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Melokhia

Melokhia is a traditional Egyptian recipe for a classic soup of stock and olive oil flavoured with garlic, coriander and cayenne that's thickened with mallow leaves. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Egyptian version of: Melokhia.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

15 minutes

Total Time:

35 minutes

Serves:

6

Rating:

Tags : Wild FoodVegetarian RecipesSpice RecipesEgypt Recipes

Melokhia is considered one of Egypt's national dishes and the tradition of making this dates back to the time of the Pharaohs. Im Medieval times minced beef was added to the stew and it was much richer than today. Now it's very much a peasant dish were the melokhia leaves tend to be cooked in water in which vegetables were previously boiled. This is very much a typical African kind of soup in that the melokhia leaves are very glutinous when cooked and tend to thicken the soup. In this respect they act in the same manner as the baobab leaves of West African cooking and the okra soups and stews that are found throughout Africa.

Melokhia itself, the plant corchorus, representing a genus of about 40–100 species of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae. As such it is very closely related to European Common Mallow and this is an excellent way of cooking mallow leaves.

Ingredients:

1 kg fresh Common Mallow (or melokhia leaves if you have access)
1.5l Strong stock (any stock, except pork-based)
Salt and Black pepper, to taste
25ml Olive oil
3 Garlic cloves crushed
1 tbsp ground coriander seeds
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper

Method:

Wash the mallow or melokhia leaves, remove the stems then chop them very finely. Add the stock to a large pan, season liberally and bring to a boil. Add the chopped leaves and simmer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile add the olive oil to a frying pan and fry the garlic in this until soft and golden brown. Add the spices and fry for a further 2 minutes then tip the spiced oil into the soup mix. Cover the pan and simmer for 3 minutes with occasional stirring. Adjust the seasonings and serve spooned into soup bowls.