Hajar-Toasted Spice Blend Question

[Deez in Oz]

Good Morning Hajar, I have just made your toasted spice blend Toasted Spice Blend (Africa - Morocco) (smells divine by the way). I make a lamb and lentil soup and one of the recipe ingredients is 3 teaspoons of McCormicks Morrocan Spice mix. But I want to substitute that for your spice blend. I see that it says use sparingly. How much would I use for a soup with 8 cups of water, 375g red lentils,1 chopped carrot, 1 chopped onion and 5 or six lamb neck bones. I was thinking maybe one and half teaspoons. Or would that be too much.? Hope you can help.

Thanks..................Dee

[Zurie]

Dee, I'm not Hajar, but I see your query has not been answered yet by Hajar.

I looked at the recipe, and I see the heat is all in that cayenne pepper!! The rest of the spices are mild, except maybe for the black pepper. But because of the cayenne content I'd say you are right to try 1 1/2 teaspoons.

[Hajar Elizabeth]

Removed

[twissis]

Deez in Oz wrote:
Good Morning Hajar, I have just made your toasted spice blend Toasted Spice Blend (Africa - Morocco) (smells divine by the way). I make a lamb and lentil soup and one of the recipe ingredients is 3 teaspoons of McCormicks Morrocan Spice mix. But I want to substitute that for your spice blend. I see that it says use sparingly. How much would I use for a soup with 8 cups of water, 375g red lentils,1 chopped carrot, 1 chopped onion and 5 or six lamb neck bones. I was thinking maybe one and half teaspoons. Or would that be too much.? Hope you can help.

Thanks..................Dee

Hi there ... The recipe you are inquiring about is 1 of mine & I thank ncmysteryshopper for pointing me here to your query. To answer your question as best I can ...

This type of cuisine was relatively new to me when I entered the recipe prior to ZWT without trying it. Reviewers agreed on 2 things ... it smelled wonderful & was hot. Toasting blends like this further intensifies their heat factor too. I have no experience using it in the type of recipe you detail, but will at least tell you what I think & hope I'm right.

I can't tell by the info you've given when the spices are added to your recipe. If they're added at a convenient time, then the good old standard taste test might be best for you. Since your recipe calls for 3 tsp, start w/2 & taste ... then work from there to get your desired flavor or heat level.

I wish I could give you a more precise answer, but I've had only minimal experience w/this cuisine. Needless to say, I would be interested in your outcome. I hope this helps & good luck!

[Deez in Oz]

twissis wrote:

Deez in Oz wrote:
Good Morning Hajar, I have just made your toasted spice blend Toasted Spice Blend (Africa - Morocco) (smells divine by the way). I make a lamb and lentil soup and one of the recipe ingredients is 3 teaspoons of McCormicks Morrocan Spice mix. But I want to substitute that for your spice blend. I see that it says use sparingly. How much would I use for a soup with 8 cups of water, 375g red lentils,1 chopped carrot, 1 chopped onion and 5 or six lamb neck bones. I was thinking maybe one and half teaspoons. Or would that be too much.? Hope you can help.

Thanks..................Dee

Hi there ... The recipe you are inquiring about is 1 of mine & I thank ncmysteryshopper for pointing me here to your query. To answer your question as best I can ...

This type of cuisine was relatively new to me when I entered the recipe prior to ZWT without trying it. Reviewers agreed on 2 things ... it smelled wonderful & was hot. Toasting blends like this further intensifies their heat factor too. I have no experience using it in the type of recipe you detail, but will at least tell you what I think & hope I'm right.

I can't tell by the info you've given when the spices are added to your recipe. If they're added at a convenient time, then the good old standard taste test might be best for you. Since your recipe calls for 3 tsp, start w/2 & taste ... then work from there to get your desired flavor or heat level.

I wish I could give you a more precise answer, but I've had only minimal experience w/this cuisine. Needless to say, I would be interested in your outcome. I hope this helps & good luck!

Hi Chef Zee, Hajar and Twissis. Thank you all for responding, sorry Twisses I got the recipe, I think, from one of Hajars cookbooks and just assumed it was hers. Well I made the soup and erred on the side of caution and put 1 and half tsps of the spice mix in. But next time I will put 3 maybe even 4 as it was a bit bland.
I'm one of those cooks who doesn't taste the food as it's cooking (I know I should) and hope for the best that it will be O.K. It's a bad habit I know but after all that tasting and adjusting seasonings etc. I loose my appetite and don't feel like eating what I maybe sent a fair amount of time cooking. I've frozen most of the soup into meal sized portions, so when I defrost them I will just add some more seasoning to them as they re-heat. Thanks again everyone..........Dee