Bringing Medieval Arab Cooking to Life
The dish derives its name from the fact that a mixture of garlic, salt, cinnamon, cassia, spikenard, and eggs is stuffed underneath the skin along the spine of the chicken. It is served on top of citron leaves and decorated with crumbled egg yolks. Before serving, prinkle on some spices and shredded rue. [Andalusian, fol. 12v.]
This recipe from 10th-century Iraq was recommended for people with cold temperaments. It is not difficult to make and can be enjoyed by itself as a sweet. It is very unusual in that it is one of the rare mediaeval recipes requiring wine, in which to soak the ginger. Afterwards, the ginger is cooked with saffron and honey before adding various spices (e.g. saffron, spikenard, black cardamom and pepper). Although the author suggested storing it for a few months, it tastes quite nice already a few days later!
A wonderful 10th-century Baghdadi recipe made with a filling of shrimp, taro root, onion and spices stuffed inside thin sheets of bread fried in olive oil. Complement with soya sauce on the side for dipping. A great snack, or light lunch or dinner!
These scrumptious biscuits are extremely easy to make. Clarified butter (ghee), almond and wheat flour, and sugar are kneaded into a dough, which is then shaped into breasts before baking. Serve with some mint tea on a lazy weekend afternoon — or any other time for that matter! [Wasf al-at’ima, Ṣināʿa 52, p. 229].
This recipe from 15th-century Egypt requires coating fish with coriander, caraway and flour before frying it in a pan. The sauce, which is cooked separately, is made with the following ingredients: carrots, sumac, coriander, thyme, garlic, pepper, chopped up salted lemons, and celery. [Ibn Mubārak Shāh, fol. 18r.]
For these 13th-century fish cakes, you need two meaty fish of your choosing (we opted for cod), which are boned, cleaned and mashed. The following are added to the mixture before kneading it into cakes: salt, pepper, cinnamon, ginger, mastic, cumin, saffron, dried coriander, onion juice, garlic, mint juice, murri (a fermented barley condiment which can be replaced with soya sauce), and oil. Serve with a tangy sauce made with garlic, vinegar, soya sauce and olive oil. [al-Tujibi, 2012, 199]
This was a speciality of the mediaeval Islamic west (al-Andalus, North Africa) and the cookbooks include quite a few recipes for mujabbanas, which were conspicuous by their absence from tables in the Near East. This 13th-century recipe requires flour, yeast and water to make a dough which is then shaped into balls and filled with cheese before deep frying in oil (though shallow frying also produces nice results). Don’t forget to drain them after removing them from the pan. They can also be turned into a sweet snack very easily through a generous dusting of sugar and cinnamon and with honey and rosewater for delicious dunking! There are a number of present-day descendants of the mujabbana, the most far-flung of which is probably the Brazilian pao de queijo.
This is a dish not from one of the cookery books, but from a medical treatise on aphrodisiacs, written by the great astronomer al-Ṭūsī in the 13th century.
“Take some pullets; slaughter them; dry, wash and cut them up into slices. Sprinkle rock salt on the sides and grill on live coal, turning them over on each side until they are cooked. Then take five dirhams* of black cumin, three dirhams of goat’s beard, four dirhams of common ash and half a dirham of coconut. Pound all of these and sprinkle on the meat. This dish is eaten for supper. It strengthens the principal organs, increases innate heat, removes coldness from the back and loins, expels moistness and superfluities from the body, reddens the face, and purifies the blood. It also strengthens coitus to the extent that even when one has intercourse for three days running, one need not worry about growing weak. One is able to pleasure ten slave girls and freewomen every night, without any trouble or discomfort, as stated by the ancient philosophers and physicians.” (The Sultan’s Sex Potions, p. 103)
1 dirham = 3.125 g.
Eat with some rice and/or (Middle Eastern) flatbread (failing that, a foccacia would also be a great complement!).
A refreshing drink made with sugar dissolved in water, pomegranate seeds, hot bread, lime, and spices such as nutmeg, and musk. It is best when served cooled, with ice. The recreation relies on a recipe from the 15th century [Ibn Mubārak Shāh, fol. 22v.]
