[Sca-cooks] More al-Warraq

[Galefridus Peregrinus]

Wish I didn't live on the other side of the country -- the cooking 
workshop sounds exciting.

-- Galefridus

> Message: 7
> Date: Sat, 08 Sep 2012 00:58:31 -0700
> From: David Friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>
> To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Subject: [Sca-cooks]  More al-Warraq
> Message-ID: <504AFAA7.7010401 at daviddfriedman.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
>
> I think I already mentioned the recipe that turned out, the first time 
> I did it, as a sort of sugar cookie. The ingredients are sugar, 
> semolina, a little sesame oil and, in my interpretation, a little 
> water--the recipe says to knead it like dough, and without the water 
> that seems almost impossible.
>
> Here's the recipe:
>
> *A Recipe for exotic Khushkananaj Wathiqi by Abu Samin:*
>
> Grind 3 ratls refined sugar and sift it in a fine mesh sieve. Add 1 ? 
> ratls fine samidh flour. Mix them well. Att ? ratl sesame oil and 
> knead mixture the way you usually do with flour dough.
>
> Put the mixture in a mortar and pound it to crush ingredients into 
> each other and help them bind
>
> Take a small bowl, the smallest you have, or anything similar in shape 
> such as wooden or brass huqqa (bowl) with a rounded base and a wide 
> rim. Stuff the bowl tightly with some of the sugar flour mixture and 
> turn over on to a khiwan (wide low table). Do this with the rest of 
> the mixture.
>
> Prepare a large level pan with low sides and arrange the moded pieces, 
> leaving a space between them.
>
> Lower the pan into a slow burning tannur. Let cookies bake until they 
> are golden brown. Take the pan out and take the cookies out of the pan 
> with a thin spatula. You carefully slide the spatula underneath each 
> cookie and transfer it to a clean platter. Arrange the pieces in one 
> layer, God willing.
>
>
> The first time I did it, I ended up with flat cookies. They tasted 
> pretty good, but I couldn't see why the recipe would have the 
> elaborate procedure to make hemispheres of dough if they were supposed 
> to flatten.
>
> The second time I made three changes. The first was to grind the 
> granulated sugar in a spice grinder, making it much finer--I thought 
> that might fit the "sift it in a fine mesh sieve," and would change 
> texture. The second was to add only half as much water as before. The 
> third was to bake it at 350 instead of 300.
>
> That time it worked--the cookies came out roughly hemispherical. Which 
> of the changes was responsible I don't know. The one remaining problem 
> is that, although they are good when made, a day later they are very 
> hard.
>
> But still tasty.
>
> I also redid the chicken dish I mentioned earlier, using half as much 
> of everything but chicken, on the theory that "pullets" might imply a 
> larger mass of chicken than a single five pound chicken. It came out 
> all right and didn't take as long (less water to boil off), but on the 
> whole I preferred the earlier and more strongly flavored version.
>
> Also, I think I should cut it into more pieces, on the assumption that 
> pullets are smaller birds, hence disjointed pullets will end up as 
> smaller pieces than a disjointed five pound chicken. The recipe, for 
> the final cooking, tells you to stir it, which would work more 
> smoothly with smaller pieces.
>
> Tomorrow is a cooking workshop, with six al-Warraq recipes, all new, 
> to be done.
>
>
> -- 
> David Friedman
> www.daviddfriedman.com
> http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/