Mix master: Yotam Ottolenghi's recipes with spice blends | Food (2024)

That's one reason to buy ready-made blends rather than making your own. Another is to avoid waste: if you can't buy spices in very small quantities, you'll have to put all those half-used jars in the larder, where they'll soon lose their mojo.

In an ideal world, though, I'd want to make my own, in much the same way that I prefer making my own vinaigrette. Mixing and matching to create your own blend is a great way to get to know spices and how they work together; it also ensures freshness. That said, leave it to your mood, means or the equipment and ingredients you have to hand. Garam masala, for instance, is made by whizzing up cinnamon, clove, black pepper, cardamom, coriander and cumin. With panch phoran, you don't need to do even that: just stir together whole fennel, fenugreek, cumin, nigella and mustard seeds. Crushed spice mixes, meanwhile, are best made with a pestle and mortar. Dukkah (the name's from the Arabic verb for "to pound") involves grinding sesame, coriander and cumin seeds, plus chopped hazelnuts and salt and pepper; Ioften add sunflower, fennel and nigella seeds, too. I sprinkle it on everything from leafy salads and roast veg to legume-based spreads and dips. Wet spice mixes, such as today's salsa, are just as easy, and Ican't think of a quicker way to transform everyday cooking. The thing is, for all the bottles and tubes of sriracha and harissa in my fridge, homemade versions are usually far more subtle and better than bought.

Spiced potato and almond koftas

Lemon wedges aside, I also like these with a potent dipping sauce made by blitzing yoghurt with preserved lemon, tahini paste, garlic and fresh herbs. Serves four, as a first course.

450g baking potatoes
30g unsalted butter
10g fresh dill, chopped
15g fresh chives, chopped
10g fresh parsley, chopped
10g fresh coriander, chopped
1 medium green chilli (deseeded if very hot), finely diced
¼ tsp ground turmeric
¼ tsp smoked paprika
75g feta, broken into rough chunks
½ tsp caster sugar
Salt
40g plain flour
1 egg, whisked
90g flaked almonds, chopped
1½ tsp coriander seeds, toasted and gently crushed
¾ tsp cumin seeds
1½ tbsp black sesame seeds (or white, if unavailable)
About 600ml vegetable oil, for frying
1 lemon, quartered, to serve

Put the flour in one bowl, the egg in another and the nuts and seeds in a third. One by one, gently roll each kofta in flour, dip it in egg, then roll in the seeds and return to the tray.

Pour enough oil into a small sauté pan to come 4cm up the sides. Put the pan on a medium-high flame and, once the oil is hot, carefully lower in two or three koftas. Fry for about aminute, turning once, so the crust turns golden brown and crisp, and the middle is hot but soft. Transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper and keep somewhere warm while you repeat with with remaining koftas.

Serve two koftas per person, with a wedge of lemon alongside.

Smoky chilli salsa

Serve this versatile salsa over rice or couscous, as a condiment to fried tofu, roast chicken or oily fish, or as a sandwich spread to go with mature cheddar or feta. Don't be alarmed by how long the chillies are on the grill: the skin needs to be totally black and blistered to get the required smoky flavour; your kitchen will also be pretty smoky, even with the extractor on. The salsa keeps in the fridge for several days, and improves over time. Serves four as a condiment.

Put a small, ridged griddle pan on ahigh heat. When smoking hot, lay in the red chillies and cook for 10 minutes, turning regularly, so the skin is burned all over. Transfer to abowl, cover with clingfilm and set aside. Repeat with the green chillies, adding them to the same bowl, before covering again. Keeping the pan on a high heat, add the tomatoes and cook for four to eight minutes, turning once or twice, until blackened all over (keep them on as long as you can before they start to mush up). Transfer to a small plate and set aside.

Once everything is cool enough tohandle, peel and discard the skinsof the chillies and tomatoes. Cut the chillies lengthways down the middle, and discard the stalk and seeds. Cut the flesh into long, 0.5cm-wide strips, and place in abowl with the tomatoes and all theremaining ingredients. Stir withthe back of a wooden spoon, soyougently crush the tomatoes and release their juices. Cover and store in the fridge. Give the salsa plenty of time to get back to room temperature before you serve it.

Urad dal with coconut and coriander

For the toppings
100g fresh coconut, roughly grated
50g crisp fried shallots (homemade or shop-bought)
30g fresh coriander, roughly chopped

• Yotam Ottolenghi is chef/patron of Ottolenghi and Nopi in London.

Follow Yotam on Twitter.