Al-Madira Meat and Leeks, Meat Porridges (Hara'is) and Oven Dishes (Tannuriyyat)

Al-Madira (Meat and Leeks)

October 25, 2009 SoshaRuark Leave a comment

Al-Madira

(Meat and Leeks)

This translation is one of my favorites, a warm rich thick yogurt meaty dish that has wonderful flavors. A great winter or fall type of dish. It’s not quite chicken soup for the soul but it does make a person go “Mmmm…comfy now!”

Translation:

Cut p fat meat medium and leave it in the pot with a little salt and water to cover. And when it is nearly done, throw big green onions on it and big Syrian Leeks, washed and with their leaves cut off. When it is done and the water has decreased, throw spices on it and adjust the salt. Then take it out of the pot and put it in another vessel, and take the water from the pot and throw yogurt on it as needed. And when it boils well, add already prepared melted tail fat, with the onions and leeks which have been taken up. Throw in a scraped stick of Chinese cinnamon, and it settles and is taken up…Throw in saffron and add sugar to it, and it comes out good.

Medieval Arab Cookery p.321

Ingredients:

2.5 lb beef/venison/goat or chicken cubed

3 leeks sliced

3 cups water (or enough to cover the meat)

1 small onion diced

½ tsp cumin, coriander, cinnamon, turmeric, saffron, and black caraway seeds (optional)

2 C yogurt

salt to taste

1 Tsp granulated table sugar

Optional: (Cariadoc makes this suggestion for chicken)

½ lemon or ¼ cup lemon juice ½ C fresh mint

Al-Baghdadi p. 41/6 (A Miscelleny)

I did this redaction following the techniques of the original while still incorporating a bit from Master Cariado’s suggestion.

My Redaction:

Here is a compilation of all the ingredients in one picture.

I cubed my meat (this time chicken). The meat used is 10 chicken thighs (a very rough equivalent to one full chicken. I then placed the chicken into a pot and covered with water.

When the chicken was mostly done I added 1/2 the onions and 1/2 the leeks. The remaining leeks and onions I sauteed in a pan with olive oil (sesame oil would work just as well to add a nutty taste).

The original translation says to add prepared tail fat with onions and leeks. Tail fat is fat from the tail of a type of sheep. This is a VERY strong mutton taste. If you ever have had mutton and prefer your mutton in small quantities, don’t add tail fat. If you LOVE mutton go to a meat market and ask for sheep tail fat and use it like you would bacon. /shudder

The leeks were cut below the start of the leaves then sliced lengthwise and cut into smaller pieces. This is for easier washing and rinsing of dirt that might have collected in the growing layers of the leeks.

After the leeks and onions have turned soft, I added spices then taste if additional salt is needed.

The pot is left to simmer for a final round of water reduction. After the water has reduced a bit more, I turn off the burner and add the yogurt, mint, sugar, sauteed onions and leeks. (The original translated recipe says to remove the dry soup to another vessel, I opted to turn off the stove instead).

I serve this either by itself or over brown rice to help sop up the extra juices. Pita bread could serve the same purpose for the sopping up. Couscous is very period for a carb/filler for an added accompaniment.

Before serving take one final taste just to make sure you have enough salt or need to add a touch extra!

Hummus Kasa, Medieval Middle Eastern Redactions, Vegetarian Dishes (Sawadhij)

Hummus Kasa

October 22, 2009 SoshaRuark Leave a comment

Hummus Kasa

Period hummus is very hearty. This is not the usual 5 ingredients and smooth hummus that many are use to today. Period hummus walks into a room and demands the best spot on the table because it can stand on it’s own as a meal!

Translation:

Take chickpeas and pound them fine after boiling them. Then take vinegar, oil, tahineh, pepper…mint, parsley dry thyme, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios, Ceylon cinnamon, toasted caraway, dry coriander, salt, salted lemons and olives. Stir it…

Medieval Arab Cookery p. 383.

Ingredients;

1 can chickpeas (roughly blended…unless you reaaaaly want to chop them by hand)

1 C tahineh

1/3 C vinegar

1/3 C olive oil

1/2 tsp each of dried mint, thyme, cinnamon, caraway, coriander, salt, black pepper

1 tsp parsley

¼-1/3 C walnuts, almonds, pistachios (roughly chopped)

1 preserved lemon (salted and stored in olive oil)

My Redaction:

Once all the ingredients are assembled the rest is pretty easy. The nuts are roughly chopped, the garbanzo beans have been blended, the spices assembled, oil and vinegar assembled, and the preserved lemon roughly chopped as well.

Once everythign is on hand, put into a bowl and stir. Today’s palate may prefer the smoothness of everything blended into a paste however that is not quite period. Things were a tad more chunky. I put all these ingredients into a bowl then stirred everything till the tahini was well blended. Why did I base my blending on the tahini? Well…try string peanute butter into a mix. If the peanut butter is not mixed well there are lumpy parts instead of a tasty blend of spices.

Here is the blended lumpy full meal hummus with a little olive oil and mint. It’s happy to see you!

Laymun Marakibi (Salted Lemons)

October 22, 2009 SoshaRuark Leave a comment

Laymun Marakibi

(Salted Lemons)

There are a couple of ways to make this. The period translations read:

1st Translation:

Pickled lemons are done in the manner thus; Slice lemons. Sprinkle with salt. Drain of juice. Place in water or oil.

2^nd Translation:

The lemon is split lengthwise and then filled with coarse salt. It is left thus for two nights and then kept in lemon juice covered with oil.

(Rodinson, pp. 144)

Ingredients:

10-15 lemons

½ cup salt

Oil or water to cover

Glass jar

My Redaction:

The first way to do this is to cut lemons in either round or length wise. When doing round cuts I remove the ends. When doing lenthwise cuts I leave the ends and the seeds (these will either be ground up if using a blender or pop out on their own if hand chopping).

Quartered…ok sixes or rounds. Either way is perfectly except-able. My preference is for rounds though I do not get as many pieces visually.

Once the lemons have been cut, place them in a large bowl. Toss the salt and the lemons together till all the slices are coated then leave to “juice” for 48 hours (roughly). after the salt has had it’s purgative effect, rinse off under water, draining the excess water thoroughly. Place the slices in a clean jar and cover with either water or olive oil. Do NOT cover with both. Really! As the old saying goes water and oil do not mix (and this would just be baaad for the lemons).

I used a jar I had on hand (artichoke hearts were really tasty!) for the lemon rounds and an olive oil.

Which ever method is chosen make sure the lemons are covered completely. The covering of the lemons, even though very acidic already, is necessary as there is the potential of mold growing on the fruit. Once the fruit is completely covered the chances is cut down dramatically.

If slices should become covered in mold, simply pull the offending pieces out of the oil or water and top off with a little more liquid. It has been my experience that the fruit can stay preserved this way for 1 to 2 years. (This may not be the average in every household) As with all non heated/sealed foods be cautious in usage. If you suspect some thing is off do not use.

Kunafa

Kunafa (Shredded Dough Pastry)

October 14, 2009 SoshaRuark Leave a comment

Kunafa

(Shredded dough pastry)

The original translation is a bit tricky on this recipe. This is what I call a reverse redaction as the original I found is actually a modern day recipe with cream cheese and orange water as part of the ingredients. Here is a brief history and descriptions of the original types of shredded dough pastries.

Translation:

The original commentary is –Batter is dribbled onto the warmed metal through perforations. The fine ‘pasta’ that results is dried, rather then cooked, on the sheet,…to make a pastry, the kunafah dough must be baked with clarified butter and perhaps a filling such as nuts. This was then ‘drowned’ in almond oil and syrup and considered to be as fine as grasshoppers wings.

(Rodinson, pp. 223).

There is no exact recipe for this though there is a modern day recipe that I have crossed with a pastry dessert called qata’if.

Quata’if – This is of various kinds. Stuffed qata’if are baked into long shapes, stuffed with almonds and fine ground sugar, rolled round, and laid out: then sesame-oil, syrup, rose-water and fine ground pistachios are thrown on.

Judhab al-Qata’if – Take ata’if stuffed with almonds and sugar and fried; arrange oin a dish between two thin cakes, and set under a chicken. Between every two layers put sugar, and almonds, peeled chopped fine, and scented asi n tuffing. Pour on sesame-oil or if preferred fresh mil with more sugar. When cooked and fragrant, remove. Some, instead of almond and almond oil, use walnut and walnut oil (Rodinson, pp. 81, 87)

Quata’if is described as type of pancake. However the Kunafa was not a pancake but did use shredded dough or dough cut into thin slices. Rose-water, sugar, milk, eggs, honey (for the syrup) or date syrup is common to both recipes. The modern day recipe however calls for the use of orange-water which was not used in period and has been omitted. This recipe also calls for small curd cheese and a soft cheese. With the Quata’if (Judhab) calling for milk and Persian shiraz (firm yogurt) as well as numerous soft cheeses available this would not be a hard stretch to turn milk into yogurt to be used.

With a reverse redaction the ingredients were changed to reflect a more historic types of ingredients.

Ingredients:

2.5 sticks melted butter

1 lb Kataif dough

½ cup sugar

8 oz hard Persian yogurt or cream cheese softened

1 cup feta or goat cheese

2 eggs

1 cup ground pistashios

½ cup honey

1 ½ cups honey OR date syrup

1 ½ cup water

¼ cup lemon juice

2 tsp rose-water

½ cup almond oil

My Redaction:

When first doing this recipe, I combined the cheeses with the eggs and the ½ cup of honey, until smooth.

This is a bit messy but fun!

I set this aside to work on the dough. Take the Kataif dough, making sure this is at room temperature and in a large bowl, I poured the melted butter over it. Then I worked the butter through the dough, trying for an even coating as much as possible. When the dough has been as best coated with butter, I place half of the dough in a greased dish.

If you love buttery dough this stuff is awesome. I swear I consumed at least 1/2 a cup it was soooo tasty!

For those wondering, while I “could” maybe have made this with either rolled out dough and a knife to slice small strands of the rolled dough or even possibly using a pastry machine, I decided the best course of action that would NOT drive me bonkers while trying to make this was just to buy the dough at the store. This can be found (for me) in a local HEB store though I believe the local Indian or Phoenician Bakery also carries this pastry dough also.

Once the bottom layer of dough is down I pour on the egg, cheese and honey mixture. I then layer the sugar and pistachios onto this

“But where are the pistachio and sugar?” You might ask. Well, those were forgotten at the time of taking pictures. (I was in the midst of cooking 3 dishes and taking several pictures and forgot the sugar and pistachio parts…but never fear they were added!).

After the sugar and nuts are layered, I add the remaining dough on top. This is then baked till the dough is a golden brown on top.

While the dish is cooking I placed into a bowl the remaining honey, water, rose-water and sesame oil and mix thoroughly. This will look like a HUGE amount. Do not fret, all of the syrup will be absorbed. Really. All of it will be come one with the creamy salty sweet goodness that is about to come out of your oven!

Once the main dish is finished cooking and cooled (15-20 minutes) I poured the hot syrup and oil mixture on top. This is allowed to absorb into the dish until there is no excess left. Once the syrup has been absorbed into the dish, it is ready to serve.

This series of photos were taken with a honey mixture. The date syrup mixture adds a dark hue to the over all pastry as well as a very different taste. I will suggest making a full batch of dough and cheese then doing a half and half set of the pastry using two different pans for each type to cook in. I have also made this recipe using a miniature cheese cake pan (really cook looking when finished baking. Again sorry no picture. Yes I was in a hurry that night too!) I have also used miniature bunt cake pan to make miniature servings. These didn’t turn out nearly so well as the miniature cheese cake pan but they were still fun to make and even to eat!

Hubaishiyya (Meat w/Carrots and Raisins)

Hubaishiyya (Meat with carrots and Raisins)

October 10, 2009 SoshaRuark Leave a comment

Hubaishiyya

(Meat with Carrots and Raisins)

This dish can be made with any type of meat i.e. beef, venison, duck etc. I chose to use chicken as it was conveniently in my freezer when I came across this recipe.

For the original translation:

The way to make it is to cut up fat meat medium then throw it in the pot with a little salt and water to cover. Boil it and take of its scum. When it is nearly done, throw on chopped up onions, which you have washed with warm water and salt, and peeled carrots from which you have removed that which is inside them (viz. the woody core). Throw on dry coriander, cumin, cinnamon, mastic and pepper. Then take the necessary amount of black raisins and pound them fine, then macerate them by hand and strain them. Take two parts of their juice and one part of good sharp vinegar, and throw them in the pot. Pound some walnuts and macerate them with the mentioned juice, and throw them on it. Crumble bunches of dried mint onto the pot. Leave the pot on the fire to grow quiet and take it up, after wiping its sides with a clean cloth.

(Rodinson, pp. 318)

Ingredients:

8 chicken thigh 1 medium onion 2 cups carrots 1 tsp salt

½ tsp ea. Ground cinnamon, cumin, coriander, and pepper corns

1 cup walnuts 1 cup black raisins 2 tbs vinegar 2 tbs dried mint

(*Note: if using preserved raisins from the redaction, Zabb Wa-Nana, no extra vinegar, mint or cinnamon will be needed)

Redaction:

For the actual cooking part, I took the chicken cut into pieces (any meat cut into pieces will do) and placed the pieces into a pot and covered with water. I only covered 1 inch over the meat and added the salt.

This should be a thick, almost dry stew, not a soup. Think some thing that is thick enough to sop up with bread or scoop up with fingers. When the chicken was almost finished cooking I added the onions and carrots.

The carrots I could probably have used to cut smaller even though I matchsticked (roughly) the baby carrots used. As can be seen the stew is thickening well as part of the water has cooked off at this point. In period, some carrots were considered very woody to the tasty and the core was cut out to prevent a dish from having the harsh tasteless part of a carrot included. Most of today’s modern carrots do not suffer from this problem.

This stage of the dish cooked for 10 minutes or roughly when the onions were translucent. I took the cup of preserved raisins, set them into my Cuisinart and gushyfied them. Also known as pounded to a pulp. (Yes, I cheated this historic part. I was not about to spend 20 minutes pounding wet gushy raisins into a paste by hand. I will for pepper corns and mustard seeds but raisins are right out.) The raisins then the remaining spices into the dish. I added the walnuts as well which really thickened the soup up by quit a bit. Cook for 5-10 more minutes then serve with a side of rice or couscous and pita bread!

This is actually a little soupier then I really wanted however the dish was really good and makes a great winter time type of stew.

Medieval Middle Eastern Redactions, Zabib Wa-NaNa (Raisins and Mint)

Zabib Wa-Nana Raisins and Mint

October 10, 2009 SoshaRuark Leave a comment

Zabib Wa-NaNa

(Raisins and Mint)

This next recipe is the first step for another recipe. I figured you would want this recipe instead of having to guess where the raisins and mint came from in Hubaishiyya (Chicken with Carrots and Raisins).

The original translation goes as follows:

Translation:

Take black raisins, as big as you want, and put them in lukewarm water awhile. Then wash them and leave them on a woven mat to dry well in the shade. Then take Chinese cinnamon, mastic and rose hips, all ground fine, and a little salt all the afwah al-tib, and sprinkle them on it and put it in a glass jar. Pour sharp vinegar on it to cover by two fingers and put it up. As for mint, strip its leaves from its stems and sprinkle with those spices and afwah and put them in a glass jar and put with vinegar and cover the tops.

(Rodinson, pp. 395)

The ingredients I use are:

2 cups black raisons

1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp mastic

2 tbs rose hips

¼ tsp salt

2 tbs dried mint

My redaction for this recipe:

I took the raisins, placing them in a bowl, and soaked them in warm water for about 3 minutes. I went on to a limb and assumed the the period dried raisins were extremely dry and hard and required a lot of re-hydration which modern raisins do not. I drained the excess water from the bowl of raisins then added ground cinnamon, mastic and rose hips. (Funny store about how I have 8 lbs of rose hips on hand but that’s for another time.) Once the raisins and spices were mixed, I place everything into a jar and poured vinegar over them till the mixture was covered by 1 1/4 inch of liquid. If you want to add honey to this for a sweet(er)/tart flavor. Covering the extra 1 1/4 inch prevents mold from reaching the fruit and growing. Vinegar with or with out honey and water was one of the natural ways in which a medieval culture preserved their foods.

I don’t have a picture of these prior to cooking in the dish Hubaishiyya. At this point imagine a bowl of raisins in a bowl with vinegar. (I know sounds absolutely hideous to today’s modern palate but the sweet and sharp of these raisins arepretty good!

Sosha Lyon's O'Rourk's Medieval Redactions English, Italian, Middle Eastern, Roman, Medieval Redactions and Recipes, Medieval Research Papers, Subtleties – Grill Mistress of the Pork

Roxalana's Redactions

Monthly Archives: October 2009

Al-Madira (Meat and Leeks)

Hummus Kasa

Laymun Marakibi (Salted Lemons)

Kunafa (Shredded Dough Pastry)

Hubaishiyya (Meat with carrots and Raisins)

Zabib Wa-Nana Raisins and Mint

Sosha Lyon's O'Rourk's Medieval Redactions English, Italian, Middle Eastern, Roman, Medieval Redactions and Recipes, Medieval Research Papers, Subtleties – Grill Mistress of the Pork