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Dragon-Sandbu-art - 5/10/18

"Dragon Sanbusak" by Lady Marie Hélène of the New Forest.

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NOTICE -

This article was added to this set of files, called Stefan's Florilegium, with the permission of the author.

These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

While the author will likely give permission for this work to be reprinted in SCA type publications, please check with the author first or check for any permissions granted at the end of this file.

Thank you,

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

stefan at florilegium.org

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This is the documentation I did for Eye of the Dragon a few weeks ago. I won the "how would you serve a dragon in a dish" category. It was whimsical.

Dragon Sanbusak

(for Eye of the Dragon April AS LII)

by Lady Marie Hélène of the New Forest

On Dragons -

According to the Medieval Bestiary (http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast262.htm), the dragon is native to India and Ethiopia. Bartholomaeus Anglicus mentioned the dragon is hot-blooded which is why it seeks out the elephant with its cool blood.

Bartholomaeus Anglicus [13th century CE] (De proprietatibus rerum, book 18):

The Dragon is most greatest of all serpents, and oft he is drawn out of his den, and riseth up into the air, and the air is moved by him, and also the sea swelleth against his venom, and he hath a crest with a little mouth, and draweth breath at small pipes and straight, and reareth his tongue, and hath teeth like a saw, and hath strength, and not only in teeth, but also in his tail, and grieveth both with biting and with stinging, and hath not so much venom as other serpents: for to the end to slay anything, to him venom is not needful, for whom he findeth he slayeth, and the elephant is not secure of him, for all his greatness of body… And at the last after long fighting the elephant waxeth feeble for great blindness, in so much that he falleth upon the dragon, and slayeth in his dying the dragon that him slayeth. The cause why the dragon desireth his blood, is coldness of the elephant's blood, by the which the dragon desireth to cool himself…

(Mediaeval Lore from Bartholomew Anglicus (London, 1893/1905) Steele edition of 1905)'

And before that, Isidore of Seville [7th century CE] (Etymologies, Book 12, 4:4-5) wrote:

'The dragon is the largest serpent, and in fact the largest animal on earth. Its name in Latin is draco, derived from the Greek name drakon. When it comes out of its cave, it disturbs the air. It has a crest, a small mouth, and a narrow throat. Its strength is in its tail rather than its teeth; it does harm by beating, not by biting. It has no poison and needs none to kill, because it kills by entangling. Not even the elephant is safe from the dragon; hiding where elephants travel, the dragon tangles their feet with its tail and kills the elephant by suffocating it. Dragons live in the burning heat of India and Ethiopia.'

Still others repeated this throughout the Ages:

Pliny the Elder [1st century CE] (Natural History, Book 8, 11), Aelian (174-235 CE) (De Natura Animalium, Book vi, ch. 21) and Hugo de Folieto [c. 1110-72 CE] (from British Library MS. Sloane 278, The Elephant in Medieval Legend and Art (London, 1919) Druce translation)

Why I chose what I made -

During the 13th ce, India was under the Delhi Sultanate, so a possible way to eat a dragon (tail) would be as part of a minced dish called a 'Sanbosag', in Persian, but in the 10th – 13th centuries it was called 'sanbusak', as documented by the scholar and court poet, Amir Khusro, who wrote in around 1300 that the princes and nobles enjoyed the 'samosa prepared from meat, ghee, onion and so on'. (Ref. "The History of the Samosa" at Desiblitz <https://www.desiblitz.com/content/history-samosa>.)

I believe since the dragon has "hot blood", a representation would be a meat spiced with masala as the spices heat the blood. It is unknown if the meat of the dragon is poisonous, so I added turmeric as per Susruta's Ayurvedic Compendium, dating back to 250 bc, which recommends an ointment containing turmeric to relieve the effects of poisoned food.

Garam masala traces its origin to Northern India and can vary in ingredients from region to region and family to family. The commonality was that it increased the metabolism "heated the blood", so "hot spices" – cinnamon/cassia, long pepper, cloves, cardamom, white pepper, cumin, nigella (black cumin), ginger, galangal, saffron and other spices. These spices have been in use for thousands of years.

The Recipe -

I adapted this recipe to reflect what I interpreted as "dragon meat" filling, using the above spices, chickpeas, spinach, onions, and chicken. The dough is a simple dough of flour, ghee, and water. I got the recipe off a site called "More than Hummus", even this recipe mentions that the fillings can be varied. The dough is unleavened and the "pies" are fried instead of baked. The filling is my own creation based off known samosa recipes:

Dough:

3 cups flour

1/2 cup vegetable oil or ghee

1 teaspoon salt

Water

1. In a bowl, mix the flour and salt. Then add the oil to it. Mix everything well until the mixture resembles corn meal. Now in a stand-up mixer (or just by hand if you want), add enough water to form a dough. I think around 1 cup should be enough. Just add little at a time. What you are looking for is a dough that doesn't stick to the sides of the mixer bowl and that is easy to handle. Shape the dough into 1.5 to 2 inch balls. Then place it on a lightly floured tray.

2. Let the dough rest for one hour. I know this dough doesn't have any yeast, so don't expect it to rise. The resting part is to make it easier to roll out later.

3. After one hour of resting, take one ball of dough and roll it out into a circle. Fill the dough with the cooked meat. Fold closed and seal the edge with a fork.

Filling:

3 cups chicken

1 can chickpeas, rinsed

2-3 carrots, minced

2 cups chopped spinach

1 onion, chopped

2 Tbsp garam masala

2 Tbsp turmeric

2 Tbsp oil or ghee

Salt, to taste

1. In a large skillet heat the oil (ghee), the carrots and the onion. Sauté until the onion is translucent. Add the remaining ingredients and the spices. Cook until browned and aromatic. Cool. Fill the dough rounds.

2. Place all the stuffed sambousek on a lightly floured tray.

3. At this stage you can freeze the sambousek, and once you need to use it, simply take it out of the freezer straight into the deep fryer. Fry until golden. Serve warm.

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Copyright 2018 by Sandi Rust. <feo2mouse at yahoo.com>. 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.