Schug is a Middle Eastern spicy cilantro condiment. Make this recipe for zhoug sauce to use on grilled meats or roasted vegetables.

For lovers of spicy food, green chiles are an essential pantry staple. They add immense flavor to Middle Eastern, North African, Asian, and Mediterranean condiments.

The regional differences in flavor are really noticeable, and it’s a delicious adventure to taste them side by side.

Try it for yourself! Make a batch of this spicy, zesty cilantro chile paste. Then serve it on a tray with red or green shatta sauce, some Turkish pepper paste, and Moroccan harissa. Compare the flavors, then decide for yourself which one is the spiciest.

Schug

Cuisine: Middle Eastern

This spicy condiment is made with fresh cilantro and parsley, and the spicy heat comes from serrano chiles.

The consistency is thick enough to use as a dip, but you can also thin it out to use as a sauce.
The Middle Eastern hot sauce goes by several other names/spellings as well (see below). Most people know it by the name, zhoug sauce.

Other names/spellings: 
Zhoug, zhug, schug

Pronunciation:
Sh·​oeg (sounds like the”oo” in book)

Course:
Condiment

Preparation:
Food processor or blender

Difficulty: Easy 🥄

Preparation time: 10 minutes

To experience another flavorful, regional condiment, you should make Lebanese garlic sauce, known as toum. The creamy garlic-based spread is fantastic on soft warm slices of khubz!

Video: making zhoug sauce

Making the hot sauce is beyond quick and easy. Just a few pulses in a food processor and you’ll have a batch ready to use immediately.

To see the recipe in action, watch the video located in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Notes and tips

1. Add the garlic and spicy chiles first.

You’ll want to crush them as finely as possible before adding the other ingredients. Otherwise, you could end up with large pieces of them in the schug.

On the note of spiciness, if you have difficulty tolerating spicy foods, feel free to use less serrano chiles. Alternatively, you can use a milder chile, such as Anaheim, poblano, or jalapeno.

On the other hand, if you like things really hot, feel free to add more to your liking!

2. Pour the olive oil in slowly.

Rather than adding the oil at one time, allow it to stream in through the food chute of your food processor. This helps the oil to incorporate evenly into the mixture.

3. Avoid over mixing.

Although schug looks similar to pesto and chimichurri, the spicy cilantro sauce is meant to have a chunkier consistency. This way, the fresh herbs won’t become gummy or pasty.

Storing and serving schug

• Keep the sauce in a covered container in the refrigerator, and use it up within one week. After that, the fresh herbs will become very mushy, resulting in an unpleasant texture.
  
• If you won’t be serving it right away, add a thin layer of olive oil over the surface of the zhoug. This helps prevent it from drying out.

This post, originally published on Silk Road Recipes Jan. 11, 2021, was last updated on Nov. 19, 2021.