The spice hawaij is in fact not one spice but a mixture of several spices, hawaij is most widely recognized as a Yemeni spice but it is well known and used throughout the Arabian Peninsula. The spice is used in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, UAE, Kuwait and even in Egypt and Jordan. Hawaij is also used in Indian cuisine; interestingly both India and the Arabian Peninsula were on the spice route. Although the spice hawaij oginates in the Arabian Peninsula it is best known as the predominant spice used by the Israeli Jewish Yemeni community. Today hawaij is known and used not only by Yemeni Israelis but in most Israeli kitchens no matter what the household's traditional cuisine.

In Israel today most people buy Hawaij already mixed, and don't even know what spices are in the hawaij mix, in fact most Israelis think that hawaij is one spice instead of a compilation of several spices.

The mixture of spices used to create Hawaij has a few basic ingredients and several additional spices which are added by various communities. The basic spices used to make Hawaij are cumin, turmeric and black pepper, other spices that are added to Hawaij in different geographical regions are cloves, cardamom, caraway seeds and saffron. In Saudi Arabia saffron is used in the hawaij spice mixture, but in other less prosperous countries turmeric suffices to give hawaij it's familiar yellow color.

Hawaij leaves stains on anything, marble, clothes, tablecloths and even shoes, this is due to the turmeric. However an Israeli Yemeni trick for getting the turmeric stain out is to leave the soiled item in the sun, and the light tends to reduce or completely remove the stain.

Hawaij Recipes

If you are in Israel there is no need to mix the hawaij spice mix as you can buy it straight off the shelf, but in countries where hawaij mix is not available there are a few simple ways you can prepare hawaij yourself.

Using dried powered spices mix:

3tbs cumin

black pepper

4tbs turmeric

1tsp cardamom

1tsp salt

If you have access to a coffee, grind these spice seeds to make the hawaij spice mix:

1/3 cup cumin seeds

1tbs black peppercorns

4 whole cloves of garlic cup caraway seeds

3tbs salt

3tbs cardamom seeds

Then mix together with 3tbs ground turmeric.

If you add saffron to the spice mix then use half the amount of turmeric. Another way of making a hawaij spice mix is to lightly fry the spice seeds and pods before grinding, this is thought to release the flavor.

Another recipe for the hawaij spice mix is 2 teaspoons of black pepper corns, coriander seeds and cardamom seeds, 2 tablespoons of cumin seeds and ground turmeric. All of the ingredients are ground in a coffee grinder apart from the already ground turmeric which is then added.

Uses or hawaij spice mix

Hawaij spice mix can be used on fish, poultry, beef, hawaij can be added to stews and soups as well as mashed potatoes and rice. The most common use of hawaij in the Jewish Yemeni Israeli community is in the Yemeni soup ("marak"). Jewish Yemeni soup is a very basic chicken soup with potatoes, onion, parsley and sometimes a carrot, baby marrow, garlic or tomato. The spices used in a Jewish Yemeni soup are only hawaij and soup powder. The hawaij is added towards the end of the soups preparation.

Storing Spices

Hawaij can be kept for quite a long time (about 2 months in a sealed container, in Israel many people keep spices, including hawaij in the freezer, because of the humidity, in the freezer hawaij can be kept longer than 2 months.

Hawaij for coffee and hawaij for savory dishes

You should be aware that there is another Yemeni spice mix called hawaij which is completely different, and is sweet rather than savory. The hawaij I have described above is referred to in Israel as hawaij marak or soup hawaij and the other form of hawaij is hawaij for coffee. At first glance coffee hawaij is just ginger but it too is a mixture of several spices, with ginger being the predominant one. Coffee hawaij is made of ginger, cardamom and cloves and can also include aniseed and fennel seeds. A small quantity of hawaij for coffee is added to Turkish or black coffee in many Israeli homes and restaurants.

For first time users of the savory hawaij spice mix I recommend making hawaij with dried spices and making a small quantity and using hawaij to make either a Yemeni soup as described above or adding hawaij to chicken dishes.

If you would like to read more about Jewish Yemeni food you might enjoy this article about Yemeni breads.