I once tried to grow my own thyme. Needless to say, being a person who often forgets to feed herself water every now and then, my poor thyme plant perished. The man who sold me my thyme plant said it was one of the easiest herbs to grow yourself. It basically is self-sufficient. No pruning, no grooming, no fertilising. A perfect windowsill plant. So this means there is no hope for me and my plant-rearing abilities since I have managed to ruthlessly murder my poor thyme plant.
So why do I start off a post about za'atar with a story about my lack of a green thumb? Because za'atar tastes awesome with fresh thyme. Had I not killed mine, it would have saved me a trip to the supermarket to get some. But understandable, some of you will have better thyme plants than I did, or perhaps have a box of them in your fridge. Either way, za'atar is a middle eastern spice blend that makes everything taste like magic, from chickpea salads to roasted eggplants (more on that in another post). If you have trouble sourcing sumac, trusty amazon or a local middle eastern shop might help. I got mine from the mohammed mustafa centre in Singapore. That place sells everything.

Ingredients:
-2 tsp ground sumac
-2 heaped tbsp dried thyme
-1 tbsp dried oregano
-1 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds
-1/4 tsp pink himalayan salt
-1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, pulled off the stem

Method:
Simply toss into a mason jar, screw on the lid and shake it like a polaroid picture.

Great as a salad garnish, on natural yogurt (or soygurt!) with a drizzle of olive oil, on top of fresh hummus or baba ghanoush or in a piping hot tagine. But if you're lost for ideas, I'll be posting some soon xx