The Tradition of Palestinian Cuisine

The sweet aroma of garlic fried in samneh baladiyeh (clarified spiced butter) with freshly ground coriander (taqliyeh) always softens the hard, impenetrable stones and enlivens the empty cobbled back alleys of Jerusalem. The aroma conjures up memories of mother's food. A walk in the Old City at lunchtime invariably evokes the feeling of contentment and comfort. The mysterious sense of joy unleashed by the various scents emanating from the kitchens of the Old City is inexhaustible. The delicate garlic/coriander aroma that would be the last touch to the yakhneh (stew) of either mallow (mulukhia) or okra (bamiah) always transforms Jerusalem into one big family kitchen.

A general survey of the repertoire of cooked food in the traditional urban, peasant, and nomadic cuisine reveals great diversity. Detailed analysis, however, reveals a constitutive structure which generates the grammar, syntax, and vocabulary in the discourse of Palestinian cuisine. The permutations produced within the confines of the structure impart to Palestinian cuisine its unique flavour. Once "cooked," the "raw" nutrient elements discursively assume their value, their individual "taste." The taste, tang, zest, savour, aroma, degree of moisture and dryness, consistency of sauce, the chopping, shaping of vegetables and of meats in preparation for cooking, the arrangement of stuffed vegetables inside the cooking pot and the final presentation at the table; in short the aesthetics that separate the edible from inedible, the delicious from the offensive, the appetizing from the bland underlies the structural classification, ordering, and composition of the food elements in southern and northern Palestine.

The most common daily Palestinian food, khubiz, zeit u za'tar (bread, olive oil-and-thyme mix) encapsulates the constitutive elements of Palestinian culinary aesthetics and delineates both the form and content of our cuisine. The oil and the tart-and-spicy za'tar mix impart to Palestinian food its unique taste. The qualitative binary category of dasameh (oil, butter, or animal fat) in conjunction with humudah, the tart taste, on the one hand, camouflage the natural aroma of animal meat, be it mutton, beef, poultry, or fish, and on the other hand, moisten, soften and enhance the taste of the plain carbohydrate staple, be it bread, rice, or roasted wheat (freekeh) in an almost algebraic formula. The combination of moist, spicy, rich, tart elements of the dasameh/humudah in the sauce or stew or dip blended masterfully by the dexterous cook stands in juxtaposition to the moist, plain bread or freekeh or rice. This aesthetic combination - with the predilection for the hot and spicy in the South (Gaza) and the tart and zesty in the North (Galilee) - makes up the basic structures that generate the rules and grammar of the seasonal Palestinian food which flourishes in the savoury diversity of Jerusalem cuisine and which has, in modernity, been adopted by Palestinians in the desert and countryside.

The study of the repertoire of Jerusalem's cuisine yields two major categories of cooked food, namely stews and stuffed vegetables. Yakhaneh refers to a generic variety of meat stews with vegetables, on the one hand, and mahasheh, stuffed vegetables with meat and rice, on the other. In the mahasheh, vegetables such as zucchini, gourds, cucumbers, carrots, or eggplants are cored out and stuffed with rice and meat. In the yakhaneh, chunks of mutton are cooked with seasonal vegetables. Both mahasheh and yakhaneh are cooked in conjunction with a variety of sauces using tamarind, yoghurt, tomatoes, sour pomegranates, and unripened sour grapes as a base. The grammar and rules that specify the use of the various ingredients, their form, the possible combinations, the stages of preparation, and the trimming and timing in the cooking order of meat, vegetable, and sauce are inflexible.

Stuffed carrots and cucumbers can be cooked in tamarind sauce. Eggplant can only be cooked in tomato sauce. Stuffed zucchini and cucumbers can be cooked in conjunction with yoghurt sauce too. Tampering with categories, sauces, and format is aesthetically fatal. The result is considered disgusting and inedible. The highly elusive aesthetic - namely value - judgement, delicious, savoury, appetising, tasty depends on the ability of the cook to subtly manipulate the various elements so as not to shock the taste with over-spiced, sour, greasy savour but rather a well-balanced blend in a sauce that is neither too thick nor too thin.

Form, colour, and method of presentation are of utmost importance. Za'tar is served in a small bowl and must remain totally dry. The olive oil, into which the morsel of bread is to be dipped, must remain clean, without sediments of za'tar grains or floating bread crumbs. First the bread is dipped into the oil and then into the za'tar. Otherwise it is disgusting. One keeps a loaf of bread on one's right side, which is shredded into morsels as one eats. Nobody else touches that piece of bread.

Spices, biharat, in Palestinian cuisine, are used sparingly. Depending on the individual family taste, the basic spice (bihar) is made up of a mix composed of varying ratios of cardamom, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, clove, fenugreek, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, and pepper. The spice shops cater to the individual taste by varying the mix accordingly. In the mahasheh, the spice is mixed with the rinsed rice, meat fillings, and sirej (sesame oil). In the yakhaneh the spice is added as soon as the meat is browned with the chopped onions and just before the water for the stew is added. A spoonful of samneh in a frying pan with coriander and crushed garlic provides the final garnishing and imbues the simplest okra mutton stew with its alluring aroma and flavour.

Dasameh in the Palestinian kitchen ranges from the use of virgin olive oil, sirej, tahineh, samneh baladiyeh (clarified spiced butter), and the natural fat of the mutton, liyyeh.

Samneh baladiyeh assumes a prominent place in the Palestinian pantry; without it our food loses its substantiality and unique flavour. Families buy goat butter, which is available exclusively in spring. It is cooked to be preserved for daily use throughout the year. The taqliyeh, for the final aroma and zest of the yakhaneh, the rice, and the slivered almonds and pine nuts achieve their taste within the meal by being fried in samneh.

Olive oil is requisite as a salad dressing, but its distinctive taste gives musakhan its exquisite taste. Musakhan is a festive peasant dish celebrating the humudah/dasameh. In this scrumptious dish, chicken is baked in a special oven, the taboon, whose main fuel is sun-baked camel and sheep dung which imparts a special flavour to baked foods and permeates our mountains with its sweet aroma. The chicken is served on a circular loaf of whole wheat bread smothered with cooked onions saturated with olive oil and seasoned with the tart summaq spice.

In Jerusalem, sesame oil (sirej) is used exclusively in frying in lieu of corn oil. A tablespoonful mixed with the minced meat, rice, and spices enhances the taste of the mahasheh, adding the indispensable extra taste of dasameh. From sesame seed, tahineh is also extracted. This creamy off-white sauce, added to balls of minced meat in the last stage of baking lahmeh bi sinniyeh, imparts a hearty velvety taste. Yet the tahineh must be tempered by lemon juice or vinegar.

Tahineh is indispensable for hummus. This chickpea dip is tasteless on its own. It is the savvy blending in of the tahineh, the right amount of lemon juice, and a pinch of cumin that makes it delicious. The dip is garnished with olive oil, a few chopped sprigs of parsley, and a dash of red cayenne pepper for colour. The bread, in bite-size morsels, is dipped into the chickpea puree. When mixed with eggplant, tahineh gives the thick consistency to mutabbal, the delicious eggplant dip. The texture of both hummus and mutabbal is of paramount importance; the mixed ground paste must be neither viscous, thick, and heavy nor soggy and mushy, but squidgy with a moist, thick texture to be eaten as a dip with bread that is neither soft nor spongy, neither dry nor crumbly.

Texture and consistency vary from platter to platter and signal in feel, form, and colour the savoury taste of food. Every home has its own secret combination and every restaurant imparts a specific taste to these delectable dips. The amount of tahineh to lemon and chickpeas or eggplant is what sets Palestinian hummus or mutabbal apart from the Syrian, Lebanese, or Egyptian culinary equivalents.

The elements of humudah and dasameh reach a perfect balance according to the Palestinian palate in mansaf. The ceremonial meal consists of stewed mutton spiced with cardamom. The mutton is served on top of a bed of plain white rice in conjunction with a thick sauce of mutton stock and a concentration of dried spiced goats' yoghurt (jameed) served in separate individual bowls.

Mansaf, served on a large, flat, round, zinc-plated copper tray, is presented in a splendid manner. A layer of shredded whole wheat bread, marinated in meat stock, is covered with a layer of rice on top of which comes the meat decorated with slivered almonds and pine nuts.

Form and methods of presentation of different foods determines the specific spicing and ingredients of each dish. The proverb, "The eye eats before the mouth," underplays the fact that the form defines the taste. In practice each plate has its own specific way of presentation. How the food looks is part and parcel of the rules of Palestinian cooking. Mansaf is spiced mainly with cardamom; biharat would sully the yellowish cream colour of the off-white yoghurt sauce. The rice must be white and only salt is added. Only ma'lubeh rice would have biharat spice mix to balance the colour of the brownish fried eggplants, cooked meat, tomato wedges, e