Mulukhiyah

Lebanese Mulukhiyi with chicken

Lebanese Mulukhiyi with chicken served with rice, vinegar onions and toasted pita bread

Mulukhiyah, mloukhiya, molokhia, mulukhiyya, malukhiyah, or moroheiya (Arabic: ملوخية; Japanese: モロヘイヤ) is the leaves of Corchorus species used as a vegetable in Middle Eastern, East African, North African, and South Asian cuisine. Mulukhiyyah is rather bitter, and when boiled, the resulting liquid is a thick, highly mucilaginous broth; it is often described as "slimy," rather like cooked okra. Mulukhiyyah is generally eaten cooked, not raw, and is most frequently turned into a kind of soup or stew, typically bearing the same name as the vegetable in the local language.

Mloukhiya is also the Moroccan term for okra, which goes by bāmyah (Arabic: بامية) elsewhere.

Use in cuisine

Where the practice of making a soup out of jute leaves originated is not entirely clear, but folk wisdom in the region holds that the dish's origins lie in Egypt, where the dish is most popular today. The method of making the mulukhiyyah varies from region to region.

Egyptian cuisine

As used in Egyptian cuisine, [molokheyyah] Error: {{Transliteration}}: unrecognized language / script code: Egyptian Arabic (help), (Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [moloˈxejjæ]) is prepared by removing the central spine from the leaves, and then chopping the leaves finely with garlic and coriander. On certain occasions and in wealthier households, the dish generally includes some sort of meat; in Egypt this is usually chicken or lamb but rabbit is preferred when it is available, particularly in Cairo. Cooks in Alexandria often opt to use shrimp in the soup, while Port Said is famous for using fish. The resulting soup is then served over rice.

[Molokheyyah] Error: {{Transliteration}}: unrecognized language / script code: Egyptian Arabic (help) was consumed in Ancient Egyptian cuisine, where the name "[Molokheyyah] Error: {{Transliteration}}: unrecognized language / script code: Egyptian Arabic (help)" originates.

Many Egyptians consider [molokheyyah] Error: {{Transliteration}}: unrecognized language / script code: Egyptian Arabic (help) to be the national dish along with Ful Medammes and Koshari.

For reasons that remain unclear, the dish was banned by the Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah sometime during his reign (996-1021 CE). While the ban was eventually lifted after the end of his reign, the Druze, who hold Al-Hakim in high regard, continue to respect the ban, and do not eat [molokheyyah] Error: {{Transliteration}}: unrecognized language / script code: Egyptian Arabic (help) of any kind to this day.

Kenyan cuisine

In Kenya, the dish is known as Mrenda, (Murere) or Apoth. It is a popular vegetable dish among communities in the Western and Nyanza provinces. The jute leaves are separated from the stems, washed and then boiled in lightly salted water with magadi soda (bicarbonate of soda) or munyu (traditional salt). The leaves are boiled with other leafy vegetables such as rikhuvi (cowpeas) or miroo (Chipilín) to reduce slipperiness. After boiling for about thirty minutes, the vegetables are stewed with tomatoes and onions in oil. Spices such as curry, pepper, royco, or coriander are optional. Mrenda is served with Ugali and can be accompanied with meat or chicken

Tunisian cuisine

In Tunisia and parts of eastern Algeria, the dish is generally prepared quite differently from the Egyptian method. The leaves, already separated from the stems are dried then ground to produce a very fine powder and stored in jars or other tightly closed containers. In Tunisian cooking, Mulukhya, or Mloukhiya, takes 5 to 7 hours to prepare, which is often done to halfway in the evening and completed in the morning. The powder is prepared with olive oil and some tomato paste into a sauce, not soup, and big chunks of chuck beef are often added halfway through cooking. The dark green sauce simmers on low heat and is left to thicken to the consistency of tomato sauce. The sauce is served in small deep plates with a piece of beef and eaten with preferably white hardy French or Italian bread. In certain regions where beef is not common, lamb is used but cooks for a lot shorter time.

Levantine cuisine

Levantine cuisine differs from the remaining style in that the leaves are generally used whole, lending a different texture to the dish.

West African cuisines

The leaf is a common food in many tropical West African countries. It is believed that the "drip tips" on the leaves serve to shed excess water from the leaf from the heavy rains in the tropics. It is called Kren-Kre in Sierra Leone, and is eaten in a palm oil sauce served with rice or cassava fufu, or is steamed and mixed into rice just before eating a non-palm oil sauce.

Nutrition

The leaves are rich in betacarotene, iron, calcium, Vitamin C and more than 32 vitamin and minerals and trace elements. The plant has an potent antioxidant activity with a significant α-tocopherol equivalent Vitamin E.

See also

• List of African dishes

References

• "Corchorus olitorius", New Crop Resource Online Program, Center for New Crops & Plant Products, Purdue University [1]

External links

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/food/recipe7.shtml
• Egyptian Recipe