Lynn Strong

Cozy fantasy and beyond

Designed with WordPress

Tag: Spice blends

  • Spice blends: Za’atar

    by

    , , ,

    (Part of the recipe collection from Haroun and the Study of Mischief)

    Za’atar can mean Syrian thyme / Origanum syriacum by itself, but it’s also meant thyme-based spice blends from the Middle Ages until today.

    In Nasrallah’s Treasure Trove recipes 529-33, the za’atar blend she describes is used for flavoring cheese and involves moldy bread in the mixture. My modern soul quails at the notion of experimenting with homegrown bread molds, so I’m not going to recommend that particular method. But thyme and mint are stirred into soft qanbaris cheese in recipe 529, and used in the making of a milk-based condiment in 530. (I can’t see the exact details because of the Google Scholar cut-offs. At this point, imagine here my standard rant about having a library-available print copy less than a mile from my house that I can’t read, and let’s move on.)

    Daniel Newman notes that The Sultan’s Feast 190 is comparable to Treasure Trove 533, and his version reads:

    “190. Recipe to make thyme. (Take thyme) [and] clean its leaves. Wash and rub with salt and squeeze [the juice out. Then add] good quality olive oil on top; for each ten raṭls [of thyme], take one raṭl of olive oil. Place in an oiled wide-mouthed clay jar and seal. Add ground salt and if you want to season it, [add] pounded peeled garlic, a little bit of salt and good-quality oil until it becomes like ointment. Add pounded walnuts and eat; it is extremely tasty.”

    The English rendition of “to make thyme” sounds as though the word za’atar is already beginning to be used to mean a seasoning beyond the plant itself, though this particular recipe reads more like a thyme-based pesto (with oil, garlic, and walnuts) than the modern definition of za’atar.

    The modern definition of za’atar as a spice blend involves some combination of dried thyme, dried sumac, sesame seeds, and occasionally other flavor notes as desired. Penzey’s sells a sumac-rich blend that is absurdly tasty when sprinkled on hummus or pizza.

    Historic za’atar, oil-based:

    • 1 – 2 cups fresh thyme leaves, washed, dried, and removed from the stems
    • 1/3 cup chopped walnuts (or another nut or seed if you’re allergic)
    • 2-4 cloves fresh smashed garlic (but if you want more I’m not going to tell you no)
    • Up to 1/2 cup olive oil, cold pressed if available, separated
    • Pinch of salt

    If you want the historic experience, mash up the thyme, garlic, and salt with a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a mortar and pestle. (The rest of the oil is for covering the surface in the jar(s).)

    If you have a food processor, use it without shame.

    Once you’ve made your thyme puree, put it in a jar and cover the surface with olive oil before closing. Use within a few days, if you can resist that long.

    Modern za’atar, dry spices:

    (These dry spices are sometimes mixed in with olive oil as in the manakish recipe below, but they aren’t stored that way.)

    • 2 Tbsp dried thyme
    • 2 Tbsp sesame seeds
    • 1-2 Tbsp sumac depending on how tart you like it
    • Optional: Additional flavor notes like oregano or marjoram
    • Optional: a sprinkle of salt
    • Lightly toast the ingredients in a dry pan until fragrant. Let cool and put in a jar with a tight fitting lid.

    You can sprinkle it on things as it is or blend with some olive oil for a tasty dip or spread.

    Little dipping bowls (like for soy sauce with sushi) are handy for dipping bread into za’atar-mixed olive oil. (They’re also handy for portion control, because I will devour za’atar-and-olive-oil-dipped bread with far too much enthusiasm.)

    Manakish

    • Flatbread, naan, or pita
    • Either start with historic za’atar with oil blended in, or mix a couple tablespoons of olive oil with enough dry za’atar to make a paste
    • Optional: Feta or mozzarella or cheese of your choice

    Spread your bread with a thick layer of oil and za’atar. Optionally top with cheese. Toast or grill. Nom.

    • If you’re feeling super ambitious you can start from the dough onwards. I haven’t had that many spoons in the drawer since 2019 myself, though.
    • Low spoons modifier: Order something like breadsticks or a cheese pizza. Spread or sprinkle your preferred za’atar liberally over the top. Nom.
    • Low dairy modifier: Za’atar is also delicious on pita and hummus. Honestly za’atar is delicious on almost anything savory. I’ve put it on onigiri when I was out of furikake.

  • Spice blends: Atraf al-tib

    by

    , ,

    (Part of the recipe collection in Haroun and the Study of Mischief)

    The dividing line between food, perfume, and incense was much blurrier in the medieval Middle East than it is in many places today; you can find recipes for breath mints that can also be burned as incense, or for spice blends that also appear in hand washing powders.

    Atraf al-tib takes a similar role to garam masala in that everyone has their own blend and it was commonly sold by vendors. In Charles Perry’s Scents and Flavors, he notes, “The name aṭrāf al-ṭib, ‘sides of scent,’ referred to the paper packets in which the spices were sold in markets. A maximum recipe is spelled out in Chapter 4 but not all the spices listed there were obligatory; the aṭrāf al-ṭib in §2.14 are merely ginger, cardamom, and a bit of clove.” That’s quite similar to European poudre douce, a sweet spice blend which is also one of the precursors of pumpkin spice.

    The recipe he gives in chapter 4 lists ingredients but not proportions: “Since ‘mixed spices’ are repeatedly mentioned in this book, a detailed description is in order. They comprise a mixture of spikenard, betel nut, bay leaf, nutmeg, mace, cardamom, clove, rose hips, ash tree fruits, long pepper, ginger, and black pepper, all pounded separately.” (Scents and Flavors recipe 4.4)

    In the introduction to The Sultan’s Feast, Daniel Newman writes that aṭrāf al-ṭīb “is used in about ten per cent of dishes, often alongside mint, rue or saffron. It is not usually called for in meat or fish dishes; instead, it is found in beverages, sweets, pickles and fragrances.” (It is, however, called for in one of the six and a quarter zirbaj variations in the book!)

    Based on the notes that there are some simple core ingredients and you can add more of them as your spice cabinet allows, this recipe is like Ashar’s rose-scented chai in that I’ll list some essentials and some optional stretch goals.

    The core notes:

    • 1 part ginger (powdered, not fresh or candied)
    • 1/2 to 1 part cardamom
    • 1/8 to 1/4 part clove

    Optional additions as you like:

    • 1 to 2 parts dried rose petals depending on how fragrant they are
    • 1/4 part nutmeg and/or mace
    • 1/4 to 1/2 part long pepper and/or black pepper
    • Bay leaves to taste (either left whole in the jar to remove from the cooking later or thoroughly powdered to blend in)

    A challenge, and possibly not advisable in the modern world:

    • Betel nut is not available in many locations because of concerns about potentially hazardous compounds.
    • Spikenard seems to be more available as an essential oil than as a powder, and the rest of these ingredients are dry.
    • For many years and many translations of cookbooks, some folks weren’t even sure what lisān ʿuṣfūr was. Perry and Newman’s “ash tree fruit” should be taken in the context that Old World and New World varieties of ash trees are different. Ash tree fruits (long and green) are not the same as mountain ash/rowan fruits (small, round, and red). And, of course, the emerald ash tree borer means that ash trees are very endangered.

    If you blend some of this up and store it in a well-sealing jar, you can try it out in some of the cheese and/or pickle recipes below. (Or the zirbaj!)