Arab and Persian Recipes From 1936

Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.

From Recipes of All Nations by Countess Morphy, 1936.

In both Arabia and Persia, as well as in Turkey, mutton is almost the only meat which is eaten, and everything is cooked in mutton fat. Although some of their dishes are excellent, they are hardly suitable to European taste, and the greasiness and richness due to the use of mutton dripping are apt to be nauseous and upsetting But many Arab dishes, with slight modifications, and a less generous use of fat, are quite pleasing and certainly novel.

For instance, the Arab mutton stew tadjin ammar, with prunes, is extremely good, especially if the fat is skimmed off — which is not usually done by the Arab cook. It is made with breast and neck of mutton, cut in 2 inch lengths and browned in a little fat or butter, in an earthenware casserole. One finely chopped onion is put in and, when slightly brown, a mere sprinkling of flour is added, and stirred with the onion and fat till quite brown. Now add sufficient hot water to cover the meat, bring to the boil, season with salt, cover the casserole, and simmer. After a few minutes, add a good pinch of saffron, either pounded in a mortar or moistened with a little boiling water, and a small stick of cinnamon. Simmer for 2 hours. A good handful of prunes, previously soaked in cold water for about 12 hours, is then added, and the stew is simmered for an hour longer. The Arabs usually flavour it with a little orange flower water and add sugar, to make it distinctly sweet. This dish is always served in the casserole in which it was cooked.

Chervah is a well-known Arab soup, made with mutton. Put 2 1/4 lbs. of breast and neck of mutton in 2 quarts of warm water, to which have been added 1 lb. of tomatoes and 1 1/2 lbs. of onions, previously sliced and slightly browned in fat, and a handful of chopped mint. Season highly with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer for 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Just before serving, remove the meat and cut into dice. Place these in the soup tureen, with about a 1/4 lb. of coarse vermicelli, previously cooked, and pour the soup over the meat and vermicelli. It is a very rich and sufficing dish.

But perhaps the most famous of all Arab meat dishes is the mechoui — the roasting of a lamb, not older than a year, on a spit in the open. The viscera are carefully removed — the kidneys being left — and the inside of the animal is well washed. A generous handful of salt is then put inside, with a plentiful amount of butter, a handful of chopped onion, and a little pepper. The opening is fastened with a wooden skewer. The lamb is then put on the spit; a trench, in which a big fire is lit, is dug on one side, and red-hot embers are placed beneath the lamb. The spit is slowly revolved, so that the meat will be evenly cooked and, after the lamb begins to brown, it is constantly basted, or brushed over with hot fat.

Kebash-el-attarine is made with mutton roasted on the spit. The thicker parts of the cooked mutton are carved off, and stuffed with a mixture of finely grated or pounded almonds and honey. The joints are brushed over with honey and freely sprinkled with pounded pistachio nuts, and served on a layer of apricot jam.

Kebash-sakkar consists of boiled mutton, coated with a layer of gooseberry jelly.

Djedjad-imer is another Arab dish which shows their liking for the combination of meat and sweetstuffs. Prick the whole of the breast of a chicken with a small sharp knife or a pointed skewer, and rub over with honey, mixed with melted butter. Pour honey, flavoured with a little benzoin gum and otto of roses, inside the bird, and roast in the oven. When done, cut the bird in half, and on each half spread finely chopped pistachio nuts, sprinkle with sugar, garnish with cherries in syrup and preserved ginger, and finally pour a little honey over the whole.

Duaz-Fenjo is goose also pricked with a skewer, rubbed over with honey, flavoured with cloves, and stuffed with apples, sugar, and flavoured with amber. After having been roasted, usually on the spit, the goose is coated with icing sugar, and garnished with glace cherries and almonds.

Fouja Djedjad — this consists of apples stuffed with chicken. Cut a slice from the top of an apple, remove the core, but without piercing the other side of the fruit, and carefully scoop out some of the interior. Fill with chopped breast of chicken and a few cloves. Sprinkle with sugar, brown breadcrumbs, moisten with a little fat and bake in the oven.

A quite pleasant salad is munkaczina, which is composed of sliced oranges, sliced onions, and small black olives, with a dressing of a little oil, salt, and red pepper.

One of the oldest methods of making coffee hails from Arabia, and the making of Arabian coffee — the gabena method — is a ritual. The coffee shrub was introduced from Abyssinia at an early date, and there is a quaint legend about the discovery of coffee and its stimulating and beneficial effects. A shepherd of the Yemen noticed that his flock of sheep, having browsed on the shrubs, became highly elated and sleepless. On testing it himself, he was so delighted with the result that he hastened to impart his discovery to others — and hence the origin of coffee drinking!

In the Arab method, the coffee beans are roasted in an open iron ladle until they are almost burnt, and then pounded in a mortar to a coarse powder, Moka is the coffee always used by the Arabs. A large copper jug is filled with cold water, put on the fire, and when the water is boiling it is poured into a clay pot railed a gabena over the coffee, the pot being only half filled. This pot has an opening at the top, in which the water is poured, and a long curved spout, in the middle of which is a filter made of palm bark fibre. The mixture is stirred and simmered, the time varying according to individual taste. Saffron or other aromatic flavourings are added. The mixture is then filtered through the palm bark fibre into a silver vessel contained in a rush basket which is made to fit and enclose it. And as the coffee is being poured out, Allah is invoked. The ceremonial is very elaborate.

In Persia find the same fondness for mutton as in Arabia. Their kebabb pilaw is similar to other Eastern pilafs. The rice — unpolished rice is used — is soaked over-night in salted water, and boiled with barely sufficient water to cover. When the rice has absorbed the water, in about 20 minutes time, it should be dry and flaky. It is piled on a dish, and pieces of grilled mutton are laid on the top. It is served with yolk of egg and butter on each plate.

Chicken with Saffron is served in the same way, on ‘‘a mountain of rice,” as it was described to me, the chicken having been boiled and carved, and sprinkled with saffron.

Stuffed quinces with chopped mutton or chicken are one of the most typical of Persian dishes, whilst uncooked chopped vegetables are often served.

Salted green peas, first cooked in cinders and then salted like almonds, are among Persian delicacies, as well as bitter cherries, coated with icing sugar.

The hours of meals in Persia vary according to the seasons. Breakfast is two hours after dawn. It consists of ewe, goat or buffalo milk, flat bread, cheese, honey and fruit.

Lunch is at midday and consists of pilaw, mutton broth and broad beans, dishes of uncooked vegetables and cheese.

Tea is drunk more or less throughout the afternoon, and Persian women nibble at all kinds of sweetmeats, compotes, salt nuts, salt peas, pistachio nuts, which are spread on trays on the floor.

Dinner is only served after sundown and consists of some kind of pilaw and plenty of rice.

Morphy, Countess. Recipes of All Nations. H. Joseph, 1936.

Countess Morphy

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