Chilli Lemon and Lime Salt

Seasoned salt is one of the quickest and easiest ways to add flavour into food. Just a sprinkle of this chilli, lemon and lime salt on some barbecued prawns  will bring out their sweetness and flavour.

To make 90g of this, you will need:

A  mortar and pestle
70g of rock salt/ flaky sea salt
3 lemon zests
3 lime zests
6 fresh chillies

Zest all of your lemon and lime and add them with  all the other ingredients into your mortar. Start crushing and grinding the ingredients until they reach  a powdered form. The idea of this exercise is to grind and extract all those delicious citrus oil and chilli flavours into the salt. Be warned though, this might take a while - well at least it is a great upper body exercise- much more fun than going to the gym!

Place all of your ground powder on a baking tray and let it dry out in a cold oven overnight. Once it is  dried the salt will slightly stick together again. So, place it all into the mortar and pestle again and grind it a little bit more to separate the grains. You can now store your chili, lemon and lime salt in a air-tight container.

This salt  goes well with seafood,  fish, chicken, oven roast potatoes and even salad dressings.

I also did three other flavoured salts:

From left (clockwise): Sumac Salt, Fennel Salt, Chilli Lemon & Lime Salt, Schechuan Pepper Salt

Fennel Salt

I love fennel salt. It has a subtle aniseed flavour which goes extremely well with ingredients such as cannelini beans, cauliflower, fennel, pork and parsnip. In the winter, I love sprinkling it onto my  bowl of soup and eating with a German dark rye  bread.

I have also added a teaspoon of this aromatic salt into my dukkah mix!

To make 60g of this, you will need:

A  mortar and pestle
40g fennel seeds, toasted
20g Rock salt/ flaky sea salt

Toast your fennel seeds on a  skillet, shaking your pan constantly to promote an even cooking temperature. Remove from heat once it has turned slightly golden. Let it cool.

Add  the toasted fennel seeds and salt into your mortar and start crushing and grinding until it has reached a powder form. Store it in an air-tight container.

Sumac Salt

Along with yoghurt, lemons and pomegranates, sumac is one of the key ingredients that provides the sour flavoured characteristic in Middle Eastern food.

To make 50g of this salt, you will need:

A  mortar and pestle
30g sumac
20g rock salt/ flaky sea salt

Add a teaspoon of this whenever recipes call for lemon. I like garnished homemade hummus with a bit of this and a good dash of extra virgin olive oil.

Szechuan Pepper Salt

Having grown up in Hong Kong means that each time I go to a northern Chinese cuisine restaurant I find some form of Szechuan Pepper in at least one dish. 


Szechuan pepper has a unique aroma and flavour that is not hot or pungent like black or white pepper, or chilli peppers. Instead, it has slightly lemony overtones and creates a tingly numbness in the mouth.

Whenever I am making some form of stir fries, I like to put a teaspoon of this in it. This Szechuan pepper salt is all ground up, so it is perfect to control the quantity you would like to have in your food.

Remove the pan from the heat when the Szechuan pepper starts smoking.

To make 50g of this salt, you will need:

A  mortar and pestle
30g of Szechuan pepper
20g of flaky sea salt/ rock salt

Toast the pepper on a skillet, and remove from the heat once it starts smoking. Let it cool down. Add the toasted pepper into the mortar along with the salt and grind it until it reaches a powdered form. Store it in a air-sealed container.

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