Feast Page 2
The recipes I have included in this book are mostly from countries where these three great culinary traditions have developed. There are more than three hundred recipes, but even with this number, I have had to limit the selection to classics as well as personal favorites. For a comprehensive selection, I would have needed more than one volume. And I have divided the book into chapters concentrating on ingredients or types of food that are essential to the foods of Islam, with the two largest chapters devoted to the two main staples of the Muslim world—bread and rice.
THE DATE
The date is the most important fruit in Islam. It was important in the early days of Islam and it remains important today, at least in the parts of the Islamic world where it grows, which is mainly the Middle East and North Africa. In many places, the date palm is known as the tree of trees, also known as “the mother and aunt of Arabs,” as their lives depended on it. Long before oil riches, dates were the main staple of Gulf Arabs, both in terms of diet and trade (the date palm sap is used to make palm sugar), as well as construction (its wood, although not very hard, is used in building), and they were also Gulf Arabs’ main sustenance along with bread, meat, and milk. Dates were a commodity used to barter with neighboring tribes.
It is not easy to pinpoint the exact origins of the date palm. According to one myth, the tree was first planted in Medina by the descendants of Noah after the Flood. But if not in Medina, then in an equally hot place with plenty of water. As the Arabs say: “The date palm needs its feet in water and its head in the fire of the sky.” It is therefore probable that the date palm first appeared in the oases of the Arabian desert. And that is still where most date palms are grown. Saudi Arabia is the second largest grower in the world after Iraq, and the Saudi’s coat of arms is a date palm over crossed swords.
The date palm is also grown on the coasts of Africa, in Spain—in the east, a reminder of the time of Muslim rule—in western Asia, and in California. The soldiers of Alexander the Great are said to have introduced it to northern India by spitting the pits from their date ration around the camp, so that, over the course of time, palm groves grew there.
There are three main types of date: soft, hard, and semi-dry. The semi-dry is most popular in the West, commonly sold in long boxes with a plastic stem between the rows of fruit as they do in Tunisia. Soft dates are grown in the Middle East mainly to eat fresh, although they are also dried and compressed into blocks to be used in a range of sweets. As for hard dates, also called camel dates, they are dry and fibrous even when fresh. When dried, they become extremely hard and sweet and keep for years. They remain the staple food of Arab nomads.
The fruit goes through different stages of ripening, with each stage described by an Arabic term that is used universally in all languages. Khalal describes the date when it is full size and has taken on its characteristic color depending on the variety—red or orange for Deglet Noor, dull yellow for Halawi, greenish for Khadrawi, yellow for Zahidi, and rich brown for Medjool. Rutab is the stage at which the fruit softens considerably and becomes darker, and tamr is when it is fully dry and ready for packing.
The date still figures prominently in the diet of Gulf Arabs. It is the first food people eat when they break the long day’s fast during the month of Ramadan, the tradition being to eat only three, to emulate the Prophet Muhammad who broke his fast with three dates. The date’s high sugar content makes it an ideal breakfast after so many hours without any food or water, supplying the necessary rush of energy while being easy on the empty stomach. Some people eat it plain, others dip it in tahini, and others have it with yogurt or cheese, and particularly a homemade curd called yiggit.
The date also features prominently in the Gulf Arabs’ regular diet, both in savory and sweet dishes; and date syrup is used to make a drink called jellab, which is sold on the street packed with crushed ice and garnished with pine nuts and golden raisins.
RAMADAN AND OTHER IMPORTANT OCCASIONS IN ISLAM
From the birth of a child to the circumcision of boys to marriage to burying the dead, every occasion in Islam is marked with special dishes that celebrate, commemorate, or comfort, as the case may be.
The month of Ramadan is the most important time of the year for Muslims, a time for fasting and feasting when Muslims throughout the world change their ways to show their devotion to God. No food or drink is allowed to pass their lips from sunrise to sundown, but as soon as the sun sets, people gather with family and friends to break their fast, whether at home or in restaurants and cafés, or simply on the street if they happen to be working and have nowhere to go to break the fast. The menu changes according to where you are. In the Arabian Gulf the fast is first broken with dates and water before moving on to the main meal, known in Arabic as iftar. Then people pray before sitting at the table to partake of their first meal of the day. In the Levant, people break their fast with apricot leather juice, fattoush (a mixed herb and bread salad), and/or lentil soup. In the Maghreb, soup is the first thing people eat after sunset, whereas in Indonesia they break their fast (called buka puasa there) with sweet snacks and drinks known as takjil. During Ramadan, Indonesian restaurants serve their whole menu at each table and charge diners only for the dishes they consume before taking away those that remain untouched to stack them again in the restaurant window.
Lailat al-Bara’a (the night of innocence), on 15 Sha’ban, is the night of the full moon preceding the beginning of Ramadan, when sins are forgiven and fates are determined for the year ahead and when mosques are illuminated and special sweets are distributed.
The two main feasts in Islam are Eid el-Fitr (the feast of breaking the fast), which celebrates the end of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha (the feast of the sacrifice), which signals the end of Hajj (Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca) and is the most important festival in Islam. Eid al-Adha is also known as Baqri-Eid (the “Cow Festival”) because its most important feature is the sacrifice of an animal in commemoration of the ram sacrificed by Abraham in place of his son. In Muhammad’s time, a camel normally would have been sacrificed.
Ashura, which falls on the tenth day of the month of Muharram (which means “forbidden”), is a time of mourning for Shi’ite Muslims to commemorate the massacre of Muhammad’s grandson Hussain and his band of followers at Karbala. A perfect place to witness the rituals associated with Ashura is Iran, which is predominantly Shi’ite, as well as South Lebanon, the stronghold of Shi’ite Hezbollah (the party of God). Most Shi’ites follow the ancient Persian tradition of nazr (distributing free foods among the people) and cook nazri (charity food) during the month.
Turkey is one of the places to witness the holy nights called kandili: Mevlid Kandili (the birth of Prophet Muhammad), Regaip Kandili (the beginning of the pregnancy of Prophet Muhammad’s mother), Miraç Kandili (Prophet Muhammad’s ascension into heaven and into the presence of God), Berat Kandili (when the Qur’an was made available to the Muslims in its entirety), and Kadir Gecesi (the Qur’an’s first appearance to Prophet Muhammad). The word kandil (from the Arabic kindil) means candle in Turkish, and some trace the application of this word to the five holy nights back in the reign of the Ottoman sultan Selim II (1566–1574) who gave orders to light up the minarets of the mosques for these occasions.
Saints’ days are also widely observed in the Muslim world, but the two Eids and the holy nights are the great festivals, and they are the only ones universally observed by all Muslims without any question as to the worthiness of the occasion.
And there are of course the celebrations for important life occasions such as circumcision and marriage, with rich Gulf Arabs roasting whole baby camels for weddings while Moroccans prepare lavish feasts called diffa (hospitality) where pretty much the whole of the Moroccan repertoire is served, starting with b’stilla, a sweet-savory pigeon pie, and finishing with a seven-vegetable couscous to make sure no guest is left hungry. In between are the mechoui (whole roasted lamb), a selection of tagines (both savory and sweet-savory), and salads. Moroccan and
Indian weddings last up to three days, although the latter can, in some cases, last up to a week, with biryani, a multilayered rice dish, taking pride of place at the wedding buffet, in particular on the night of the wedding.
I had planned to devote a separate chapter to celebratory dishes, but I feared this would be repetitive, not to mention confusing. Instead, I single out these dishes in the chapters they belong to, explaining in the headnote which special occasion they are associated with.
Bread
To say that bread is the staff of life may be a cliché, but the expression holds true in all three major religions. And in Islam, bread holds an even more sacred place—it is considered a sin to let bread fall on the floor, and if it does, it is immediately picked up and forgiveness is asked of God for having allowed the bread to be desecrated.
Bread is the main staple in all Muslim countries, except in Southeast Asia and the Arabian Gulf where rice, rather than bread, is the principal food. Where bread is the main staple, it is usually flatbread and, more often than not, it’s baked in a pit oven called a tannur (Syria), tandir (Turkey), tandoor (India and Pakistan), or tonur (Central Asia). The first ever reference to this oven occurred 3,700 years ago on Sumerian tablets that were deciphered by Jean Bottéro in his book La Plus Vieille Cuisine du Monde, where he refers to tinuru, a deep cylindrical oven that sounds very much like today’s tannur.
A tannur oven can be made of brick, mud, or clay, and it can be built above or below ground. Its shape varies slightly from country to country, but the principle is the same: a wide well with a fire built at the bottom to heat the oven walls; when these become blistering hot, the baker slaps disks of dough against them. When the bread is done, which takes seconds, they peel off the baked loaves with the help of one long metal “spatula” and a long metal hook—the hook is to detach the bread and the spatula to hold it against the hook as it is pulled out of the oven. It wasn’t until the Greeks that the freestanding oven with a door came into being, a type that is also used in many parts of the Muslim world, notably to bake pita bread, known as aysh in Egypt. Another way to bake flatbreads is on the saj, a concave or flat metal plate that in the past was fired by wood but is now usually fired by gas—many tannur ovens are also fired by gas now. Still, the tannur remains the most common oven, especially in India and Pakistan where many street food vendors have one within their stall to bake Naan or Sheermal to serve with the food they sell.
As for wheat, it was first domesticated some twelve thousand years ago in the southern Levant, in the area known as the Fertile Crescent. However, when it comes to leavening, it is said that it was first discovered in Egypt, with the original leavening coming from natural yeast spores that wafted from the breweries of ancient Egypt into the neighboring bakeries. Once leavening was discovered and people realized that leavened loaves were lighter and tastier than unleavened ones, the favorite method to leaven breads was to use an old piece of dough and mix it with the new dough, a method that is still used in many parts of the Muslim world.
When it comes to shaping techniques, some are very simple while others require real dexterity, such as a technique—used from Egypt to Turkey to Indonesia—in which a disk of dough is flapped several times in a circular motion until it stretches into a large paper-thin round, at which point it is slapped against the work surface and stretched even further before being shaped into a variety of plain or filled savory or sweet multi-layered breads. Other techniques, such as rolling out yufka with a long thin rolling pin and searing it on one side on a hot plate, are particular to one country—in this case, Turkey.
In almost all Muslim countries where bread is the staple, it is used in lieu of cutlery to scoop food or it is laid on the plate as a starchy bed for stews or curries as a change from rice.
In this chapter, I give recipes for many different types of breads as well as recipes for filled and topped breads together with recipes for typical Muslim dishes that use bread as an essential component, such as Tharid, the Prophet’s favorite dish, and fatteh (Saudi Eggplant Fatteh, Saudi Meat Fatteh, Lebanese Lamb Fatteh, Egyptian Fattah, Syrian Fatteh).
But before moving on to the recipes, I would like to share one useful tip that will make your baking easier: Always let the dough rest between the first and second kneading. This helps the hydration process known in professional baking as autolyse, although in commercial bakeries, autolyse is done for longer and before the yeast is added. I suggest a domestic version where the dough is left to rest for a short period, which lets you achieve a smooth, elastic dough without too much kneading.
Third from left: Alastaire Hendy
Pita Bread
KHOBZ
LEBANON | SYRIA | JORDAN | PALESTINE
Pita bread is often described as pocket bread in the West because the dough puffs and separates into two layers as it bakes. It is the most common bread throughout the Levant and as far as Egypt, where it is made thicker and smaller and in two versions, one with white flour and the other with whole wheat. Also, the dough for Egyptian pita is a lot softer and the loaves are put to rest on a coarse flour called radda (probably wheat germ), which also prevents sticking. Egyptian pita is called aysh—which means “life,” signaling the importance of bread in Egypt—and the whole wheat version is called aysh baladi, which means “local bread.” The Lebanese, Syrian, and Jordanian pita is thinner and larger, and mostly made with white flour. These days, bakeries also make medium-size pita and tiny ones to be filled with a variety of savory fillings and served as canapés.
Making pita at home is fairly easy and definitely worth trying, even if the result will not be as perfect as that made professionally. Homemade pita is closer to Egyptian pita than Lebanese/Syrian/Jordanian because it comes out thicker. If you decide to make the pita with whole wheat, be sure to increase the hydration of the dough by using 2 cups (500 ml) water instead of the amount indicated below; and once you have mixed the dough, let it rest for 30 minutes instead of 15 minutes before kneading again.
MAKES 10 INDIVIDUAL LOAVES
Just over 4 cups (500 g) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading and shaping
1 heaping teaspoon instant (fast-acting) yeast
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
¼ cup (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1. Mix the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Add the oil to the well and, with the tips of your fingers, rub the oil into the flour. Gradually add 1⅓ cups (325 ml) warm water, bringing in the flour as you go along. Knead until you have a rough, rather sticky ball of dough.
2. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Sprinkle a little flour on the dough and knead for 3 minutes. Roll the dough into a ball, invert the bowl over the dough, and let rest for 15 minutes. Knead for 3 more minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic and rather soft. Shape the dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl, turning it to coat all over with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour, until nearly doubled in size.
3. Transfer the dough to your work surface. Divide into 10 equal portions, each weighing just under 3 ounces (80 g). Roll each portion of dough into a ball. Cover with a very damp kitchen towel and let rest for 45 minutes.
4. Roll each ball of dough into rounds 6 to 7 inches (15 to 17.5 cm) in diameter, flouring your work surface and the dough every now and then to prevent the dough from sticking. Make the rounds as even as possible. This will help the breads puff out evenly in the oven. A good way to achieve a perfect round is to give the disk a quarter turn between each rolling out. Cover the rounds of dough with a floured couche (baker’s linen), or use clean kitchen towels sprinkled with flour. Let rest for 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 500°F (260°C), or to its highest setting. For a perfect result, set your baking sheet in the oven to heat up.
6. Use a floured peel to slide the breads onto the baking sheet (or simply lay the rounds of dough on the sheet) and bake for 6 to 8 minutes, o
r until well puffed and very lightly golden. The baking time will vary depending on how hot your oven is. I suggest you start checking the breads after 5 minutes. You will probably have to bake them in separate batches unless you have a very large oven.
7. Homemade pita is best served immediately or while still warm. Alternatively, you can let it cool on a wire rack and freeze it for later use. When you are ready to serve the bread, simply thaw it in the bag and reheat.
Saj Bread
MARKOUK OR YUFKA
LEBANON | SYRIA | TURKEY
You can make yufka and markouk with the same dough, but with different shaping techniques. Markouk is thinner and flattened by passing the disk of dough from one hand to the other until the round of dough is paper thin and almost as wide as your arm, a feat that requires tremendous skill and much practice. Yufka, on the other hand, is flattened with a long thin rolling pin called oklava. Both are baked on a large round metal plate called a saj, which is flat in Turkey and concave in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine. In the old days (and still today in remote rural areas), the saj was heated over a wood fire. In Lebanon and Syria, saj bread is known as markouk, while in Jordan and Palestine, where it is made a little thicker, it is known as shraaq. In Turkey, the bread is known as yufka unless it is filled and folded in half, in which case it becomes saj borek. When used to make boreks, yufka is made thinner to be stuffed with a variety of fillings ranging from spinach to cheese to meat. I cannot roll out my yufka or saj bread as thinly as they do in Turkey or in Lebanon, either using an oklava or passing it from one hand to the other as they do in the Lebanese mountains. Still, it comes out thin enough and making it at home gives me great satisfaction.