Ancient Egyptian Tigernut Sweetmeats

Ancient Egyptian Tigernut Sweetmeats is a traditional Ancient Egyptian recipe for a classic sweetmeat made from a blend of tiger nut flour and honey that's fried to cook and shaped into cones before serving. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Egyptian version of: Ancient Egyptian Tigernut Sweetmeats.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

20 minutes

Total Time:

40 minutes

Serves:

Rating:

Tags : Vegetarian Recipes Vegetable Recipes Egypt Recipes

This is one of the world's oldest recipes and comes from the Tomb of Rekhmire in Egypt. This sweet (candy) was probably one of Rekhmires favourite foods and the recipe would have been written down so that it could be prepared for him in the next world. They truly must have been a favourite plant of Rekhmire as paintings of the tigernut plant were seen as well as the recipe given below.

A translation of the original recipe is given as: First of all a quantity of tiger nuts should be ground in a mortar until they are of the consistency of flour. Put this in a bowl with honey and mix to form a dough. Then put the mixture in a pan with a little fat and cook over a low fire until a firm paste has formed. This should smell toasted but not burnt. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool then take a little of the paste at a time and form into conical 'loaves'.

Ingredients:

200g tiger nut flour
runny honey to bind
fat or oil for frying

Method:

Sift the tiger nut flour into a bowl. Add the honey, a tablespoon at a time and work into the flour until you have a soft dough (how much honey you'll need will depend on the dryness of the flour).

Heat a little oil or fat in a non-stick frying pan, add the dough to this (roll or pat out to the shape of the pan first) and fry the paste until firm and lightly toasted. Be careful that the dough is only lightly toasted but not burnt and work the dough during the frying process to ensure it cooks through.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, allow to cool then break off small pieces and shape these into cones. Serve at room temperature.