One For me, and One For Science

For this preservation blog, I wanted to try two recipes. The first one, "pickled mint leaves" I found on a recipe book for a cook from Baghdad, the book is called Kitab al-Tabikh ‘The Book of Cooking’ written in the 13th century. The second one is one of my all time favorite dishes, called "Makdous". And it's basically oil-cured stuffed mini eggplants. I picked two recipes because I was very intrigued by the first one, and desperately wanted to learn how to make the second. And to be completely honest, the pickled mint leaves recipe was as clear as a medieval recipe could get, so I decided to make Makdous, just to be sure at least one dish was edible. 

The pickled mint leaves call for only five ingredients: High quality vinegar, garlic, saffron and spices -it just says spices, I chose to only use freshly grounded cumin, because I thought it complemented the other flavours well. 

You then remove the largest leaves from the stems, spread on a baking sheet, and dehydrate. Use your oven on the lowest temperature, mine was on 170F. Make sure to keep checking, so they wouldn't burn. 

After the mint has completely dried out, start assembling. Julienne one clove of garlic, grind the cumin, mix with the other ingredients, and place in a freshly sanitized glass jar. 

After you place all the ingredients in the jar, seal it, and leave to pickle for at least a week.

That was easy right!

The makdous however is more complicated, but trust me when I say it’s worth it. You'll need more ingredients for this one, and a lot more patience. I looked at a few recipes, to try and make it as easy as I possibly could, and this is what I ended up with. The things you'll need to make this are: mini eggplants, walnuts, garlic, chilies, olive oil, bell peppers and a lot of salt.  

To start, clean the eggplants, and boil in salted water for 20 min, or until you can remove the stems with your hands easily -be careful not to over cook-. Rinse with cold water for painless handling. When the eggplants are cold to touch, remove the stems. Then using a knife, make a cut from the top to the bottom as shown in the picture, being mindful not to cut in half, or cut too close to the ends.

Fill in the cuts with salt, and place on a colander, with cuts facing sideways. Sprinkle with salt, then place a plate on top and weigh with anything that is heavy enough, and leave for at least 24 hours. The salt and weight help the eggplants lose as much water as possible. 

After 24 hours, remove weight, and start making the filling. Mince garlic and chilies, and finely chop walnuts and bell peppers, mix everything together and add a pinch of salt. Fill in the eggplants, place in a sanitized glass jar, cover with olive oil, and leave in a dark warm dry place for a month.  

Recipe:

Pickled mint leaves Ingredients:
1	High quality white vinegar	1 cup
2	Saffron	1/3 tsp
3	Ground cumin	1 tsp
4	Dried mint leaves	11/2 cup
5	Garlic	1 clove

Recipe Preparation:

1- Place mint leaves on a rack in the oven at the lowest temperature setting, mine was at 170F.

2- Dehydrate the leaves for 45 min, or until dry. Careful not to burn it. 

3- Julienne the garlic, and mix in the vinegar, along with saffron and cumin. 

4- Place dry mint leaves in a sanitized jar, and pour in the rest of the ingredients, until the mint is completely covered.

5- Tap in the jar to make sure there is no air bubbles .

6- Seal and place in a dark warm spot for at least a week before consuming.

Makdous Ingredients:
1	Mini eggplants	500g
2	Salt	1/2 cup
3	Walnuts	50g
4	Chili	3 medium
5	Bell pepper	1/2 pc
6	Olive Oil	2 cup
7	Garlic	1 clove

Recipe Preparation:

1- Wash eggplants, place in salted water, bring to a boil and let it cook for 20 min, or until stems are easily removed by hand.

2- Rinse eggplants with cold water, and remove stems.

3- Make a vertical cut, making sure not to cut too close to the top and bottom.

4- Fill in cuts with salt, and place on a colander, cuts facing sideways. 

5- Place a plate or any clean flat surface on top, and weigh down with 3kg or more. And leave to discard of water for a minimum of 24h. 

6- After eggplants lose most of their water, remove weight, and start preparing the filling.

7- Mince garlic and chilis, then roughly chop bell pepper and walnuts. Mix all together and add a pinch of salt.

8- Fill in eggplants with the mixture, and place in sanitized glass jar.

9- Cover with Olive oil, tap in the jar to remove any air bubbles.

10- Seal and place in a dark dry place for a month.

References:

Al-Baghdadi, M. (1226) Kitab al-Tabikh, (1ist ed). Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate.

طريقة عمل المكدوس السوري الاصلي. (2016, July 18). Retrieved from https://www.tareekaa.com/مقبلات/241-طريقة-عمل-المكدوس-السوري-الاصلي

الاصيل, ش. (2017, September 15). Retrieved July 10, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_unoS-sOv0

Khadeejah. (n.d.). طريقة مكدوس الباذنجان. Retrieved from https://mawdoo3.com/طريقة_مكدوس_الباذنجان