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Palathai (Fig Cakes)

Palathai (Fig Cakes) is a traditional Ancient Roman recipe for a classic cake made from blended dried figs that are shaped, dusted with flour and coriander seeds and served. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: Fig Cakes (Palathai).

prep time

10 minutes

cook time

10 minutes

Total Time:

20 minutes

Serves:

4

Rating:

Tags : Cake RecipesAncient Roman Recipes

The Suda (Σουδα in Greek) Lexicon is a massive 10th century Byzantine Greek historical encyclopædia of the ancient Mediterranean world. The derivation is from the Latin suda, meaning "fortress" or "stronghold" (and a prefatory note states the lexicon's author to be by Suidas) is an encyclopædic lexicon with over 30 000 entries many chronicling ancient sources now lost to us. A number of the entries are descriptions of foods and it is from one of these that the fig cakes described below are derived.

Translation

Palathai are cakes made of figs. And cakes of palasiai, that is of dried figs that have been squashed.

Modern Redaction

These cakes are still made in both Egypt and Turkey and the recipe given below is based on an Egyptian original but probably yields something very similar to the ancient original.

Ingredients:

400g dried figs (preferably semi-dried so that the seeds are not too dry)
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp white flour

Method:

Remove the stalks from the figs then place in a blender and blend to a smooth paste. Pour the paste onto a plate, flatten and shape into a round.

Mix the flour and coriander seeds together and use this to dust the outside of the 'cake'. Cut into slices and serve.