Green chilli (serrano, jalapeño and milder varieties)
Green chillies are fresh, unripe or just-ripe pods of Capsicum annuum, from the medium-hot jalapeño and hotter serrano to mild New Mexican types, used raw in sauces and cooked in pastes.
Zhug / zhoug
Zhoug · Zhug · Sahawiq · Skhug · Schug · Harif
A Yemeni hot sauce of fresh chilli, coriander and garlic bound with olive oil, the base of sahawiq and a common condiment in Israel. It is made by crushing, not cooking, and keeps only briefly in the refrigerator.
A green sauce from Yemen
Zhug is a hot sauce from Yemeni cuisine. Its base is fresh hot pepper, coriander and garlic, crushed into a loose, slightly chunky paste with olive oil. Yemeni cooks call it sahawiq, from an Arabic root meaning to pound or crush, which makes it a close cousin of pesto in name and method.
The sauce is most often served as a table condiment. In Yemen sahawiq is also a main ingredient of saltah, a stew, according to the Wikipedia article.
Sources for this section
Ingredients
The fixed core is fresh hot pepper, coriander, garlic, salt and oil. Parsley is common but not universal. Cumin, coriander seed, cardamom, black cumin, lemon juice, caraway and black pepper appear as optional seasonings, and the sources differ on which of them belong.
Chilli choice sets the heat. Bird's eye chilli is the traditional choice in the sources; jalapeño and serrano are used in less traditional versions. The three colours of the sauce follow the peppers used: green from green peppers and herbs, red from red peppers. Israeli brown versions (khum) are described with tomato; Wikipedia marks that claim as needing a citation.
Sources for this section
Method
Traditional Yemeni makers crushed the ingredients on a large stone with a smaller stone as the crusher. A mortar and pestle or a food processor does the same work. The recipe source describes pulsing the coriander, parsley, peppers and garlic together until the mixture is slightly chunky, then adding olive oil and seasoning to taste.
The sauce is thinned with water only when it is too thick. Its texture is a deliberate paste, not a smooth purée.
Sources for this section
Regional variants
Yemen names three sahawiq forms: a green version, a red version, and sahawiq bel-jiben, made with Yemeni cheese. Sahawiq wazif includes dried baby sardines. In Israel the sauce is called skhug, with the red, green and brown (khum) versions in common use.
Some Yemeni cooks add Pulicaria jaubertii to the paste. The sources do not establish how widely.
Sources for this section
History and spread
Zhug is described as Yemeni in origin. Its spread to Israel is attributed to Yemenite Jewish migrants of the 1950s, and in Israel it has become a common condiment, served at falafel and shawarma stands and with hummus.
The earlier history of the sauce is not documented in the sources read. Recipe sites repeat a claim that the sauce came with the Operation Magic Carpet airlift in 1949 and 1950; that date is not confirmed by the sources read and is not stated here as fact.
Sources for this section
Storage and safety
A fresh herb and oil paste is perishable. The recipe source advises refrigeration and use within several days, without a figure. No validated shelf life or pH is given, so the storage time here is a source's advice rather than a tested limit.
Sources for this section
History
Zhug, also called sahawiq in Yemeni Arabic, is described as originating in Yemeni cuisine. Its spread to Israel is attributed to Yemenite Jews who came to Israel in the 1950s, in the airlifts that brought thousands of Yemenites out of the country. The sources give no dated record of the sauce before that migration. The name zhug is one of many spellings, and the Hebrew form skhug is pronounced with a guttural kh.
Ingredients
Scaling: not stated
Fresh red or green hot peppers, such as bird's eye chilli (jalapeño or serrano used less traditionally)Crushed fresh.
Amount not stated
Quantity varies by heat; sources give 2 or 3 peppers in one recipe.Fresh corianderLeaves and tender stems.
One bunch in one recipe.
Flat-leaf parsley (optional)Leaves.
Amount not stated
Half a bunch in one recipe; some versions omit it.GarlicCrushed.
Amount not stated
Two cloves in one recipe.Ground cumin (optional)
Amount not stated
Optional in the Yemeni base; present in some recipes.Ground coriander seed (optional)
Amount not stated
Optional; present in some recipes.Ground cardamom (optional)
Amount not stated
Optional; some versions add it, others add black cardamom or caraway.Black cumin (nigella seed) (optional)
Amount not stated
Optional; Wikipedia lists it among the seasonings.Lemon juice (optional)
Amount not stated
Optional; some versions add it.Olive oilExtra-virgin for binding.
Amount not stated
Three tablespoons in one recipe.To taste.
Method
Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Raw herb and oil paste kept at room temperature
A moist, oil-bound fresh paste is perishable. Keep it cold between uses.
Hazard sourceRefrigerate promptly after making and keep closed.
Control source- Remove the stems from the peppers if the recipe calls for it, then crush the peppers with the garlic and a little salt.
- Add the coriander, and parsley if used, and pound or chop them until they break down into a finely chopped mass.
- Stir in the dry seasonings if used, the lemon juice if used and the olive oil. Bind to a slightly chunky, pesto-like paste.
- Thin with a little water only if the paste is too stiff. Taste and adjust salt and acid.
- Keep refrigerated in a closed container and use within a few days, as the sources advise.
Conditions
Temperature controlRefrigerated
Places
Yemen
Traditional preparation · Country evidenceWikipedia describes the sauce as Yemeni in origin. It gives no locality, so the row stays at country level.
Israel
Documented use · Country evidenceSources record its spread to Israel, where it is a common condiment. Dates for the migration are given only loosely as the 1950s.
Related
Made from
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Hilbeh (fenugreek foam)
A whipped condiment of soaked ground fenugreek seed, aerated until foamy and finished with herbs, chilli and lemon. It comes from Yemen.
Bint al-sahn (Yemeni layered bread with honey)
Bint al-sahn is a Yemeni celebration and home bread built from thin, egg-rich yeast dough layers brushed with ghee or butter. This source-specific version makes one round cake, baked until golden and served warm with honey.
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Malooga (Yemeni home-oven variation)
This Yemeni home-oven variation uses a yeast-raised wheat dough, folds it repeatedly with semn and oil, then bakes it as large rounds.
Yemeni malawah
A Yemeni layered wheat bread made by stretching an unleavened dough thin, folding butter or ghee through it, and baking it on a very hot stone.
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Sources
WikipediaHistory · Ingredients · Method · Regional variation
ZhugYemeni origin, also called sahawiq; other names mabooj, bisbaas, harif, sahowqa, schugg, skhug
Base of fresh red or green hot peppers, coriander, garlic, salt, parsley, optional black cumin, olive oil; optional lemon, caraway, cardamom, black pepper
Crushed by hand on stone or made in a mortar or processor
Yemeni variants sahawiq akhdar, ahmar and bel-jiben; Israeli skhug adom, yarok and khum
Sahawiq is a main ingredient of saltah
Cited in: A green sauce from Yemen; Ingredients; Method; Regional variants; History and spread
Taste of the PlaceMethod · History · Safety
Zhoug - a fresh and spicy sauce from YemenOrigin thought to be Yemen; popular in Israel; brought by Yemenite Jews in the 1950s during the airlifts
Pulse-to-chunky paste method in a processor, or hand chopped or pounded
Keeps well in the refrigerator for several days; no figure given
Cited in: Ingredients; Method; History and spread; Storage and safety