Arabic & Levantine Pantry Guide
What is seven spices (sabaa baharat)? The Levantine kitchen staple
Seven spices (sabaa baharat) is the foundational spice blend of Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian and Jordanian home cooking. Finely ground from allspice, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg and ginger or coriander, it seasons everything from kibbeh and kofta to stuffed vegetables and maqluba.
Which seven spices go into the blend?
In Levantine kitchens, the jar labelled simply "baharat" almost always holds sabaa baharat. Allspice berries (known in Arabic as sweet pepper) and black pepper form the backbone, joined by warm cassia cinnamon and smaller measures of cloves, green cardamom, nutmeg and dried ginger, or in some regional recipes, coriander seed or cumin. Ground together into a fine mahogany powder, the blend smells rich, woody and aromatic without any chilli heat.
How to use seven spices in everyday cooking
Seven spices is the signature seasoning whenever lamb or beef is cooked with onions: it flavours the spiced meat filling for fried and baked kibbeh, tiny shish barak dumplings, daoud basha meatballs and grilled kofta. It is also stirred into the raw rice-and-mince stuffing for courgettes, aubergines and vine leaves (mahshi), and into the fragrant rice for maqluba and ouzi.
