Tag Archives: medieval middle eastern cooking

Meat Porridges (Hara'is) and Oven Dishes (Tannuriyyat), Medieval Middle Eastern Redactions, Tannuriyya Chicken Pot Pie

Tannuriyya: Chicken Pot Pie

Aside Leave a comment

Tannuriyya: Chicken Pot Pie

Translation:

Boil one chicken, pullets (2 young fowl) in salt and water. Take a frying pan and pour tallow and oil into it.  Spread bread dough in it to line bottom and sides.  Now, take the (boiled) chicken, pullets or the two plump fowls and remove the cavity (wall).  Spread the birds flat on the dough in the pan.  Mix finely chopped cilantro and onion with spikenard, cloves, cassia and black pepper.  Pour on them wine vinegar and murri (liquid fermented sauce).  If you prefer, use juice of…raisins…and pomegranate seeds, instead.  Add ½ C. clarified butter or sweet olive oil and 5 eggs. Mix thoroughly all these ingredients and pour them all over the chicken.  Roll out another piece of dough into a disc (for a crust), cover the chicken with it, (and seal together the edges of the dough). Lower the pan into the (heated) tannur until it is cooked, God willing. (Ibn Sayyar Al-Warraq, pp. 372-373)

Ingredients:

1 boiled chicken, de-boned and shredded

2 rolled out rounds of circular dough

5 eggs

½ C. Murri

¼ C. wine vinegar

½ finely chopped large onion or one small onion

1 bunch cilantro (if fresh is not available use 1 tsp dried)

1 tsp spikenard, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves

½ C. melted butter.

Redaction:

Instead of doing one full bird, I used 4 chicken thighs, well boiled in salt water.  The meat and skin were left over from making chicken stock and no one in period would throw out good meat. 

Quick side note:  Period chickens were not the size of the chickens we find in the grocery store today.  They were a lot smaller.  For an idea of true chicken size, look up the chicken type called The Sultan.  Small chickens, incredibly cute! but not a lot of meat.  Another period Middle Eastern chicken would have been the Orloff.  A little bigger than the sultan in period and breed over time to be a much bigger bird by the Russian noble Orloff.  (He liked the birds so brought a bunch home to Russia…hence the name Russian Orloff even though the birds technically started in the Middle East.)  I wrote a research paper that can be found on Roxalana’s redactions under Research paper if you want to know waaaay more than anyone really wants to know about chickens in period.

You will notice a spice called Spikenard.  Is modernly grown as an ornamental these days instead of as a common spice, found in the ginseng family.  (https://www.britannica.com/plant/spikenard-plant-Nardostachys-genus / Dalby, Andrew, “Spikenard” in Alan Davidson, The Oxford Companion to Food, 2nd ed. by Tom Jaine (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-19-280681-5)

I just went without.  I also used dried cilantro instead of fresh.  It’s what I had on hand.

Remember the Murri recipe awhile back?  It’s here again.  When you make Murri, make several cups worth.  This will show up again and again in Middle Eastern recipes.  If you don’t have Murri on hand, use pomegranate juice and ground up raisins.  Pomegranate juice can be bought at some stores, lots of Middle Eastern and Oriental stores carry this, or it can be ordered online.  For raisin juice.  Soak them a little bit, then grind them well (use a Cuisinart if you have one or a pestle and mortar) and strain through a fine sieve or cloth covered sieve. 

I used a simple butter crust.  1 stick of butter, mixed with 2.5 C. of flour, 1 tsp salt and 1 C. of water added a Tbs. at a time until everything comes together.  Some days your kitchen is going to be so humid you won’t need all the water, but some days you will, hence the Tbs. at a time.

Roll out the dough and cover your pan.

Here you can use a Tagine if you have one, a cast iron skillet or a small pan that’s in your cabinet you use every day.  (If you’re entering this dish into an A&S please note on your documentation why or why not you used the pan you did while noting what would have been used in period).  Your judges will want to know if you actually know what was used in period, including what a Tannur is (https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=AOaemvKOvUqMXtldMBzHAQNcMib1l3cUWQ:1632072312805&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=tannur&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwig086Tx4vzAhXSqpUCHbfeAnQQjJkEegQIBRAC&biw=1725&bih=1000&dpr=0.8) (basically a nice sized to mucking huge in ground oven you stick dough to the sides in or lower dishes into, made with various types of mud/tiles/clay etc….that’s another paper for another time).

Lay out your shredded chicken. Cover with the onion, spice, murri and egg mixture.

Cover with the second layer of dough and seal it up.  I used a simple squish the dough together then use fingers to form a semi nice looking edge found on apple pies.  You can use a fork, a spoon or even a dough crimper, as long as the edges are sealed together.

DO NOT forget to add small pricks to the dough so that pockets of hot air can escape and not rip your dough apart while drying to do so.

Bake until done.

I found this more like a chicken quiche then a chicken pot pie.  The flavors were a bit odd yet still enjoyable!

Medieval Middle Eastern Redactions, Plain Dishes (Sawadhij)

Mutawakkiliyya (Meat with Taro)

Aside Leave a comment

I haven’t worked with Taro root before so this was new. I love the almost potato like squish of the taro when I bit down. The spices can be…overwhelming. So keep that in mind when you go to cook this.

Mutawakkiliyya (The Caliph al-Mukatwakkil d. AD 861)
Meat with Taro


Translation:
A pound and a half of meat and a pound and a half of washed taro, caraway pepper Ceylon cinnamon, five bunches of green coriander, five green onions, five heads of garlic. The meat is
put in the pot and water to cover or less is put on it and you kindle (the fire) under it until it dries up. And when the water has evaporated, you throw the pepper and caraway , and you cut up
two bunches of green coriander and four green onions and pound the four heads (of garlic) mixed with three bunches of green coriander. You feed it with all the pepper and caraway and
throw everything into the pot with the meat. You can cut up the garlic. When it smells good, you put water on the pot as needed to cove the taro you have. Then you kindle (the fire) until
the taro smells good, and you make it settle and ladle it out. (Rodinson, pp. 340)


Ingredients:
1.5 lbs stew meat
1.5 cleaned taro root
2 tsp. ea. Long pepper (groud) and caraway
1 Tbs Chinese cinnamon
1 head of garlic
1 bunch cilantro (RINSED)
1 bunch green onions
Salt to taste


Redaction:
So reading through the recipe is a little bit confusing. The quantities change from 5 to 4 to 3 the further you go in. So I made a few judgement calls (after experiment). I tried 3 heads
of garlic with two full store bunches of cilantro and 4 green onions. WHOA! All I tasted was garlic. So I made a decision to embrace the right as a cook to change how much went into my
dish.


I used one (well rinsed) bunch of cilantro, 8 green onions (one store bought bunch), and one head of garlic. There is still a bite; however I can now taste the green onion and cilantro
instead of swearing I’ve turned into a vampire the garlic bit back so much.


I gathered all my items up. Per usual, I have cut the meat into bite sized pieces. I think that’s courteous to my quests to not have to chew one piece for ever while having the cheeks of a
chipmunk.


First thing to notice is that taro root looks like hairy roaches. I found when picking out the Taro, the box contained a lot of moldy roots. I went for the dense and firm roots without the
mold. I don’t need to rediscover penicillin. Rinse them well and peel off the outer layer.


The spices are some of the usual suspects. However, I am trying more long pepper than just regular pepper. I LOVE the smell of fresh long pepper. In the picture, you will see the long
pepper is whole. I ground mine up, so the full flavor could be enjoyed by all, not just the one person who bit down on a whole long pepper. However, I am trying more long pepper than just regular pepper. I LOVE the smell of fresh long pepper. In the picture, you will see the long pepper is whole. I ground mine up, so the full flavor could be enjoyed by all, not just the one person who bit down on a whole long pepper.

Put the meat into a pot with just enough water to cover.


Once the first round of water has evaporated, everything but the taro root goes into the pot.

Stir this around until fragrant. 2-3 minutes. Next add the taro root and enough water to cover. Cook until the taro root is tender. This is about 35-45 minutes.


Serve!


The taro root is nice. A good starch in place of potato for a beef stew. STRONG garlic taste even with the cinnamon. Not even the lovely fragrant long pepper could overcome so much garlic. When I do this dish again, I’ll probably go for ½ a head of garlic and maybe a smidge more cilantro and green onion. Otherwise pretty tasty.

Meat Porridges (Hara'is) and Oven Dishes (Tannuriyyat), Medieval Middle Eastern Redactions, Shawi: Grilled Meat

Shawi: Grilled Meat

Aside Leave a comment

Even though this dish says “grilled”, it’s not.  Even though it looks a little bland, it’s an amazing dish with more flavor than can be described in the word “grilled”.  Fast and easy.  You spend as much time on prepping as you do cooking.  Give this one a try, if your short on time or just need something showstopping on the taste buds.

 

Shawi: Grilled Meat

Translation:

Take fatty good grilling meat and sheep’s tail.  Chop finely.  Put in a shallow earthenware pot.  Put it over the fire.  Take for it roasted walnut hearts and throw over roasted and pounded coriander and caraway, parsley, mint and lime.  Put in the middle a little atraf al-tib.  Put in a dish and eat hot.  It is tasty.  (Kanz al-Fawa’id fi Tanwi’ al-Mawa’id/Salloum, pg 50-51)

 

Ingredients:

1 – 1.5 lbs Meat

1/2 C. Olive Oil or sheep tail fat

2 C. Roasted Walnuts

1 tsp. caraway (roasted and ground)

1 tsp. ground coriander, parsley and mint

2 Tbs. lime juice

 

Redaction:

I gathered all the ingredients together.

I had beef for grilling on hand so went with that.  Any good quality meat will do.  I cut the meat into about 1/2 to 1/3 what I would normally for making kabobs.  I wanted to have easily chewed pieces not huge dripping chunks.  The meat was then put into a shallow tajine bottom.

 

I left the lid off as the recipe didn’t say to cover.  I think my idea of small is not the original cook’s idea of “finely”.  I’m ok with this.

 

Next I took roasted walnuts, spices and lime juice. Everything was mixed together then popped into the oven at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

 

If you’ll notice the meat is still a little pink at the center.  This is a fast cooking dish.

 

The reason you don’t see this on a plate over roasted vegetables or sauted spinach…it was eaten to fast.  I just got enough into this bowl before it was devoured.  This is a damn good recipe!

Hasa Aldaan (Lamb Soup), Medieval Middle Eastern Redactions, Sour Dishes (Hawamid)

Hasa Aldaan; Lamb Soup

Aside Leave a comment

This recipe came about as I was in the process of making lamb stock.  I had lamb bones in the freezer that needed to be used so I tossed them in a crock pot and cooked for a day.  My roommate, who is very pregnant, came home waxing enthusiastically about how good the soup smelled.  She was in need of food and an ear so we talked as I worked on this recipe.

Hasa Aldaan

Lamb Soup

Translation:

Another recipe for the meat of mountain sheep: take it complete with bones and wash it well and, having added asafetida, onions, fresh ginger, salt, fresh greens and fresh coriander, cook it.  Put in plenty of water.  Add some pepper and lime juice and, when it is well cooked, take it off and either eat as it is or else flavor it with asafetida essence.  (The Nimatnama Manuscript of the Sultans of Mandu, pp. 26)

 

Ingredients:

1 lb lamp with bones

1/2 onion

1/2 tsp asafetida

2 Tbs. fresh ginger chopped

1 tsp. salt (or to taste)

2 C. Spinach (or greens of your liking)

1 tsp ground Coriander or 1/4 C. chopped Cilantro

2 Tbs. lime juice

 

Redaction:

I took the broth with chunks of lamb, de-boning as I went, so that the lamb meat was shredding as I stirred.

I added spinach.  Why spinach?  Because that’s the greens I had on hand.  You can use just about any greens found so don’t limit yourself to just one type.  Try different flavors.

 

Because I was only cooking for two, I used half an onion.  The ginger chopped down to a little more than expected but I love fresh ginger in soup so I kept the extra.  I only had dried coriander on hand so that was what was used.  If you have fresh, use that! The salt ended up being 2 tsp, being to my taste.

Here everything but the lime juice has been added and is simmering.  Not boiling, simmering.

The lime juice was added at the end and give a nice bright flavor.

I liked this recipe.  It’s more than meat, greens, salt and water.  You get to play with the flavoring a little as you try different greens, with fresh or dried coriander

Banquet dels Quatre Barres (2nd edistion)

Alhams Walluhum; Chickpeas and Meat

Aside Leave a comment

I had left over lamb that needed to be cooked and chickpeas that needed to be eaten.  I found a dish that incorporated both with tasty results!

Alhams Walluhum

Chickpeas and Meat

Translation:

…flavor meat with asafetida and cook it.  Add chickpea pulse.  Add cumin, fenugreek, asafetida, salt, turmeric, pepper, lime juice and garlic; cook it until it is very tender. (The Nimatnama Manuscript of the Sultans of Mandu, pp. 35)

 

Ingredients:

2 C. meat (lamb cooked with asafetida)

1 C. chickpeas (lightly ground)

1 tsp. ground cumin, fenugreek, turmeric

1/2 tsp. asafetida, salt, and ground pepper

2 tsp. lime juice

 

Redaction:

Here are the gathered ingredients.

 

I used lamb, sprinkled with asafetida, that had been previously cooked. Leftovers put to good use.

I ground the chickpeas only a little bit.  I didn’t want to make a mush of them but I did want to break them down a bit.

 

Next I added all the spices.  A note about asafetida, it’s called the devil’s stink weed for a reason.  It’s like garlic on steroids.  A little goes a long way, so use it sparingly!  If you don’t have asafetida, just use garlic.

Finally the chance to taste what was smelling so amazing!

 

The dish itself is rather unremarkable looking, slightly bland yellow.  However I wanted to add a touch of color while getting my healthy on.  Not to worry, the sauteed spinach IS optional.  If you don’t want to have spinach, don’t.  I added it because it breaks up the plating just a bit.  Mostly I did this for decoration and greens instead of a salad at dinner time.

Banquet dels Quatre Barres (2nd edistion)

Mishmishiya: Fat Meat with Apricots

Aside Leave a comment

Finding myself with excellent lamb chops, I decided I needed to try a new dish.  I was skeptical at first due to the boiling of meat the recipe called for and the inclusion of jujubes and mastic.  Both of these spices are strongly overpowering if to much is included so add these sparingly!  This is an amazing dish with flavors that dance over the palate.  Try it once and you’ll be a fan!

Mishmishiya

(Fat Meat with Apricots)

 

Translation:

Take fat meat.  Boil it in a little water and take its scum away.  Take dried apricots and remove their pits and replace them with blanched almonds.  And when the meat is done, throw the apricots on it, and raisins, atraf al-tib, a stick of Chinese cinnamon, mint mastic, saffron and jujubes, and sweeten it with sugar and honey.  It comes out well. (Rodinson, pp. 356-357)

Ingredients:

4-6 lamb chops or 1 lb. cubed.

1/2 C. apricots

Enough almonds to stuff each apricot

1/4 C. raisins

1 tsp Chinese cinnamon, mint, and honey

1/16 ground mastic

4 jujubes

Pinch of saffron

Redaction:

Take your apricots and stuff them.  Then gather all your ingredients together in one spot.

Also I hate jujubes.  Note for one steak, I only had one squished jujube in the entire spice dish.  I consider jujubes to be the worst spice ever!  Use it in very small quantities! Otherwise your dish will taste like nothing more than jujubes and a hint of something else.  Don’t go overboard on the mastic.  It’s type of pine resin and also has a strong taste.  A little goes a very long way!

Take a deep frying pan and fill it half way up to the meat’s side.

Let the meat sit in the water for 4-5 minutes on each side.  Continually removing the scum as it surfaces (it won’t be much).

            While the meat is boiling, put the apricots and raisons to the side, then grind together all the spices except the honey.

            When the meat has been cooked on both sides and the water has been boiled away, remove it from the pan.  Sprinkle the ground spices over the meat,

scattering the dried fruit over the meat. Dribble the honey over that.

            My first thought on this recipe is that boiling meat is just blah!  I was pleasantly surprised at how tender and very juicy the meat came out.  The ground spices smelled amazing!  Even with the jujube and mastic, the saffron and cinnamon and mint blended with the others wonderfully.

Madira - Meat in Yogurt with Leeks, Meat Porridges (Hara'is) and Oven Dishes (Tannuriyyat), Medieval Middle Eastern Redactions

Madira (Meat in Yogurt with Leeks)

Aside Leave a comment

This is a dish to try if you have a large volume of yogurt on hand and want to try a new dish.  I think it’s ok.  The flavors are good but I’ve had better yogurt dishes to be honest.  I can’t say this is amazing but it is filling.  Perhaps over noodles or rice it would be a bit better.  Perhaps with a bit of cheese sprinkled over it as well.

This is obviously a very close relative to Al-Madira in name, but that’s about it.  There are different spices and cooking style, enough so that these are barely kissing cousin recipes..

Madira

(Meat in Yogurt with Leeks)

Translation:

A pound of meat, four pounds of yoghurt.  Put them with curdled milk, a shifaya of leeks, a quarter shifaya of green onions – and if the onions are green, they can be dispensed with – and a stick of ginger, a stick of Ceylon cinnamon, both whole and the weight of a quart dirham of whole mastic.  Then you put the yoghurt in the pot, and when it boils and sticks to the ladle, throw the meat in.  When it boils tow or three times, cut up the leeks, which have been split, and throw them in.  And when the leeks boil, cut up the onions and throw them in with the mastic, Ceylon cinnamon and ginger.  When it all smells good and boils, throw in the mint, half a bunch.  Its fire should be gentle, so that it smells good and binds; if it doesn’t bind, throw in it the quantity of half an ounce of heart starch or a handful of rice.  When the yoghurt is nearly done, take it down.  (Rodison, pp. 327.)

 

Ingredients:

1 lb meat (beef or lamb) cut up.

4 lbs yogurt

1/2 C curdled milk (sour milk?)

1 leek

4 green onions

1 stick of ginger (do not chop!)

1 stick cinnamon or 1/2 tsp ground

1/4 tsp mastic

 

Redaction:

I gathered up almost everything, forgetting to picture the leeks and mint.

The yogurt went into the pot to boil.

Once the yogurt had started to boil and liquefy, I added the beef chunks.

I let this boil before adding the split, sliced and washed leek.

Bring the yogurt mixture to a boil three times before adding the onions, ginger (do NOT chop), cinnamon and mastic.

Put the flame, or stove top on low, and let simmer until the yogurt starts thickening up.  If the yogurt doesn’t thicken add rice or arrow root.

Once the dish has thickened, add the mint then serve forth.

 

The dish doesn’t look like much, and I found it a little bland but exceptionally filling.  I thought I was going to have to add starch; however as I let the liquefied yogurt reduce for about 20 minutes.  The curds came together like small granules of rice.  It takes a bit of time but it’s worth the wait.  I also found the taste and excellent blend of onion, yogurt, beef and mastic, with a slight hint of ginger and cinnamon.  I added a bit of salt and found this made a world of difference!

Medieval Middle Eastern Redactions, Plain Dishes (Sawadhij)

Sikh (Skewered Meat)

Aside Leave a comment

There have been a few hurdles over the past few months that I have had to address and recover from.  However I have a new recipe to add to my list of favorite dishes.  Meat plus fire, always an excellent combination!

Sikh

 (Skewered Meat)

???????????????????????????????

Translation:

…for the method for skewered meat: mix meat with salt onions and turmeric and boil it with whole potherbs.  Cut it into very small pieces and strain it.  Then fasten one segment of meat and one piece of onion on the skewer and rub ghee, caraway, lime juice, white ambergris, rosewater and salt on it.  Bake it well and when it is tender, wrap it in thin bread and serve it.  (Mandu, pp. 26)

Ingredients:

2 lb cubed meat

Salt (to taste)

1 onion (finely chopped)

1 tsp turmeric

½ tsp ea. thyme, cilantro and basil

Second stage

1 onion cut into quarters

Ghee

2 tsp Caraway

1 tsp lime juice

¼ tsp rosewater

Salt to taste

 

Redaction:

I am going to change this slightly.  Here instead of boiling the meat, I am placing the meat to marinade overnight in the first set of ingredients.

So first, take a good piece of meat with a bit of marbled fat for excellent flavor and cut it into cubes.

cutting up meat with onionThen mix the marinade together.

???????????????????????????????After the meat has marinated for 24 hours (or slightly longer),

???????????????????????????????I skewer all the meat.

???????????????????????????????I alternate one cube with one slice of onion, until the skewer is filled.  The onion chunks actually help with the cooking.  I did several skewers with onions and several without.  Those without onions cooked slower and the meat was still very red in between the chunks while the outside was done and slightly charred.

Once the skewers are ready to grill, I brush each one with the ghee, caraway, lime juice, rose water and salt mixture, every 5 minutes until the meat is done.

???????????????????????????????

This is the raw meat grilling on a small clay pot grill.

???????????????????????????????The meat is smelling heavenly at this point but still a bit raw.

???????????????????????????????The meat is done and ready to be devoured.

The meat actually never made it into the flat bread.  We ate the cubes hot off the skewers.  It was delicious.  I regret nothing!