recipe from “Sahtein: Middle East Cookbook”
- 4 cups of dried mulukhiyyah (comfrey)
- 2 pounds lamb meat (boneless preferred)
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 6 cups water or lamb broth
- salt and lemon juice to taste
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- prepared, cooked brown rice
Brown the garlic with pine nuts in the butter. Add the meat; brown it and add spices.
Rinse the mulukhiyyah (comfrey) well, picking out the little stems. Add to the meat.
Stir for 5 minutes on low fire. Add the water or lamb broth. Let boil and add the lemon juice.
Cook for 1-1/2 hours until lamb is tender. Serve over cooked brown rice.
Note: If you use the meat with bones, boil meat, strain, and then brown with garlic and pine nuts.
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Wardee,
That is very interesting. I didn’t know comfrey was used in cooking like that. I make a comfrey salve that is good for minor cuts, scrapes, burns and rashes on the skin. What is the flavor like? And can you use any comfrey? I LOVE learning recipes from other countries!!!! Thanks for sharing.
love,
Tiffany
Tiffany,
Isn’t it amazing what we can do with God’s foods? I have put comfrey in salves before also.
The flavor is really, really good. I don’t know how to describe it. This is my sister’s absolute favorite dish. When she goes to visit my parents or my parents visit her, this has to be on the menu for her! My husband Jeff likes it okay, but doesn’t care for it as a main dish. I love it. The lemon juice and salt really make the flavor perfect. I’m not sure if you can use any comfrey. I’d be sure it was organic or wild, then it is safe for eating. A Middle Eastern market would have loads of this available safe for consumption.
I have a bag of leaves called meloukhia. May I assume that this is the same thing and is also comfrey?
I have used it off and on for cooking and I never knew it comfrey! I picked it up at the middle eastern market when we used to live in San Diego. I have not yet found a middle eastern market where we live now, so when we are in San Diego visiting friends and family, I stock up on what I need. My favorites are black tea (Gulabi) and green zaatar mix for making lebni with strained goat’s milk yogurt (I add extra salt, too) and olive oil. Yum! And now I make your pita bread recipe to dip it in. Double yum! I am going to try this stew. My favorite stew is an Iraqi stew called Murag made with beef or lamb, okra, green beans, tomato, baharat (spice mixture), and you can add eggplant, but I am not an eggplant fan. This stew might give that one a run for its money. 🙂
Thanks so much for the recipe!
Yes, I think that is the same thing! Your spelling is close to the pronounciation, so I would think they are the same. Let me know how it turns out!
“Meloukhia (Corchorus Oliotorus ) A tall leafy herb, whose leaves are used as a potherb, spinach or as a salad. The leaves are lanceolate and serrate and are used fresh and dried. In Egypt and the Middle East mostly used in soups, in India as a spinach substitute and in the Caribbean as a salad. Sometimes used as a source of jute, but c.capsularis is the more important source of fibre.” http://www.egintex.com/botanical_herbs.htm
“Mulukhiyyah – A dark green leafy plant with a sour, viscous juice, used to make a chicken dish or a soup much loved by most Arabs. The plant is a member of the mallow family.” http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198802/brooklyn.s.atlantic.avenue.htm
I am confused tho, because I thought Comfrey was a member of the borage family, is it not?
@Whiterock – Well, now I’m really confused. 🙂 You already know more than me.
I don’t think Mulukhiyyah is comfrey after all. Comfrey is in the borage family.
http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/comfrey
And it doesn’t seem like Mulukhiyyah and Meloukhia are the same either. 😉
My goodness, back to the drawing board (and undoing years of thinking something that just isn’t true).
Where do you get the comfrey? My midwife prescribed it after my last baby, and I couldn’t find it anywhere. I was told they couldn’t sell it anymore for some reason. I live in Washington. Do they carry it in stores in Oregon? I would love to have some in my “arsenal”. 🙂
Eva, I’ve only ever gotten it from my mom, who gets it from a Middle Eastern market. Are you near a big city, such as Portland or Seattle? Otherwise, see if you can find a ME market online.
The flavor is similar to many dark leafy greens but the texture is different. Depending on how they’re cooked the “slippery” texture is more or less prominent.
I had been told that this is in the okra family and so that slick quality is like okra.
My Syrian mother in law taught me this and her version is close to yours. Starting with dried leaves:She picks through the dried leaves for any stems or debris and then soaks them briefly to rehydrate, squeeze them out and pre-fry them with about 2-3 tablespoons of oil. She literally “fries” them by moving the pan quickly over high heat while constantly flipping the greens ( reminds me of popping corn)
She then Browns ground meat with plenty of garlic adds back in the sautéed mulakhia (sp?) and adds broth in increments like when you make risotto. Finally she adds the last of the broth and it cooks til the greens are tender. They get really dark and luscious. It us not soupy but rather the broth is soaked up.
She traditionally serves with chunks of boiled chicken and lots of lemon wedges.
Hands down my whole family’s favorite meal