Medieval Arab Dinner

Hummus with Ground Nuts

Take boiled chickpeas and pound finely. Take vinegar, good oil, tahini, pepper, atraf tib (spice blend, recipe in: https://www.theophanus-cauldron.net/atraf-al-tib/), mint, parsley, thyme, a little of walnuts, almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, cinnamon, caraway, dried coriander, salt, salted lemons, and olives. Spread. Leave  one day and one night and serve. 

-Kanz al-Fawa'id fi Tanwi al-Mawa'id

Lamb with Greens and Yogurt 

Boil a ratl of meat. Remove the scum. Cook it part way. Add to it chopped green leaves of chard. Cook it until it is well done. Remove the meat, its broth and the chard. Then put in a pound of yogurt and a uqiyah of rice. Continue to stir until rice is cooked. Add to it the meat, swiss chard and the broth. The broth should be a little. Cook it and remove. Sprinkle mint leaves on it. After ladling it into a bowl, put pounded garlic on top. Turnips can be used instead of chard, same goes for spinach. 

- Ibn al-'Adim, Kitab al-Wuslah (...)

Honey and Almond Candy 

Take good honey as much as you wish and pour it into a large copper pot with a rounded bottom and light a gentle fire beneath it. Take off its froth, strain it and discard. Take washed olive oil or the oil of hulled sesame seeds. If the amount of honey is one ratl, then take half a ratl of sesame oil or olive oil. Take starch in the amount of a quarter of the honey allowing it to absorb lest it to become sour. Take the amount of saffron that you want an add it to the cornstarch. Pour it into the pot over the honey and sesame oil and stir gently over a gentle fire until it pulls from the sides. Add almonds, as much as you prefer, letting it ticken until the sesame oil is absorbed and hardens, is ready. Remove from the heat. Spread on a platter, God willing. 

- Al-Warraq, Abu Muhammad al-Muzaffar (...)

Bibliography: Salloum, Habeeb et al. - Scheherazade's Feasts, Foods of the Medieval World, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013.