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EveryMasala

Regional blends

Hawaij

Yemeni blends: one with cumin, pepper and turmeric for soups, one with cardamom and ginger for coffee.

Hawaij is the Yemeni word for a mixture of spices. There are two best-known kinds. One, savoury, has black pepper, cumin, turmeric and cardamom for soup and stews. The other, for coffee, has ginger, cardamom, cinnamon and clove.

What goes in

Black pepper: 29%29%Cumin: 29%29%Turmeric: 21%21%Cardamom: 14%14%Coriander seed: 7%14parts

Parts by volume of the whole spice. The ring shows each part's share.

Made step by step

Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Ratios and timings differ from house to house; this is one traditional-style way.

  1. Step 1: Toast Toast the pepper and cumin gently.
  2. Step 2: Rest Cool the seeds.
  3. Step 3: Grind Grind with cardamom and coriander.
  4. Step 4: Blend Mix in turmeric.
  5. Step 5: Bloom Add to simmering broth near the start of cooking.
  6. Step 6: Store Store in a sealed jar.
  7. Black pepper: 29%29%Cumin: 29%29%Turmeric: 21%21%Cardamom: 14%14%Coriander seed: 7%
    Finished Hawaij, by share.

Carried abroad

Many Yemeni Jews who moved to Israel in the twentieth century carried hawaij into Israeli cooking, where it is used in soups, jachnun and in a hot spiced coffee.

Use

Savoury hawaij seasons chicken soup, meat and rice. Coffee hawaij is added to ground coffee or to qishr, a drink of coffee husks. Families and bakers differ in their ratio.

Where it is used

SoupStewed meatRiceCoffee (sweet version)

The spices in it

TurmericColour.CuminEarthy.CardamomPerfume.Black pepperThe dried fruit of a climbing vine, the world's most traded spice.CorianderThe leaves and dried seeds of an annual Mediterranean herb used in cuisines worldwide.

More on EveryMasala

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Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryMasala desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are an illustrative, traditional-style ratio, not a standard: every family and maker blends differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly digest

Every Monday: seven spices you may not know, what is cooking this week, and one blend explained step by step.