Chermoula and Green Herb Paste Construction

Chermoula is the herb-spice marinade paste of North African cooking — Moroccan in origin but present throughout Levantine cooking in various forms. Ottolenghi uses herb pastes extensively across Jerusalem as marinades, sauces, and finishing elements. The construction principle — raw herbs, spices, acid, and fat blended or pounded to a paste — is universal across Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking.

A paste of fresh herbs (coriander, parsley, or both), spices (cumin, coriander, paprika), garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil — pounded in a mortar or processed briefly. Used as a marinade (applied before cooking), a sauce (served alongside), or a finishing element (stirred into a dish at the end).

A good herb paste transforms a simple protein into something with place and identity. The freshness of the herbs, the warmth of the spices, and the brightness of the lemon work together to produce a flavour that reads as simultaneously complex and clean.