Raw MolokheyyaRAWI Publishing
Molokheyya
Molokheyya is a nutritious green soup made from Jews/Jute mallow leaves and cooked in broth. In Egypt, it is always chopped very finely using a makhrata (mezza luna) and either cooked fresh or dried for later use. It is usually paired with rice or bread and chicken but there are several regional variations.
In the south, dried molokheyya is cooked in stock and served warm in a dish called ittir. Another southern variant, shalawlaw, is part of classic Coptic cuisine. Also made using dried molokheyya, it is heavily flavoured with lemons and fresh tomatoes and is a vibrant green in colour.
In the western desert oases, molokheyya is dried, cooked until almost grey, and served as a side dish, whereas in the coastal regions it is often paired with shrimp. Families with Turkish ancestors, especially those who migrated to the large urban centres of Egypt, often serve it heavily seasoned with tomato sauce, an embellishment foreign to classic rural cuisine. Whatever the variation, however, it holds pride of place on Egyptian tables.
Cooked MolokheyyaRAWI Publishing
A fried garlic and coriander mixture known as ta’leyya is added at the end of the cooking process, giving the dish an unmistakable rich, savoury scent that renders it so irresistible, even vegetable-hating children love it.
Although it is an Egyptian staple today, like most foods, it is difficult to pinpoint its exact historical origin. The earliest certain record of it is from the 11th c. CE, when Egyptian ruler al-Ḥakim bi-Amrillah banned Egyptians from eating it. Since then, it has appeared in a variety of sources.
However, there is a possible mention in the Vegetable Zodiac, a 6th-c. CE Alexandrian text featuring crops harvested during each month. It specifies a certain crop called malachai for the November/December slot. The depicted image is a bundle of leafy greens much like the molokheyya bundles sold today.
KoshariRAWI Publishing
Koshari
This most comforting of street foods is made of a rice, macaroni, and lentil medley. The mix is often topped with a dash of spiced tomato sauce followed by some garlic vinegar and finally garnished with chickpeas and a heap of golden crispy fried onions.
In his Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to al-Madina and Meccah (1897), British explorer Richard Burton describes the breakfast of the people of Suez as ‘[a] mixture of lentils and rice, with clarified butter poured over it, and a “kitchen” of pickled lime or stewed onions’.
Burton then explains that ‘this mixture, called in India kichhri, has become common in al-Hijaz as well as Suez’. So, it would seem that kichhri most likely arrived from India to Suez with returning pilgrims, later reaching Cairo where it became the popular street food it is today.
Um AliRAWI Publishing
Um Ali
A warm, wholesome dessert made of shredded puff pastry (or bread), soaked in sweetened milk or cream, and mixed with pistachios, raisins and coconut flakes. This wintertime favourite is then baked in the oven until the surface turns golden brown.
Almost every Egyptian knows the dessert's infamous 13th-c. origin story: The sweet bread and milk pudding was created by Um Ali (Ar: Mother of Ali) to celebrate the killing of Sultana Shajar al-Durr who had first stolen, then murdered, her husband Aybak. In spite of the story’s ubiquity, historians actually have no clear mention of Um Ali before the 19th c.
Also discredited is another story, that of a certain Ms. O’Malley—a nurse in one version and Scottish governess for King Fuad’s children in another—who asked the palace chef for English bread and butter pudding, which later took on her name.
A 14th-c. cookbook mentions a desert called Asyuteyya (of the Upper Egypt city Asyut) very similar to Um Ali but provides no clue to the origin of the modern name. If both stories are untrue, where could the famous dessert have come from?
For more on Egyptian culinary culture, find out how to lock in a good meal.
Images:
Photography by Yehia El Alaily
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