[Sca-cooks] Sources of Protein

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Jadwiga Zajaczkowa wrote:
>  > I don't know if it would work for your purposes, but beans are a
>  > fairly good protein source. Hummus bi Tahini--aside from there being
>  > no period recipes for it I am aware of--would be a possibility. But
>  > it may be too messy or too exotic. Lentil soup, perhaps?
>
>Hummous-- what a good idea! Not only a protein source, but one we can
>spread on bread and won't melt and go manky in the heat!
>
>Do we have any documentation that garbanzo-bean spreads existed in period?
>That would be a big bonus.

Garbanzo beans are "period". Tahini is "period". Mixing tahini with
spices and other stuff to form something spread-like is "period".
Hummos bi-tahini... no evidence :-(

So far the closest thing that people seem to have dug up is called
"Sals Abyad". Means "White Sauce". Made of tahini, mustard, other
seasonings, and (allergy alert) walnuts.

I suppose you could make the recipe and substitute garbanzos for the
walnuts, if you want to be close to period.

I have the original and a version i made on my website (i'm so tiresome)
http://witch.drak.net/lilinah/persianrecipes.html#salsa

For those who dread going to my website:

----- BEGIN FORWARD -----
Sals Abyad - White Sauce
Spiced Walnut-Sesame Butter

The name of this dish is from some European word for sauce. The
recipe is purely Near Eastern, however. Mustard was used to spike up
some dishes. In Southwest Asia cooks used powdered mustard seed,
while in al-Andalus and al-Maghrib they used prepared mustard.

Original Recipe:
Walnuts, garlic, pepper, Chinese cinnamon, white mustard, tahineh and
lemon juice.
(Familiar Foods, p. 389, "Medieval Arab Cookery")

My Recipe:

4 pounds walnuts
4 quarts sesame tahini from a Middle Eastern store - health food
sesame paste doesn't work as well
several ounces prepared garlic paste with NO additives or preservatives
2 Tablespoons pepper
1/4 cup powdered cinnamon
2 ounces yellow mustard powder
juice from 10 lemons

1. Grind walnuts finely.
2. Mix walnuts with 2 quarts of tahini
3. Mix garlic, pepper, cinnamon and mustard into one quart of tahini
4. Mix seasoned tahini into walnut-sesame paste.
5. Let stand overnight for flavors to develop.
6. Shortly before serving stir in fresh lemon juice
7. Serve with Near Eastern flat breads - I served Lavosh and a
Persian flat bread whose name I have forgotten.

NOTE: I suspect this is supposed to be more liquid than the very
dense nut butter I got. If I make it again, i'll add enough water and
lemon juice to give this the consistency of modern hummos-bi-tahihi.
----- END FORWARD -----

I remember the name of that Persian bread now - sangak - good stuff.

Anahita