Kitchen Matters: Rolled Meat / Sesame Candy

This section is edited by Mrs. Tamam Dawud

Mrs. Tamam Dawud is a model of activity and vitality despite her advanced years; after the appearance of her translation of the book 'The Big Fisherman,' she is now about to finish translating another book.

And despite her important literary occupations, Mrs. Dawud has kindly consented to nourish this section on a permanent basis, giving the housewife the observations of an expert connoisseur in the arts of cooking, and recipes for cakes, sweets, and refreshments.

Our thanks to the venerable lady — may God grant her length of days.

Pound the meat as kibbeh is pounded in the mortar. Season it with salt, allspice, and pepper; then roll it out to the thickness of a finger, and spread over it some of the fried meat and pine nuts (or lay a hard-boiled egg along the length of the meat; spread over it some grated cheese, thick cream, and a little almonds, walnuts, and chestnuts), and roll it up on itself as one rolls a cigarette or a burma. Then tie it with a string wound around it. Then put it in a cup of ghee, or more, over a low fire for an hour and a quarter. Then lift it out of the ghee, and thicken part of the ghee into a sauce with a little flour and water soured with lemon, or tomato, or vinegar; and add to it in the pot a little of the sour juice or tomato juice, or put in tender vegetables such as peas, carrots, and the like.

Thicken the sauce of the meat stuffed with cheese and cream with a little arrowroot, water, milk, and butter.

Ingredients:

12 cups sesame
1/2 tablespoon rose water
3 cups sugar (the weight of the sugar averaging one quarter the weight of the sesame)
2/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon lemon salt

Method: Soak the sesame in cold water for 12 to 24 hours. Then drain off the water, put the sesame in the kibbeh mortar, and pound it with the wooden pestle, turning it constantly as you pound until the husks come off. Then put the pounded sesame in a large pot half full of salted water — salty enough for an egg to float on its surface — so that the husked sesame grains rise to the surface of the salt water while the husks settle to the bottom. Then take up the sesame with the strainer and put it into another pot filled halfway with clean, unsalted water; the result is reversed, and the remaining husks settle to the bottom. Keep changing the fresh water until the sesame is completely clean and pure white. Then drain the sesame of its water and spread it on a sheet to dry. After that, gather it and toast it a little until it is completely dry and its color yellows slightly. Then leave it to cool. Prepare the syrup in the familiar way; then take the syrup off the fire, add to it the rose water and the sesame, and stir well. Then grease the tray with olive oil and pour the sesame candy into it, smoothing it with the palm of the hand, likewise greased with oil; then leave it to cool completely, and it is ready for cutting.

And finally, madam, cut it up and share it out among your children and their playmates!