Ketchup and mustard, move over: Sambal, dukkah and zhoug are the next “it” condiments bringing a punch of flavor to a variety of dishes.
Sambal is a pungent hot sauce or paste made with chili peppers, shrimp paste, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, shallots, scallions, palm sugar, lime juice and rice vinegar. It’s popular in dishes from Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Brunei and Singapore. U.S. restaurants serving sambal alongside their dishes include:
• Selamat Pagi in Brooklyn, N.Y., which offers three types of sambals with shrimp chips as an appetizer (above);
• Flinders Lane in Stamford, Conn., serves sausage rolls with sambal mayonnaise;
• Garland in Raleigh, N.C., always has sambal on hand, head chef Cheetie Kumar told Bon Appétit in May.
Zhoug is a hot sauce that hails from Yemen and consists of hot peppers, garlic, cilantro, salt and a variety of other spices. It’s also popping up everywhere:
• Kismet in Los Angeles serves a red zhoug made with arbol chilies. It appears in a breakfast plate (left; photo: Aliza Sokolow) that includes flaky bread, tomato and labneh.
• Sofra Bakery in Cambridge, Mass., offers shakshuka of poached eggs, tomato curry broth and zhoug.
• Ema in Chicago serves zhoug with grilled chicken, King salmon and beef tenderloin.
Dukkah is an Egyptian blend of herbs, nuts and spices. Popular ingredients include sesame, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper. This up-and-coming spice blend is becoming more popular at U.S. restaurants:
• The rotating menu at Elysian in Los Angeles sometimes includes dukkah, such as a lamb dish with market vegetables and dukkah.
• Sarma in Somerville, Mass., serves rainbow carrots with peanut dukkah.
• Sardella in St. Louis dishes up beet and goat cheese ravioli with pistachio-mint pesto and dukkah.
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