Pantry Essentials for Syrian Cooking

Everything about Syrian cooking starts from the pantry. It’s where the building blocks for recipes are made. Below you’ll find the essentials to make just about any Syrian meal your heart desires.

7 Spices (Baharat)

Syrians have different blends of spices for different cooking tasks: chicken, vegetables, lamb, you name it! This spice mixture (Baharat) varies from village to village and family to family. I use a 7 spice blend for just about all of my meat dishes, which includes all spice, coriander, cloves, black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg and a tiny bit of ginger. Other varieties might also include paprika, cardamom, fennel, or fenugreek. Feel free to create your own combination and see what you like! Freshly ground spices are always best. If you want one already mixed, Ziyad has a 7 spice mix, which you can purchase here.

Aleppo/Turkish Pepper Paste

I put Aleppo Pepper Paste in just about everything. It’s the foundation of muhammara, and it’s also super tasty for chicken marinades and seasoning eggplant or cauliflower. Aleppo peppers are a fruity and mildly spicy red pepper grown in the northern Syria and southern Turkey. The peppers is roasted, ground up into a paste and preserved with salt. Both Turkish and Aleppo have slight variations, but they can pretty much be used interchangeably, depending on what you find. Ziyad carries an excellent one, which you can find at your local Middle Eastern market.

Pomegranate Molasses

Sweet and tangy pomegranate molasses is one of my favorite ingredients in Syrian cooking. Fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice is reduced down into a thick syrup. It’s wonderful in salad dressing (like fattoush), marinating meat and seasoning grilled vegetables. It’s also added to muhammara and baba ghanoush, or roasted eggplant dip. When looking for one, you want it to be more on the tangy than jammy. Also make sure there’s no hint of bitterness, which means that the peels weren’t cleaned out when making the syrup. Cortas makes one that’s excellent and widely available.

Sumac

This purplish red spice comes from dried berries of the sumac plant. It has a tart, lemony flavor and is most famously used in Palestinian musakhan and fattoush salad. You can use it in just about any chicken marinade or salad dressing. It’s also delicious sprinkled on top of eggs. You want to make sure your sumac is quite tangy and that it’s more of a purple color than red. You can get some on Amazon here.

Salt

You might think it’s funny that I included salt in this list, especially since you probably already have it. Salt is essential. It makes food taste like how it’s supposed to taste. If you ever feel like food is bland, or isn’t quite “there,” it probably needs salt. In fact, you probably need to add twice the salt than you think you need. My favorite type of salt to use is Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it’s finely ground, so it dissolves quickly into food, and it’s less “salty” than table salt. If you use regular table salt, that’s fine, just be careful when salting. I also like to use a flaky finishing salt when cooking steak or roasted veggies. It adds a nice texture and pop. You can purchase DC Kosher Salt here and Maldon finishing salt here.

Mastic

Mastic is tree resin from an island in Greece that looks like little crystals. It has a defining piney flavor that is quintessential for Middle Eastern sweets. I also use it in my lamb shawerma recipe. In fact, in the Middle Ages, Syrians used mastic to season meat. It is an expensive ingredient, but a little bit goes a very long way.

Tahini

Sesame seed paste, or tahini, has grown in popularity the past handful of years. I remember being really confused when I saw it on a dessert menu about a decade ago, since we only generally use it in savory dishes, but now every other day it seems I see a recipe for a tahini cake or brownie. Use it in salad dressing or sauce, season meats or vegetables, or, like I already mentioned, use it in sweets. The possibilities are honestly endless. Any mid-level brand from the supermarket will do. If you want to go for the more chi-chi artisanal stuff, by all means.

Olive Oil

Good quality olive oil is really important, and I don’t buy just any old one in the supermarket aisle. Olive oil is one of the most fraudulent industries out there, so it’s important to know what you’re looking for. Mine is imported from Syria and is kept in the produce section at Carrefour, near the olives. In the US, Costco’s Kirkland brand was always my favorite for reliable and affordable olive oil, and there’s many others. You want to make sure it’s kept in a dark bottle and has been produced relatively recently. If you’re buying extra virgin, an acidity level closest to .1% is best with a flavor complexity that includes grassiness and a mild bitterness. My Syrian stuff isn’t extra virgin because I really like the mild taste for cooking, and that’s generally what’s imported out of Syria. If you’re buying the Italian, Spanish or Greek olive oil, make sure you see an actual region of where the oil is produced, not a generic “product of Spain.” In the US, you can buy the Kirkland brand here and California Olive Ranch here.

Vegetable Oil

Canola or vegetable oil is important to have on hand. Since it has a higher smoke point than olive oil, it’s great for any deep frying, or if you’re pan frying at a higher temperature.

Rose Water

Delicious in Middle Eastern syrup, clotted cream and other pastries. You can also use it in pastry cream to make tart, in caramel, and so much more. You can buy rose water here.

Orange Blossom

Also a popular ingredient in Middle Eastern baked goods. Use it in namoura or in cake batter. It’s also delicious in cocktails and other drinks. You can buy orange blossom here.

Rice

Any medium-grain rice will do: Jasmine, Egyptian, Calrose, etc.