1 - 7 November 2001
Issue No.558
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 1 - 7 November 2001 Issue No.558 |
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All in the mix
Fayza Hassan recalls the incomparable aroma of seeds
In the past, when extended families shared one big house, the kitchen was run according to set rules of economy and dietary principles. In our home, there were three distinct menus: the grownups', which was a mixture of Western and Oriental cuisine; the children's, based on a bland diet of steamed rice, boiled vegetables and grilled meat; and finally the servants', supposed to conform to their taste for fatty meats and spicy dishes. The latter was by far the most interesting, and I remember hiding in the garden to observe the servants tucking into their morning spread of tomatoes, lettuce, white cheese and small platefuls of coarsely ground brown seeds resembling coffee and that I heard them call duqqa. Although we were, on special occasions, allowed to taste the grownups' delicacies, it was made very clear that the servants' food was totally out of bounds. I was therefore very surprised to walk into a Jewish friend's house one morning and see the family sitting down to a breakfast that looked exactly like that of our servants.
There was no toast, butter or marmalade; the jug of Ovaltine was nowhere to be seen, and nor was the tasteless dish of puréed fuul and red onions, which in our house masqueraded as an "Egyptian" breakfast. Ripe red tomatoes alternated with bunches of green lettuce in a serving dish; a block of white cheese sat proudly in a pretty porcelain container; and the characteristic aroma of duqqa filled the air. Even more astonishing was the fact that my friend and her young brother were soaking morsels of baladi bread in olive oil then dipping them in the large bowl of brown seeds placed in the centre of the table. Urged to join in, I did not have to think twice. My mother had warned against accepting food from the servants, not from friends. That the food was the same in both cases was therefore irrelevant. When the piece of bread sprinkled with duqqa reached my palate, I discovered for the first time the meaning of gastronomic pleasure. Since that day, the mention of the word makes my mouth water.
In Tamarind and Saffron, Favourite Recipes from the Middle East (Viking,1999), Claudia Roden writes, "On a recent visit to Australia I was stunned to find that it [duqqa] has become extremely fashionable there. Wineries produce their own blends of 'Aussie dukkah' and sell it in elegant packages. Restaurants offer it so that people can dip in with their bread soaked in olive oil." In Egypt, adds Roden, it is a very personal and individual mix. She gives the following recipe for the duqqa used in Australia, which she says is quite similar to the method used by her own mother:
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