Encyclopedia of Jewish Food

by Gil Marks

  Mechouiya means "roasted" or "grilled" in Arabic, as all the vegetable components of this dish are grilled, imparting a smoky flavor and caramelizing the sugars. The dish originated in the Maghreb and is particularly popular in Tunisia, where mechouiya is frequently featured at lunch and dinner, garnished with quartered hard-boiled eggs. For a spread, it is mashed and sprinkled with capers. Sephardim also mix it with yogurt for a breakfast dish.

  Although the practice of grilling vegetables in the Maghreb dates back thousands of years, all the major ingredients of mechouiya are imports—eggplants from India, bell peppers and tomatoes from South America, and garlic from western Asia. A combination of bell peppers and chilies creates an interesting contrast of sweet and pungent.

  Melaveh Malkah

  The Talmud states, "A person should always set his table following the Sabbath." It became customary following the Havdalah ceremony on Saturday evening to enjoy a light repast.

  The Sabbath is metaphorically viewed as a queen. A party and meal following the Sabbath was a symbolic way to escort the queen and, in the process, prolong the special feelings of the day. Kabbalists, in particular Isaac Luria, promoted the idea of the Melaveh Malkah as an extension of the Sabbath. This meal is called a Melaveh Malkah (literally "escorting the queen") by Ashkenazim and noche de Alhad (night of Sunday) by Sephardim.

  Another source was attached to King David, the ancestor of the messiah. As tradition holds that the messiah will not arrive on the Sabbath, Jews were inspired that he might arrive at days end. King David requested that God tell him the exact date on which he would die, and he was informed on the Sabbath. Subsequently, every Saturday evening following nightfall, he would acknowledge his survival for another week by holding a meal for the members of his household. Consequently, some communities, especially Moroccans, call their Saturday evening meal Seudat David Hamelek (Feast of King David).

  Whatever the name, cold dishes prepared before the Sabbath and leftovers from the desayuno (brunch), often dairy, are integral parts of the event.

  Melawah

  Melawah is a flaky skillet flatbread.

  Origin: Yemen

  Other names: malawah, melawach, miloach, tawa.

  The Yemenite ajin (dough), a rudimentary form of puff pastry made from white flour and butter (which are atypical in the traditional Yemenite diet), can be transformed into an array of beloved pastries, including melawah, a flatbread cooked in a hot skillet.

  In Yemen, melawah was reserved for special occasions, including Sabbath dinner and lunch, and meals to break a fast. Today among Yemenites, melawah are a sign of fine eating and are present at any Yemenite celebration meal. In Israel, melawah grew more common, initially as a breakfast bread. The flavor and texture are captivating. Melawah are best fresh and hot from the skillet—the golden and crispy exterior contrasts with the spirals of soft, flaky interior. Pareve versions in which the traditional clarified butter is replaced with margarine have become common. Traditional melawah have a slightly salty flavor, but in Israel they tend to be slightly sweet (and sometimes very sweet) due to the addition of untraditional sugar.

  Melawah are generally accompanied with s'chug (chili paste), hilbeh (fenugreek relish), rotav ahgvaniyot (fresh tomato puree), and hard-boiled eggs. Israelis began serving it topped with a spicy tomato puree, in a manner similar to pizza, and introduced versions sprinkled with za'atar and oil, sautéed mushrooms, and even ground beef. In Israel, melawah are also served for dessert, a practice unknown in Yemen; dessert melawah are drizzled with a little honey and sometimes also sprinkled with cinnamon and walnuts.

  Yemenites popularized melawah in Israel and, more recently, America. In Israel, the uncooked breads can be found frozen in every grocery, large and small. Today in America, commercial imports from Israel now appear in many markets catering to Jews and in restaurants offering Middle Eastern fare.

  (See also Ajin Taimani and Jachnun)

  Yemenite Flaky Bread (Melawah)

  makes 6 flatbreads

  [DAIRY or PAREVE]

  1 recipe Yemenite Flaky Pastry (Ajin)

  1. Divide the pastry dough into 6 pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll out into 8-inch squares. Roll up the dough jelly-roll style into tight cylinders. Place the cylinders, spiral side up, on a lightly greased or oiled surface and flatten into 1-inch thick rounds. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 3 days. If very hard, let stand at room temperature until pliable but not soft, about 20 minutes.

  2. Place the pastry disks on a lightly greased or oiled surface and with lightly oiled hands press each into a 1/8- to ¼-inch-thick round, about 7 inches in diameter and no bigger than your skillet. At this point, the melawah can be placed between sheets of wax paper and frozen for up to 3 months, then thawed before cooking.

  3. Heat a large cast-iron or heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Place a dough round into the skillet and cook for 30 seconds. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the bottom is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Turn and cook until golden, about 5 minutes. If the melawah threatens to burn before the interior cooks, remove from the skillet and place in a 375°F oven for a few minutes until cooked through. Serve warm or at room temperature.

  Melicha

  Melicha ("salting" in Hebrew) refers to the practice of salting freshly slaughtered raw meat and poultry to extract the blood.

  (See also Kosher)

  Melokhia

  Melokhia is an ancient green and a gelatinous soup made from it.

  Origin: Egypt

  Other names: milookhiyya, miloukhia, molokhia, mulukhiya, mulukiya.

  Jew's mallow, also known as tossa jute, nalta jute, and bush okra, is grown worldwide primarily for the fibers in its stems, which are used to make burlap; the plant is second only to cotton as the most important natural fiber. Its leaves have long been considered a medicinal vegetable and are used to treat aches, fever, and dysentery. In northeastern Africa and the Levant, the leaves are also used to make a venerable gelatinous Egyptian peasant soup known by the Arabic name of the plant, melokhia, probably a cognate of the Hebrew meluach (salty).

  The ancient plant, still grown from North Africa to India, was pictured on the walls of pyramids and may be the meluach mentioned in the Book of Job. It is not inconceivable that three millennia ago the Hebrew slaves subsisted off of melokhia soup as did the peasants of medieval Egypt, except for a period around 1000 CE when it was banned for absurd political reasons. Historically, melokhia (as well as other green vegetables) was particularly popular with Egyptian Jews; accordingly, a common name for this plant is Jew's mallow.

  Melokhia soup remains a staple of the Egyptian masses. It is considered, along with ful medames (stewed dried fava beans), the Egyptian national dish and the ultimate comfort food. The soup, however, is considered a baladi (home-style dish) and, therefore, rarely found on the menus of restaurants or at fancy parties. It is an acquired taste for most non-Egyptians. The dark green leaves, which resemble those of the common mallow, have a mild earthy flavor and viscous nature; when cooked, they produce a soup akin to the gumbo of the American South. Despite the name and appearance, melokhia should not be confused with plain mallow leaves, known as malva (hubeza/khobeiza in Arabic and chalamit in Hebrew), which are also used in peasant cooking. Fresh melokhia leaves are harvested after they reach slightly more than two inches in length and are used throughout the summer; dried or frozen leaves (the latter come cleaned and chopped) are served during the winter and spring. The leaves have to be carefully plucked from the stalk so as not to release the substance at the pithy joint responsible for its distinctive mucilaginous quality. The fresh leaves are generally very finely chopped or thinly julienned using a makhrata (a curved half-moon blade with two handles).

  The melokhia's characteristic mucilaginous quality is much beloved in Egypt. In the Levant, on the other hand, this gooiness is not appreciated, and most cooks prepare a more brothy soup. A distinctive flavoring of the bright gre
en soup is ta'liya—a mixture of fried garlic (and plenty of it), coriander, and salt, which is commonly prepared using three to four teaspoons of coriander per thirty cloves of garlic. Most Egyptians contend that too little garlic ruins the soup. Other common seasonings include cumin or cardamom and fresh lemon juice. When made from chicken or duck broth, a piece of poultry is frequently added to each soup bowl. Melokhia is typically served over white rice.

  Egyptian Green Mallow Soup (Melokhia)

  6 to 8 servings

  [MEAT or PAREVE]

  8 cups chicken, duck, beef, or vegetable broth

  Ground black pepper to taste

  2 bay leaves

  1 whole small fresh chili or pinch of cayenne (optional)

  2 pounds fresh melokhia, washed, stemmed, and finely chopped or thinly julienned; 2 pounds frozen chopped melokhia; or 1½ cups (1 pound) ground dried melokhia

  10 to 18 cloves garlic, minced

  About 1 tablespoon ground coriander

  About 1 teaspoon table salt or 2 teaspoons kosher salt

  3 tablespoons vegetable oil

  Juice of 2 to 3 lemons

  1. In a large pot, bring the broth, pepper, bay leaves, and, if using, chili to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the melokhia, return to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes, or 15 minutes if frozen.

  2. Meanwhile, mash the garlic, coriander, and salt into a paste. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic mixture and sauté until fragrant and golden, about 2 minutes.

  3. Stir the garlic mixture into the broth, then spoon a cup of soup into the skillet to absorb any remaining garlic. Return the contents of the skillet to the soup pot and simmer for 2 minutes. Do not overcook or the melokhia will lose its buoyancy and sink to the bottom of the pot.

  4. Add the lemon juice. Serve immediately.

  Melon

  According to the Bible, shortly after leaving Egypt, the Israelites yearned for five common Egyptian vegetables, all members of two families. They said, "We remember the fish that we did eat in Egypt for free; the kishuim [chate melons] and the avatichim [watermelons] and the leeks and the onions and the garlic."

  There were two basic groups of melons in the ancient world: watermelons and muskmelons/net melons. The muskmelon (melafefon in Talmudic Hebrew), a close relative of the chate melon, has a thin sandy-colored rind, usually with a web netting, and a flesh ranging from pale to bright orange. Archeological evidence that muskmelons were already being cultivated in Sumeria more than three thousand years ago reflects a very early domestication for both types of melon. However, references to melopepo, as well as a lack of interest in them by Romans, connote that they at best had a mild sweetness at maturity. Modern sweet net melons appear to have emerged in the early fourteenth century, perhaps in Persia or the Levant, and were only introduced to Europe in the late fifteenth century.

  The cantaloupe (dinkeh in Yiddish and maylon matok in Modern Hebrew), named for Cantalupo, a papal villa near Rome, is the most popular net melon. Most American net melons called cantaloupes are actually muskmelons, which are larger, paler, and sweeter than cantaloupes. Persian melons are larger but less sweet than cantaloupes. Galia, named after the daughter of its Israeli developer, is a net melon with a light green flesh. Another Israeli melon is Ogen, named for the kibbutz in Israel where they were first grown.

  Throughout the literature and culture of the ancient Middle East, melons, due to their seeds and shape, had symbolic associations with sexuality and fertility. Melons are still considered an aphrodisiac in many areas. Cucurbits remain traditional Rosh Hashanah fare, the seeds a symbol of fertility.

  (See also Cucumber and Watermelon)

  Me'orav Yerushalmi

  Me'orav yerushalmi is an assortment of grilled skewered offal and some chunks of meat.

  Origin: Jerusalem

  Other names: Jerusalem mix, mixed grill.

  Chunks of meat grilled on skewers have been popular fare in the Middle East for many generations. In the early twentieth century, Middle Eastern Jews in Israel opened small eateries throughout the country, often nothing more than an improvised mangal (grill) and a table or two, featuring these grilled meats and other foods that could easily be stuffed into a pita. The standard item on the menu is shipudim (skewers)—chunks of beef, lamb, or chicken or ground meat wrapped around the skewer and grilled. In the 1960s, these "joints" became known as steakiyot (steak houses) or, less commonly, shipudaia.

  A variation of shipudim became one of the classic foods of modern Israel— me'orav yerushalmi, consisting of several types of grilled offal (what Israelis sum up as dvarim pnimi'im, "inner things") and a little actual meat, with a strong emphasis on chicken spleens, livers, gizzards, and hearts. Chopped and wrapped in a laffa or pita and typically topped with some grilled onions and Israeli salad, me'orav yerushalmi emerged as Jerusalem's signature fast food. This Israeli dish may have been inspired by the Maghrebi mechouiya d'abats (grilled offal), an assortment of lamb offal—liver, heart, kidney, sweetbreads, and testicles—and merguez (sausages) that is chopped into cubes, marinated in a lemon juice vinaigrette, strung on skewers, and grilled.

  Legend has it that me'orav yerushalmi was invented late one night in the early 1960s when the owner of a grill wanted to close, so he chopped up the remaining organs and a little meat, heavily spiced them, fried them all together, stuffed some into pitas, and offered the sandwiches at a very low price just to be done with it. Soon people returned, seeking more of the spicy mystery-meat sandwiches. As the lines of patrons grew longer, nearby grills quickly began offering their own versions. In the 1960s, me'orav yerushalmi, because it used less expensive parts of animals, emerged as a cheap and popular staple of small grill restaurants throughout the city and became more prevalent than the more expensive shipudim. Various small restaurants competing on Agrippas Street in Jerusalem near the Machaneh Yehudah open market claim to have invented the concept of me'orav yerushalmi and coined the term. They all claim to make the best.

  The spices vary from restaurant to restaurant and are zealously guarded secrets, while packaged mixed spices for me'orav yerushalmi, heavily accented on the cumin, are sold in supermarkets. Toward the end of the twentieth century, Israeli-style restaurants in America and Europe were also offering "mixed grill," but these tend to be shipudim with actual meat or chicken and perhaps an occasional chicken liver.

  On November 30, 2009, Jerusalem chefs made the largest me'orav yerushalmi on record—70 pounds of filling topped a six-foot pita.

  In Israel, Me'orav Yerushalmi has been co-opted as the title of a Klezmer song and a 1990 Israeli book of poetry. Beginning in 2003, Me'orav Yerushalmi was the title of a widely acclaimed Israeli television show about a traditional family in Jerusalem. In 2009, eight of Jerusalem's top chefs garnered a Guinness World Record for the world's largest me'orav yerushalmi.

  Meshwi

  Meshwi is slow-roasted lamb.

  Origin: Middle East

  Other names: mishui.

  Meshwi, which means "roasted" in Arabic, is popular throughout the Arab world. Similarly roasted vegetables are commonly called mishwiya. In the Maghreb, meshwi is usually prepared Berber-style from a whole lamb (kharuf meshwi) and roasted on a spit in a brick and mud oven. This, however, is impractical for most home kitchens, where a leg of lamb with the thigh or lamb shoulder is substituted. Meshwi is a favorite holiday dish in many Sephardic households, particularly on Passover. The well-cooked meat should be very tender and fall off the bone, so traditionally diners simply pull the lamb apart and eat it by hand. The Moroccan version is typically served on a bed of couscous (not on Passover) with dried fruit (apricots, figs, plums, and raisins). Others cook the lamb with white truffles (terfass).

  Mezze

  The wealthy in ancient Persia would throw lavish parties, such as those recorded in the Scroll of Esther, with copious quantities of wine. To encourage imbibing, and to counterbalance any sour or astringent tastes
in the wine, an all-too-frequent occurrence back then, hosts offered various tidbits to eat, such as nuts, dried fruit, roasted grains, and small pieces of roasted meat. Eventually, the food at these parties grew more varied and offerings included dips, pickles, and salads, collectively called mezze, meze, or mazza. The word probably derived from the Persian noun mazze, meaning "taste/flavor," akin to the verb mazzidan, "to taste." Although Islam subsequently prohibited alcohol, the appetizer assortment endured and the number of dishes grew over the centuries. The Ottomans spread the concept and its name throughout their empire and, as a result, variations of the word mezze are found from the Balkans—Romanians call it mezzeluri—to North Africa. Turkish mezze tend to be more elegant and filling, while Syrian-Lebanese versions include lighter, more rustic street fare. In Israel, home entertaining, restaurant dining, and Sabbath morning or afternoon lunches commonly feature a mezze.

  Mezze is more than simply appetizers on a table, but rather an array of dishes—a medley of tastes, textures, aromas, and colors. It can be the start of a meal or the entire dinner. The intent is to delight the palate and foster conversation. A modest mezze may feature a mere half-dozen offerings; for special occasions, a mezze will abound with forty, fifty, or more different hors d'oeuvres. The dishes are typically arranged on a table in an attractive display of shapes and colors. A mezze is not bound by any set measure. Dishes may be cooked or uncooked, simple or elaborate, served at room temperature or chilled. They are usually savory and occasionally sweet-and-sour, and are almost always offered in small portions. Most of the dishes, primarily salads and dips, are relatively simple; hosts rely on the balance of the assortment and the freshness of the ingredients.

  A typical Israeli mezze selection, reflecting a pronounced Syrian-Lebanese influence with a touch of Moroccan as well, may include a variety of spreads/dips, notably hummus (chickpea puree), baba ghanouj (eggplant salad), matbucha (cooked tomato and pepper salad), and muhammara (red pepper relish). It might also feature assorted salads (Israeli, beet, cooked carrot, raw carrot, cauliflower, tabbouleh, etc.), as well as crudités, olives, turshi (pickles), stuffed vegetables, stuffed grape leaves, roasted peppers, fresh fruit, falafel, kibbeh mahshi (fried stuffed croquettes), mortadel (filled meatballs), and delicate savory pastries. Sweets are rarities. At dairy affairs, foods like labaneh (yogurt cheese) sprinkled with za'atar and goat cheeses might also be featured. Unlike westerners who look askance at any repetition of ingredients at a cocktail party or buffet, a mezze usually features many of the same ingredients prepared in enticingly different ways. Eggplant, for example, may be served fried, stewed with other vegetables, grilled and pureed to creaminess, bathed in spices and herbs, smothered in yogurt, and enwrapped in phyllo. Due to the hot climate, Middle Easterners favor cool salads and fiery condiments, such as two popular chili sauces, s'chug and harisa. The foods are generally accompanied with warm flatbreads and chilled ouzo or raki (anise liqueur) as well as cold nonalcoholic drinks.