03 October 2023

Three New Spice Blends from Sabrina Ghayour and How to Use Them

We're delighted to be working with the fabulous Sabrina Ghayour to produce three iconic spice blends which complement her delicious Persian recipes and can be used in your everyday cooking to add a lovely aromatic taste of the Middle East.

FLAVOUR, BAZAAR and PERSIANA spice blends are all exclusively created by Sabrina and hand blended in our eco factory in North Yorkshire. They are unique, incredibly versatile and packed full of flavour.

Read on for the full ingredients and most importantly Sabrina's own top tips on how best to make the most of these little flavour bombs!

FLAVOUR BLEND (cumin, coriander, cinnamon, turmeric, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne, lime powder, cracked black pepper)

This earthy blend of spices is simply perfect roasted meats, root vegetables and squashes and not forgetting, the perfect combination for kebabs such as shawarmas, koftas and red meat kebabs. Even more versatile than that, it is the perfect spice blend to inject maximum Flavour into soups, stews, tagines, pies and even Shepherd’s pie to inject a little Middle Easten magic.

~Sabrina Says~

For soups, stews and pie fillings

Simply add the spice when softening your onions, cook for a couple of minutes and follow with your chosen ingredients! Such a wonderfully aromatic way to give your favourite home recipes, a different and interesting twist.

For kebabs or shawarmas

Using either chicken thigh fillets or lamb leg steaks, simply combine the blend with a little yogurt (approximately 2 tablespoons per 500g meat), a drizzle of oil, 1-2 cloves or crushed garlic, a good squeeze of lemon juice and salt to season and leave to marinate for 30 minutes. To cook chicken thigh fillets, preheat the oven to 200 degrees fan and lay the chicken flat on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and cook for 35-40 minutes, then shred the meat using a good knife and serve in wraps or pittas with yogurt, chilli sauce and fresh tomatoes and onions.

For lamb leg, preheat a frying pan over a high heat and drizzle in a little oil and pan fry the steaks for 4-5 minutes on each side (or more if desired), remove from heat and allow to rest covered with foil and then slice thinly and serve in wraps or pittas with yogurt, chilli sauce and fresh tomatoes and onions.

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PERSIANA BLEND (rose petals, sumac, lime powder, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, garlic powder, cayenne)

This blend is the very same blend that adorns the cover of Sabrina’s now iconic debut cookbook Persiana, released in 2014, and was originally created for one Sabrina’s signature dishes from the book, the slow-roasted spice-perfumed lamb. This is a really wonderful and fragrant blend of spices that are perfect for roasted meats, grills, root vegetables and squashes but also great with game, poultry and oily fish and seafood too.

~Sabrina Says~

Useful butter compound to add when frying/roasting white meat, seafood, game and vegetables

Take a standard 250g block of salted butter and leave out until room temperature is reached. Then add 2 tablespoons of spice blend to the butter block and mix well until evenly combined. You may wish to add the zest of an unwaxed orange, lime or lemon too, to give the spice butter a zesty citrus finish. On a piece of parchment paper, add the butter and shape, as best you can, into a sausage shape and roll the paper securely over, then twist the edges (like a sweet wrapper) as tightly as you can and either refrigerate or portion up and freeze. To use with roasted meats/vegetables, add in for the final 10 minutes of cooking, or stuff under the skin of a chicken from beginning of cooking. When pan-frying meat, chicken or fish, add the butter in when you’ve cooked your meat on one side and have turned the meat over, then baste the meat generously with the spice butter and serve.

For soups, stews and pie fillings

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BAZAAR BLEND (oregano, paprika, Spanish citrus pepper, ginger and garlic powder)

A wonderfully easy blend to use in a wide varieties of ways to simply coating meats and fish and roasting or pan-frying but also great in rice, potato and grain dishes as well as marinades, salads and dressings and even add incredible flavour and aromatics to dips like hummus as well and also makes the perfect blend for the simplest of flatbread recipes (below)

~Sabrina Says~

Pan-frying white meat, fish, seafood, Halloumi and green vegetables

When pan-frying, simply drizzle a little oil and a generous amount of the spice blend over whatever you are cooking and pan fry and season with salt to bring out the flavour, then serve.

A great tip for roasting salmon fillets is to preheat to 200 degrees fan-assisted, then sprinkle a generous amount of the spice blend over all the exposed flesh of the salmon fillets without any oil and roast on a parchment-lined baking tray for just 11 minutes for the perfect result. You’ll never make your salmon any other way!

For super quick flatbreads without any yeast, resting or rising

In a bowl combine (using a fork) 200g Greek style yogurt with 200g of self-raising flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1 tablespoon of the spice blend and a generous amount of salt and then once the ingredients are brought together, tip the dough out and knead for one minute. Then divide, roughly, into 4 balls and flatten between your palms (or using a rolling pin, if preferred) until 5mm thick. Preheat a heavy-based frying pan over a medium-high heat and without any oil, add one flatbread at a time and cook for approximately 2 minutes on each side. Don’t be tempted to flatten the breads using utensils as you want to encourage a natural rise and some nice browning, too. Transfer the cooked flatbreads onto a plate whilst you finish the rest or refrigerate half the dough and use within 24 hours. Great with dips, grills, for sandwiches and even omelettes.