seeds
6. 15 g of dried rowan berries (=ashberry)
7. 15 g of cubeb pepper
8. 15 g of allspice (=Jamaica pymenta or myrtle pepper)
9. 15 g of cinnamon bark

List of ingredients #2:

1. 3 pods of green (white) cardamom or 0,5 tsp of ground cardamom
2. 0,5 tsp of saffron threads
3. 15 g of rose petals
4. 15 g of ground ginger
5. 15 g of lavender seeds
6. 15 g of curcuma
7. 15 g of Indian long pepper
8. 15 g of mace (=aril of nutmeg seed)
9. 15 g of Guinea cubeb (=false cubeb)
10. 8 g of cumin
11. 8 g of dried galangal
12. 8 g of black pepper
13. 8 g of white pepper
14. 8 g of nigella (=black cumin)
15. 8 g of paprika
16. 8 g of cayenne pepper (or any other spicy pepper)

Other possible ingredients:

1. Coriander
2. Orange zest
3. Mustard
4. Garlic
5. Caraway
6. Bay leaves
7. Jasmine flowers
8. God knows what else can be used. Moroccan imagination seems to be endless!

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Put the spices from the list #1 to the oven and bake them for 7 min. Let them cool down.
2. Add spices from list #2 and ground them in a coffee grinder. Ras el hanout can be stored ~6 months in airtight tin.

If you have found good proportions (and right list of ingredients) for ras el hanout, feel free to share it via comments.