Molokhiya (Tunisian Style) — مُلخية تونسية
July 25, 2010 by lamyaalmas
I first had this dish at a Tunisian sister’s whose mother had come to visit. Her mother made us couscous of course, but she also made this VERY colorful dish. I LOVED IT ! It literally bursts with flavor ( the main ingredient in this dish is dried and finely ground Molokhiya–not like other Molokhiya dishes that require either fresh minced Molokhiya or whole dry Molokhiya leaves). It is UNFORGETTABLY DELICIOUS !
Before you start making this dish put a pot of water to boil–a 2 quart pot.
You will need the following:
1) Ground Molokhiya. FINELY GROUND TO A POWDER! It might be hard to come by, but you can sometimes buy the dried Molokhiya and grind it yourself. 6 tblsp–1 tblsp of each person is the measurement that my Tunisian friend said is their unit of measure for this dish.
2) 1 pound of veal–boneless cut into medium sized pieces.
3) 2 tblsp of tomato paste
4) Ground coriander (1/2 tsp)
5) Ground caraway (1/2 tsp)
6) 3 cloves of garlic–finely minced.
7) sprinkle of pepper
8 ) salt to taste–but make sure that you do not add too much salt as it will become VERY salty. So just a sprinkle and then you can add more as desired.
9) Canola oil–enough for the dried Molokhiya into a runny mixture (not a paste)
Okay let’s start. Mix in the oil with the dried Molokhiya powder. NOW PAY ATTENTION to this first step as it can either make the dish a success or failure. In a pan place the Molokhiya mixed with the oil and place on very low heat. Just went it starts to bubble–JUST STARTS–add a cup of the boiling water and mix quickly. It will absorb the water so add another cup and stir. When it starts to bubble then place in a 2 quart pot (the thicker the better, so it does not stick to the bottom and burn).
When it is in the pot, place on medium heat and add water to 3/4 of the pot. Cover and let boil for 2 hours and a 1/2. Make sure every 15 minutes you give it a stir–we are doing this out of fear that it will stick to the bottom and burn.
After 2 1/2 hours, wash the meat and mix in ingredients 3-7 and place on top of the boiling Molokhiyah. Let boil for another hour and a half (not forgetting to stir every 10-15 minutes).
You will know it is done when the oil comes to the surface, meat is tender and the sauce has reduced to about a quarter of the pot.
Serve with french bread. Enjoy !
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Posted in Red Meat | 6 Comments
A Yemeniyah's Recipes 
Ahlan Lamya!
Hope the Tunisian Mlokhia has reached you by now… Sahha ! Salamat and best wishes for Ramadhan Mubarak from me and my mother to you and your family ! The nice coincidence about your posting of the recipe is that you did it on mother’s birthday !
Allah bless you ! Keep up the good work !
Salwa
Ahlan Salwa–
Ramadhan Mubarak to you and your mother and the WHOLE of TUNISIA. I just got it yesterday maa sha Alla. Jazaaki Allah Khayr. See, I told you my heart is always with her, even without me knowing. Give her my love will you please :)
May Allah bless you at all times insha Allah.
[…] off with apple/cinnamon oatmeal, 1 egg and coffee. For lunch I had a traditional tunisian dish, m’lokhia, that we unfortunately eat with baguette but I had a rather small piece and just ate until I had […]
[…] 1 […]
2 variances from our molokhia ( Jew Mellow ):
garlic is not minced, rather whole head cut in half, caraway is an aberration, we use tabel ( a mix of ground coriander, garlic powder and paprika).
The process is simple dilute 1 ladle or 1/2 cup of molokhia powder in oil, canola is better as olive oil becomes bitter. cold cold, mix until creamy, then start adding boiling water one ladle at a time, crank the heat to low low low. after 2 hours add a generous T spoon of Harissa, 2 bay leaves …some tomato paste for shine .no salt no salt no salt to the end.
after 2 hours, salt and pepper big chunks of lean beef, ( that’s all the salt you need) cook until tender to the fork. big chunks are 3 inch thick.
When cooking keep the heat as low as possible. scrape the bottom with wooden spoon every one in a while to prevent deposit and burning.
Nice to know. Thanks for sharing. Will try it sometime.
Lamya