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Broadbeans-art - 4/29/18

 

"Bāqillā bi-Khall (Broadbeans in Vinegar)" by Mistress Leoba of Lecelade. Also known as Fava beans.

 

NOTE: See also the files: B-Brod-Beans-art, beans-msg, chickpeas-msg, fava-beans-msg, peas-msg, vegetables-msg, Medvl-Bacon-art, vinegar-msg.

 

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NOTICE -

 

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Thank you,

Mark S. Harris...AKA:..Stefan li Rous

stefan at florilegium.org

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You can find more from this author in her blog at:

https://leobalecelad.wordpress.com

 

NOTE: Broadbeans are also known as Fava beans.

 

Bāqillā bi-Khall (Broadbeans in Vinegar)

by Mistress Leoba of Lecelade

 

Bāqillā bi-Khall: Take green broad beans as soon as they are rough. Remove their external husks, then boil them in salt and water until they are done, and dry them off. Sprinkle a little caraway and finely pounded cinnamon on them. Pour a bit of sesame oil on them. Put good vinegar to cover on them, and use them.

Kitab al Tabikh Chapter VII

(The Book of Dishes, trans. Charles Perry and published as A Baghdad Cookery Book).

 

Anyone who has ever used broadbeans can work out quickly why they were largely replaced with New World varieties. Within the pods, each bean is enclosed by a hard, pale skin, which should be removed before they are eaten, and this becomes incredibly tedious to do in quantity. However, anyone who has tasted broadbeans can work out why they never fell completely out of use – they are extremely delicious!

 

This dish would have been classed as a bārida, a cold dish with a vinegar based sauce, served at the start of a meal as an appetiser (Zaouali, 2007, 63).

 

Ingredients

 

For explanations of the ingredients, see the Notes below.

 

500g broad beans

1/2 tsp caraway

30mL virgin sesame oil

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

45 mL vinegar

Method

 

1.     Remove the broadbeans from the pods. Boil them in salted water for about a minute, then leave to cool.

2.     When the broadbeans are cool, remove pale, hard skin from the bright green inner bean.

3.     Sprinkle the spices over the beans.

4.     Pour the sesame oil over the beans, then pour over the vinegar.

5.     Serve the beans at room temperature.

 

Notes

 

If you are used to Asian cooking you’ll assume sesame oil should only be used sparingly, as the type of sesame oil used in Asian cooking can be overpowering if used heavily. However, this type of sesame oil is produced from toasted sesame seeds, which heavily concentrates the sesame flavour and aroma. If you are familiar with modern Indian or Middle Eastern cooking, you might have come across virgin or cold-pressed sesame oil, which is much paler and more subtly flavoured. This is the sort you need to use for baking. If are going to be cooking for anyone with a sesame allergy, almond oil, rice bran oil or canola oil make good substitutes (the last two don’t have any flavour).

 

 

Further Reading

 

Perry, Charles (2005). A Baghdad Cookery Book.

Zaouali, Lilia (2007). Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World.

 

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Copyright 2018 by Christine Lawrie. <clawrie1 at bigpond.net.au>. Permission is granted for republication in SCA-related publications, provided the author is credited. Addresses change, but a reasonable attempt should be made to ensure that the author is notified of the publication and if possible receives a copy.

 

If this article is reprinted in a publication, please place a notice in the publication that you found this article in the Florilegium. I would also appreciate an email to myself, so that I can track which articles are being reprinted. Thanks. -Stefan.

 

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Formatting copyright © Mark S. Harris (THLord Stefan li Rous).
All other copyrights are property of the original article and message authors.

Comments to the Editor: stefan at florilegium.org