- [Host] Poison or pleasing?

This apricot has a bigger story than you realize.

And for us, it all starts with dukkah.

(upbeat music playing) Yey, Mo, Good to see your brother.

- [Mo] Thanks for coming.

What are we out here?

Oh, Holy Land.

Here we go.

- What are we doing today?

- We are going to buy the ingredients for dukkah.

- Okay.

- Dukkah is a crunchy nut, seed, and spice blend from Egypt.

This seasoning is put on everything from appetizers to entrees.

What are the spices we need?

- Allepo chili pepper.

- Yeah, it's got this beautiful smokiness and then bright acidity.

- But it has a little bit of that heat, right?

- Just really, really very subtle, heat that fits perfectly in the Midwest - Yeah.

- Palette.

- Palette.

(chuckles) I like to use whole spices.

So, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, cumin and sesame seeds.

We'll get the toasted one.

There's some seeds.

- Almonds.

- Yeah, we toast it and then we crack it.

- So when you're looking for apricots, what are you looking for?

- For the dukkah recipe, we are using the kernels.

But I will buy some ripe ones so we can enjoy the apricot itself.

- Yeah.

- And then use the kernels.

And that should do it.

- One of the things Mo that I've seen as we're buying these ingredients is like, they are not like exotic ingredients.

Most of this stuff, you probably have it in your house already.

- I agree with you.

What I really love about dukkah is versatility.

You know, you can use it in a lot of different things.

Sprinkle it on soup, salads, on eggs.

Even with bread and olive oil.

- You know, the more you talk about dukkah the more, I just think about how like it's a condiment, right?

- It is a condiment, yeah.

- It has a great shelf life.

So you can make really big, a big batch and enjoy.

(bouncy music playing) - So tell me about dukkah.

- We will make two different versions of dukkah.

One is more like a holiday version where we use almonds because we don't use it on a daily basis.

And one like the poor man's version, which is the apricot kernel one.

- Apricots are an ancient stone fruit, unlike many other stone fruits, apricots, actually ripen from the inside out, making it particularly difficult to decipher when they are ripe.

And even more difficult to find as the apricot season only lasts a few short weeks.

The apricots season is so short, there's a common idiom in Arabic bukra fil mish mish which literally translates to tomorrow when the apricots blossom.

But really means, yeah, that's never going to happen.

- And for example, you asked me to do something for you, and I say a bukra fil mish mish.

And which means I'm not never going to do it.

You know, because I think the relationship is like the short season of the mish mish of the apricots and the fact that I don't want to do it.

So, for mish mish.

So, what we're going to do is just cut some of these apricots in halves.

- And it pops right out.

- It pops right out.

As I was a little child, growing up in Cairo.

We have a fruit shop on the street corner, so we'll go there early in the morning and then we'll find all the apricot kernel, collect them and then crack them and toss them at cumin, salt and pepper.

- I want to know a little bit more about this mallet here, right?

So, I feel like Thor... And so where did you get this mallet?

- So that was like a love from the first sight, I was at an estate sale.

And then I just enter through the door and me and the mallet like did this.

So I just bought it with no second thought.

- It's like, you walked in.

You're like sold.

- And that's it.

Yeah.

- Let's get cracking.

- Now I'm going to crash all these bits up and get the nuts out of them.

And I'm just going to fold it.

And you basically just kind of like just, you see it?

- I hear it.

So you really hear, listening for that breaking.

- Yeah, here you go.

And I try not to break it too much, so it doesn't crack around.

So here we go.

That's the kernel right here.

- And, it looks like a little almond.

- Almond, yes.

- Tiny little almonds, yeah.

- So apricots kernels.

Some people say they cure cancer.

Others say they'll kill you.

There's no scientific studies proving that they cure cancer.

So we're going to leave that one alone.

But apricot kernels have a natural plant toxin called a amygdalin, and once eaten amygdalin turns into cyanide.

Yes, cyanide which can kill you.

Amygdalin is found in lots of things you're familiar with like apple seeds, cherry pits and almonds.

Basically processing the kernels, like fermenting, soaking, cooking, or grinding them, decreases the amount of amygdalin, which is why we see them use sparingly in recipes like jams and even ice creams.

But, yeah kids, don't try this version at home.

Leave it to the experts.

- Next step is to toast those apricot kernels.

- So Mo, what does dukkah mean?

- Dukkah literally means to pound, when dukkah was found centuries ago, there was no grounding machine.

Everything thing was done by hand.

So you will bring all the spices and just literally duqq in Arabic.

Meaning pound, pound.

Yeah, when you toss nuts like this, you really have to be close to them because in a matter of like split second, they can get burned.

So, I think these are really good.

We're going to toss some fennel seeds, coriander and then cumin.

For now we can smell the, you know, the aroma of the spices that really reminds me of my mom.

Reminds me of the spices store in Cairo.

Reminds me of the falafel the store.

It's really just so intoxicating.

It's almost like incense, you know.

The next thing we'll be toasting is the almond.

Cause we're going to make one version of the dukkah with the apricot kernels.

The second one with almonds.

Three minutes and then should be ready to go.

- So Mo, we toasted everything, what's next?

- Well next we're going to ground these beautiful spices.

Here you go.

(spices grinding) That should do it, it's super fast.

Yeah.

That's pretty good.

- It's got a little course shape to it.

The smell.

- It smells incredible.

- Voila!

So now let's some spices in each, in each bowl because we're going to make two different versions.

So that's the apricot.

- Yeah.

And then, basically we're just going to crack it, but you want it to be coarse, See?

- Okay.

- And then we're just going to drop this on top of one of the bowl.

And then get the almonds.

So the next thing is we're going to add some salt and some black pepper.

Some Aleppo chili for subtle spiciness, smokiness, acidity, and then the beautiful sesame seeds.

Don't be shy.

Just go, go for it.

And then just really, really a tad of sugar and what the sugar does is doesn't make it sweet, but it opens up all these like powerful spices.

It really opens it up.

You can go ahead - I'm going to stir this one.

- Yeah, please yeah.

- What do you eat with this?

What are some of your favorites?

- My favorite one is really with eggs.

It's so fantastic.

I love poached egg on top of anything.

That poached egg gives good dose of dukkah.

Amazing.

- How would you use this in a protein?

- I think that dukkah and add really good olive oil and then bunch of different herbs.

And I take that beautiful paste and I coated a marinate lamb chops in it.

out of this world with lamb, with chicken.

Fantastic.

Really good.

Really good.

(bouncy music playing) Welcome.

Have a seat.

- Mo, this is incredible.

What do we have here?

- Oh, well we have the two versions of dukkah we did, the almonds and the apricots, some Tunisian, extra virgin olive oil, pita bread.

So basically we are going to enjoy this.

- I love these napkins.

(chuckles) It's like a "I feel like a giant."

(chuckles) - No, but there's something really close to my heart about sitting on the floor.

And we have an Arabic saying that says, (speaking in Arabic) which means from soil we are created, and to soil we return.

And when you sit down and it's almost like you become closer to the soil, to the earth, to the ground.

So I love sitting on the floor like this.

- Yeah.

- But once you go ahead, the olive oil, dukkah, enjoy.

- Oh, thank you my friend.

- You're welcome.

- So yummy.

This is so delicious.

- Yeah.

And it's so flavorful and you're right.

That combination of those seasoning is incredible.

As I eat the one with the apricot kernels in it.

Yes, you have all that flavors.

Cause it is overpowering, you know, the cumin, the coriander and everything.

And, but it does have kind of that nutty richness from the apricot.

- The apricot flavor really takes me to my childhood really does that flavor, that reminds me when, when we harvest the apricot kernel from the fruit store and crack and toasted it, it is really very childhoodie memory.

That's for sure.

And of course the cumin, you know.

Cumin was everywhere.

Anything that my mom cooked.

- Coming to your house and you're opening that up to us, man.

That's so cool.

- Don't hear anything.

Wow, they are really stubborn.

Okay, I'm going to go on a different spot.

- Bring you're mallet.

(chuckles) (mallet pounding)