Xawaash substitute

Substitutes for Xawaash with ratios

1. 2Curry Powder

   Different taste

   Use Use ¾ as much as the xawaash called for, plus ¼ tsp cinnamon for every teaspoon of xawaash

   The closest single jar in an ordinary supermarket, sharing cumin, coriander, turmeric and pepper with xawaash.

   What changes

   Best for

   suqaar, spiced rice, stews, chicken, a weeknight shortcut

   Curry powder carries fenugreek and usually chili, plus considerably more turmeric, so rice made with it comes out a brighter yellow with a faint maple-bitter edge and a little heat that xawaash does not have. Cutting the amount and adding cinnamon pushes it back toward xawaash's browner, sweeter, gentler profile. It is a genuinely workable swap that nobody unfamiliar with the real blend would question.

2. 3Baharat + Cumin and Turmeric

   Different taste

   Use the same amount plus ¼ tsp ground cumin and ¼ tsp turmeric per teaspoon of baharat

   A Levantine warm blend with a lot of common ground, corrected in the two places it falls short.

   What changes

   Best for

   maraq, beef and goat stews, sambusa filling, rice

   Baharat's clove, allspice and nutmeg make a dish taste warmer and more Christmas-spiced than xawaash does, and most baharat has no turmeric, so your rice stays pale unless you add some. The added cumin restores the savoury backbone. The clove note does still read through, so use a slightly lighter hand overall than the recipe suggests for xawaash.

3. 4Garam Masala

   Different taste

   Use Use ¾ as much, plus ½ tsp ground cumin and ½ tsp ground coriander for every teaspoon of xawaash

   An Indian finishing blend that shares xawaash's cardamom, cinnamon and pepper core.

   What changes

   Best for

   suqaar, meat stews, chicken, when garam masala is the only warm blend you own

   Garam masala is much more clove- and black-cardamom-forward and contains far less coriander by weight, so on its own the dish smells sweeter and more perfumed and tastes distinctly less savoury than it should. The added cumin and coriander are doing most of the work here and are not optional. Add it earlier in the cook than you would for an Indian dish, because xawaash is a base seasoning rather than a finish.

4. 5Equal Parts Cumin and Coriander

   Different taste

   Use the same amount for xawaash, using equal volumes of ground cumin and ground coriander

   The two-jar minimum, which gets surprisingly far because these two spices make up most of xawaash by weight.

   What changes

   Best for

   an emergency mid-recipe, suqaar, maraq, meat

   This gets you most of the way there, which is the honest good news. What it loses is the warm-sweet upper layer from cardamom and cinnamon, so the dish tastes flatter, more one-note and slightly taco-ish. A pinch of cinnamon and a good grind of black pepper are the two cheapest additions that fix it, and you almost certainly have both.

5. 6Ras el Hanout

   Different taste

   Use ¾ as much as the xawaash called for

   A long North African blend that overlaps on cumin, coriander, turmeric, pepper and cinnamon.

   What changes

   Best for

   stews, roast meat, vegetables, when nothing else is on the shelf

   The warmth is right and the ingredient overlap is real, but most ras el hanout includes rose petals and sometimes lavender, so suqaar made with it tastes perfumed and Moroccan rather than Somali. It is also a much longer list of spices, which makes the dish busier. Use less than you would xawaash and do not add anything else on top.