Yemen’s fiery hot green spice paste, zhoug, can be added to salads and used as a sauce for meat, fish, and poultry dishes. Yemenites believe that eating zhoug daily keeps away illness and strengthens the heart.

  • Yield: About 3 cups
  • Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients (8)

  • 1 pound jalapeño or serrano chiles
  • 1 cup chopped cilantro
  • 1 cup chopped Italian parsley
  • 2 tablespoon coarsely chopped garlic
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for storage

Instructions

  1. Trim, seed, and coarsely chop the jalapeños or serranos.
  2. Place the chiles in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment and add the cilantro, parsley, garlic, salt, cumin, and pepper. Process to form a rough, chunky paste. Add the oil and process again briefly combine. Pack into a glass jar, cover the top with olive oil, and store in the refrigerator up to 3 months.