A Trayful of Delights | Illustration

A large beautiful tray, called sukurdan, would be loaded with a variety of delicious small dishes and served as snacks and nibbles during social gatherings, including those involving the consumption of alcoholic beverages. In fact, it was the latter that gave rise to the sukurdan ritual, including its name, which was said to be a combination of the Arabic sukr meaning to ‘imbibe alcoholic drinks’ and the Persian dan or ‘vessel’. The tray was often loaded with apricot compote, pickles of carrot and quince, yoghurt condiment of jajaq (a prototype of today’s jajik or the Greek tzatziki), lemon preserved in salt, cured olives and capers, and salt-cured sparrows and ṣir (anchovies).

For more, see Nawal Nasrallah's article 'What Was Cooking in Medieval Cairo?' from Rawi magazine's Issue 10 available online (link in details).