Ras el hanout is an exotic Moroccan spice blend used for tagines (North African casseroles) and for sprinkling on a finished dish.

As spice man Ian “Herbie” Hemphill explains, ‘the name simply means ‘top of the shop’. Because in Morocco where all the spice traders are they will all try to outdo each other by having the very best blend. So, it’s a blend of quite diverse spice aromas. You can get ones that are quite pungent, ones that are reasonably hot, ones that are quite sweet and aromatic and they all come together to give this very fragrant blend which can have up to 20 or more different spices in it.’

So, what’s in it? Every spice blender has his own recipe. Without giving away too many secrets (like proportions), this is Herbie’s:

Very mild spices such as ground coriander seed. It has ground cinnamon, it has turmeric, it has ground caraway but it also has a few hot spices. It has a little bit of chilli and cayenne and ordinary pepper. But very small amounts because it’s not a hot spice blend at all. And then it has some of the fairly pungent spices so it has things like cardamom which gives a beautiful freshness and depth of flavour. It actually has two kinds of cardamom in it. It has brown cardamom or large cardamom which is quite an unusual one. It also has cloves in it so... and they also have a very fragrant aroma as well. So it has quite a wide range but the pièce de resistance is saffron.

Herbie says, “I like the Kashmiri saffron the best. There are many different saffrons that you can get and in my opinion the Kashmiri is the absolute very best. And the use of saffron in Ras El Hanout not only makes a significant contribution to the colour of it so when it’s cooked you get this beautiful golden yellowy saffron colour coming through it, but saffron has a very distinct flavour. The beautiful, slightly earthy woodiness of saffron just comes through wonderfully in the Ras El Hanout.”

Herbie confesses he does leave out the Spanish fly and the hashish, though.

And how to use ras el hanout? These are Herbie’s thoughts.

“It actually has many uses. It’s most traditional use is probably in a tagine or what we would simply call a stew or casserole. And a chicken casserole made with Ras El Hanout has a beautiful flavour, great aroma but it’s not overly spiced, it’s not overly hot. That’s one of the more traditional uses.

Another very good way to use it, is to use it to make spiced couscous. And you simply put 2 a teaspoon of Ras El Hanout per cup of couscous and you can use that even if you’re making instant couscous and just when you put the water on. And the colour of saffron will colour it beautifully. Once again, the flavour complements it very well.

The other way I often like to use Ras El Hanout is probably not in the traditional Moroccan way but it is essentially as a dry marinade. And that is to simply take pieces of chicken, any sort of meat that I’m cooking, you can use it for lamb.

Rub the Ras El Hanout onto the surface of the meat and just leave it to sit for about 15 minutes. Completely dry, no oil required or any other liquid, just... moisture on the surface of the meat is enough to make it stick. After that’s dry marinated, then simply pan fry it, or grill it. If you want to barbecue it, squeeze a little lemon juice on just before you barbecue and that will help to stop the spice on the surface of the meat from burning. So, it’s a very versatile blend and you can almost use it on just about anything.”