Friday, August 21, 2009
Parathay Hi Parathay
Parat Paratha: Qeema Paratha & Mooli Paratha Did you know? The paratha was first conceived in the ancient Punjab region, but soon became popular all over India, including southern India. The southern Indian states have their own versions of the ubiquitous paratha, the most popular being the Kerala porotta.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Syrup of Lemon
ake lemon, after peeling its outer skin, press it and take a ratl of juice, and add as much of sugar. Cook it until it takes the form of a syrup. Its advantages are for the heat of bile; it cuts the thirst and binds the bowels.
This we also serve as a strong, hot drink. Alternatively, dilute it in cold water and you have thirteenth century lemonade. All three of the original recipes include comments on medical uses of the syrups.
This we also serve as a strong, hot drink. Alternatively, dilute it in cold water and you have thirteenth century lemonade. All three of the original recipes include comments on medical uses of the syrups.
Roast of Meat
Roast salted, well-marbled meat [cut up] like fingertips, and put in a pot spices, onion, salt, oil and soaked garbanzos. Cook until done and add the roast meat; cover the contents of the pot with cilantro and sprinkle with pepper and cinnamon; and if you add whole pine nuts or walnuts in place of garbanzos, it will be good.
1 1/2 lb lamb or beef
2 15 oz cans chickpeas
3 small onions = 3/4 lb
1 t salt
spices:
1/4 t cumin
1/2 t coriander
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t black pepper
3 T olive oil
1/4 c green coriander, pressed down
1/8 t more pepper
1/4 t more cinnamon
Note: an earlier recipe in the same book calls for spices and then specifies which ones: "all the spices, pepper, cinnamon, dried coriander and cumin."
Roast meat and cut into about 1/4" by 1/2" pieces. Slice onions. Put chickpeas, onion, spices, salt and oil in a pot and cook over moderate heat, stirring, for 10 minutes, turning down the heat toward the end as it gets dry; add meat and cook one minute, add green coriander and cook another minute, and turn off heat. Sprinkle with pepper and cinnamon and serve.
1 1/2 lb lamb or beef
2 15 oz cans chickpeas
3 small onions = 3/4 lb
1 t salt
spices:
1/4 t cumin
1/2 t coriander
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t black pepper
3 T olive oil
1/4 c green coriander, pressed down
1/8 t more pepper
1/4 t more cinnamon
Note: an earlier recipe in the same book calls for spices and then specifies which ones: "all the spices, pepper, cinnamon, dried coriander and cumin."
Roast meat and cut into about 1/4" by 1/2" pieces. Slice onions. Put chickpeas, onion, spices, salt and oil in a pot and cook over moderate heat, stirring, for 10 minutes, turning down the heat toward the end as it gets dry; add meat and cook one minute, add green coriander and cook another minute, and turn off heat. Sprinkle with pepper and cinnamon and serve.
Roast Chicken
You will roast a chicken after it has been well plucked, cleaned and washed; and after roasting it, put it into a dish before it cools off and pour over it either orange juice or verjuice with rosewater, sugar and well-ground cinnamon, and serve it to your guests.
large chicken
1/3 c orange juice
1 T rosewater
2 T sugar plus 1 t cinnamon
large chicken
1/3 c orange juice
1 T rosewater
2 T sugar plus 1 t cinnamon
Hulwa
Its varieties are many. Among them are the sweets made of natif. You put dibs [fruit syrup], honey, sugar or rubb [thick fruit syrup] in the pot, then you put it on a gentle fire and stir until it takes consistency. Then you beat eggwhite and put it with it and stir until it thickens and becomes natif. After that, if you want almond candy you put in toasted almonds and 'allaftahu; that is, you bind them. walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, toasted chickpeas, toasted sesame, flour. [apparently alternative versions]. You beat in the natif until thickens. For duhniyyah you put in flour toasted with fat. As for ... (other versions.)
Sugar version:
1 1/4 c sugar
1/4 c water
1 egg white
1 1/2 - 2 c nuts = ~10 oz
Honey version:
1 c honey
1 egg white
2 1/2-3 c or more nuts
This makes 25-40 hulwa, depending on size.
Sugar version: Bring the water to a boil, stir in the sugar, continuing to heat. When it is dissolved and reasonably clear, turn it down to a simmer and put the top on the pot for two or three minutes (this is to let the steam wash down any sugar on the sides of the pot). Take the top off, boil gently until the temperature reaches the hard ball stage (250deg. -260deg. F). Beat the egg white until it is just stiff enough to hold its shape. Pour the sugar syrup into the egg white, beating continuously. You now have a thick white mixture; this is the natif. Mix it with chopped nuts (we have used almonds and walnuts) or toasted sesame seeds, or some mixture thereof. Squeeze the mixture into balls and set them aside to cool. Note that as the natif cools, it gets harder and less sticky, so you have to work quickly; the hotter you get the syrup before combining it with the egg white (and hence the less water ended up in it), the faster this happens and the dryer the hulwa ends up. If you get past 260deg. , the syrup may crystallize on you as or before you pour it; if so, give up and start over.
Honey version: Simmer the honey gently until it reaches a temperature of 280deg. -290deg. F. From that point on, the recipe is the same as for sugar, using the boiled honey instead of the sugar syrup. Note that honey requires a higher temperature than sugar to get the same effect. Also note that natif made from honey will be stickier than natif made from sugar (maybe you can solve this by getting the honey up to 310deg. without burning it; I couldn't). So use a higher ratio of nuts to natif and have the nuts chopped more finely; this helps reduce the stickiness. You may want to roll the honey hulwa in sesame seeds or ground nuts, also to reduce stickiness.
Dibs version (still experimental). Stir the dibs while simmering at medium heat about 1/2 hour+, until it gets to about 250deg. . If you do not stir, it may separate out. By 250deg. there is some problem with scorching.
Note: Dibs is date syrup, available from some Middle Eastern grocery stores.
Toasted Sesame: To toast sesame seeds, you put them in a heavy iron pot over a medium to high flame, and watch them carefully. When the ones on the bottom begin to to tan, start stirring. When they are all tan to brown, take them off the heat or they will burn.
Sugar version:
1 1/4 c sugar
1/4 c water
1 egg white
1 1/2 - 2 c nuts = ~10 oz
Honey version:
1 c honey
1 egg white
2 1/2-3 c or more nuts
This makes 25-40 hulwa, depending on size.
Sugar version: Bring the water to a boil, stir in the sugar, continuing to heat. When it is dissolved and reasonably clear, turn it down to a simmer and put the top on the pot for two or three minutes (this is to let the steam wash down any sugar on the sides of the pot). Take the top off, boil gently until the temperature reaches the hard ball stage (250deg. -260deg. F). Beat the egg white until it is just stiff enough to hold its shape. Pour the sugar syrup into the egg white, beating continuously. You now have a thick white mixture; this is the natif. Mix it with chopped nuts (we have used almonds and walnuts) or toasted sesame seeds, or some mixture thereof. Squeeze the mixture into balls and set them aside to cool. Note that as the natif cools, it gets harder and less sticky, so you have to work quickly; the hotter you get the syrup before combining it with the egg white (and hence the less water ended up in it), the faster this happens and the dryer the hulwa ends up. If you get past 260deg. , the syrup may crystallize on you as or before you pour it; if so, give up and start over.
Honey version: Simmer the honey gently until it reaches a temperature of 280deg. -290deg. F. From that point on, the recipe is the same as for sugar, using the boiled honey instead of the sugar syrup. Note that honey requires a higher temperature than sugar to get the same effect. Also note that natif made from honey will be stickier than natif made from sugar (maybe you can solve this by getting the honey up to 310deg. without burning it; I couldn't). So use a higher ratio of nuts to natif and have the nuts chopped more finely; this helps reduce the stickiness. You may want to roll the honey hulwa in sesame seeds or ground nuts, also to reduce stickiness.
Dibs version (still experimental). Stir the dibs while simmering at medium heat about 1/2 hour+, until it gets to about 250deg. . If you do not stir, it may separate out. By 250deg. there is some problem with scorching.
Note: Dibs is date syrup, available from some Middle Eastern grocery stores.
Toasted Sesame: To toast sesame seeds, you put them in a heavy iron pot over a medium to high flame, and watch them carefully. When the ones on the bottom begin to to tan, start stirring. When they are all tan to brown, take them off the heat or they will burn.
Asparagus with Meat Stuffing
Take asparagus, the largest you have, clean and boil, after taking tender meat and pounding fine; throw in pepper, caraway, coriander seed, cilantro juice, some oil and egg white; take the boiled asparagus, one after another, and dress with this ground meat, and do so carefully. Put an earthenware pot on the fire, after putting in it water, salt, a spoon of murri and another of oil, cilantro juice, pepper, caraway and coriander seed; little by little while the pot boils, throw in it the asparagus wrapped in meat. Boil in the pot and throw in it meatballs of this ground meat, and when it is all evenly cooked, cover with egg, breadcrumbs and some of the stuffed meat already mentioned and decorate with egg, God willing.
1 lb asparagus (before trimming)
1/2 lb ground meat (lamb?)
1/8 t pepper
1/4 t caraway
1/8 t coriander seed
1/3 c crushed fresh coriander
1/2 T oil
1 egg white
water
1/4 t salt
murri
1/3 c more fresh coriander
1/8 t more coriander seed
3 eggs
1 c breadcrumbs
We have not yet figured out how one ought to dress the asparagus with the meat; perhaps one could split the asparagus down the center and lay the meat inside.
1 lb asparagus (before trimming)
1/2 lb ground meat (lamb?)
1/8 t pepper
1/4 t caraway
1/8 t coriander seed
1/3 c crushed fresh coriander
1/2 T oil
1 egg white
water
1/4 t salt
murri
1/3 c more fresh coriander
1/8 t more coriander seed
3 eggs
1 c breadcrumbs
We have not yet figured out how one ought to dress the asparagus with the meat; perhaps one could split the asparagus down the center and lay the meat inside.
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