I first wrote about it several years ago after discovering it in Joshua McFadden’s Six Seasons, which inspired me to drizzle it over anything from roasted vegetables to grilled meat. This is maybe my favorite way to use it: roasted cauliflower (or delicata squash) with lemony yogurt sauce. The combination of the charred vegetables, with the creamy yogurt sauce and the spiced, herby schug is irresistible.
Of all the green sauces I have made — from pesto to salsa verde to green goddess — schug is most similar to a green harissa, but it’s even more spiced: there’s cumin and coriander as well as hot chilies. Because the chilies are seeded, the sauce is not impossibly spicy—it’s, in fact, bright with lemon, as these sauces often are, and it has a bit of texture thanks to the mass of chilies, garlic, and herbs.
How to Use Schug (Zhug)
Maybe the better question is how not to use schug? I want to drizzle it over everything:
roasted vegetableseggsgrilled chickenveggie burgersfalafel burgersbread, from pita to focaccia
How to Make Schug: A Step by Step Guide:
Here’s the play-by-play: Gather your ingredients. Toast whole cumin and coriander seeds: Grind the spices in a mortar and pestle: Remove the ribs and seeds from a few hot chili peppers: Zest and juice a lemon. Transfer chilies and garlic to a food processor and pulse. Add cilantro, parsley, ground cumin and coriander, lemon zest and juice, and salt. Process till fine: Add olive oil, and process more: Ta da! Schug: you’ll want to put this on everything. Here’s the roasted delicata squash with the schug and yogurt sauce: This is a favorite recipe: Roasted Cauliflower with Schug and Lemony Yogurt Sauce 5 from 10 reviews Schug (pronounced skoog, sometimes spelled Skug, Zhug, Zhoug) is a Middle Eastern (often used in Yemeni/Israeli cooking) blend of herbs, chilies, and toasted spices: there’s cumin and coriander as well as hot chilies. Because the chilies are seeded, the sauce is not impossibly spicy—it’s, in fact, bright with lemon, and it has a bit of texture thanks to the mass of chilies, garlic, and herbs. Once you make schug once, you will want to put it on everything. Note: You’ll see in the video I only used 1 chili — it was all I had on hand that day! — and I didn’t add lemon zest…I forgot. All of this is to say the recipe is very forgiving. As long as you include some toasted spices and something that provides a little heat, and as long as you get the balance of lemon to olive oil right, you’ll be good to go.
