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This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Corchorus olitorius, commonly known in English as denje’c’jute, nalta jute, tossa jute, jute mallow or Jew’s Mallow. Mulukhiyah was a known dish in the Medieval Arab world. The recipe on how to prepare it is mentioned in the 14th century Arabic book Kanz al-Fawa’id fi Tanwi’ al-Mawa’id. The Druze, who hold Al-Hakim in high regard and give him quasi-divine authority, continue to respect the ban, and do not eat Mulukhiyah of any kind to this day. Molokhiya was consumed in ancient Egyptian cuisine, where the name “molokhiya” is thought to have originated.
Many Egyptians consider molokhiya to be the national dish of Egypt, along with ful medames and kushari. The leaves are chopped fine, often with a mezzaluna. The dish is often accompanied with an assortment of pickled vegetables, known as mekhallel or torshi in Egypt. The standard molokhia dish in the Levant is prepared by cooking a meat of some sort in a separate pot by boiling. Later onions and garlic are cooked to a simmer, then water and chicken stock cubes are added to form a broth. After boiling, the cooked chicken or meat and molokhia leaves are added and further cooked another 15 minutes. Bedouins have an old tradition of cooking a different version of the dish.
A whole chicken is cut open, the intestines removed, and the innards stuffed with herbs, spices and raw rice then sewn shut with thick thread. In Tunisia, 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 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. In Cyprus the dish is known as molohiya.
It is popular among the Cypriots. The jute leaves are cultivated and grown in the spring, whereupon they are harvested and the leaves are separated from the stem and dried whole. They are cooked in a tomato-based broth with onions and garlic. Lamb on the bone or chicken with bone may also be added. In Haiti, the leafy green dish is commonly known as lalo and is traditionally cooked with or without meat. When considering meat, Haitians utilize beef or pork shoulder. Seafood such as blue crabs, shrimp or snow crab legs are also options.
It is traditionally served with white rice. The leaves are rich in folate, beta-carotene, iron, calcium, vitamin C and more than 32 vitamins, minerals and trace elements. The word for the plant is found in ancient Mediterranean languages such as Arabic and Greek. Encyclopedia of Cultivated Plants: From Acacia to Zinnia : From Acacia to Zinnia. Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources: Industrial Crops.
Scheherazade’s Feasts: Foods of the Medieval Arab World. Indigenous Peoples: An Encyclopedia of Culture, History, and Threats to Survival . Why you should be eating molokhia and how to make this delicious superfood soup”. Breaking Bread: Recipes and Stories from Immigrant Kitchens. L’ Archipel des idées de Barbara Cassin.