Mann al-sama

Ingredients

The manna

• 300 graw manna
• gathered and cleaned
• or 300 g sugar with 100 g honey
• as a substitute

The syrup

• 300 gsugar
• 150 gglucose syrup
• or honey
• 150 mlwater
• 1 teaspoonlemon juice

To whip

• 2egg whites
• a pinch of salt

To finish

• 200 gpistachios
• whole and skinned
• 1 teaspoonrosewater
• or a little cardamom
• rice paper, to line

Directions

1. Keep children well away from the pan. Have cold water nearby in case of a splash. Stir it until it has all dissolved. Strain it through a fine cloth. The liquid should be clear and clean.
2. Strain it twice if it is still cloudy. Boil the strained liquid down. Reduce it down to a thick syrup. Blanch the pistachios briefly in hot water. Rub the skins off in a dry cloth. It takes time but is worth doing. Warm the pistachios in a low oven.
3. Keep them warm until they go in. Cold nuts cool the nougat as they go in. Warm nuts avoid that entirely. Line a deep tray with rice paper. Rice paper is edible and very thin. Put the egg whites in a clean dry bowl. Add a good pinch of salt to them. Whip them until they hold stiff peaks. Any grease stops whites whipping properly.
4. Use a glass or metal bowl rather than plastic. The whites must be ready before the syrup. Whip them while the syrup is boiling. Put the sugar, glucose and water in a pan. Add the manna syrup if you have it. Warm it until the sugar dissolves. Add the lemon juice once it boils. Glucose syrup stops the sugar crystallising.
5. Let it boil without stirring at all. It passes through soft ball at one hundred and twelve. Drop a little into very cold water. It should form a firm ball there. Take the pan right off the heat. Start the whisk running on the whites. Pour the syrup in a very thin stream.
6. Pour it down the side of the bowl. A thin steady stream is essential. Take a full minute over the pour. Keep whipping after all the syrup is in. Give it a good ten full minutes.
7. Drop a little onto a cold plate. It should set firm within a minute. Whip it for longer if it does. Whip in the rosewater at the end. Fold in the warm pistachios by hand. The mixture is extremely stiff by now. Work them in with a strong spoon. Or with oiled hands if you can.
8. Tip the mixture into the lined tray. Press it out flat and quite even. Press it out immediately with oiled hands. Work quickly from the moment it goes in. Lay more rice paper over the top.
9. Press it down onto the surface. Set a board on top of the paper. Put a light weight on top of that. A moderate weight is quite enough. Leave it out at room temperature. Give it at least six full hours. Turn the slab out onto a board. Cut it into small squares or fingers.
10. Use a long sharp well-oiled knife. Nougat drags badly on a dry blade. Oil the knife and wipe it between cuts. A serrated blade also helps here. Set the pieces out on a plate. Serve tea or coffee alongside them. It keeps two weeks in a sealed tin. Keep it somewhere cool and dry.

Technique

• A sweet substance forms on certain oak trees in Kurdistan and is gathered in late summer by spreading cloths beneath them and shaking the branches. Deposits of this kind form in more than one way — some exuded by the plant, some honeydew left by sap-feeding insects — and both give a sweet crystalline granule; the atlas records it as it is described locally. It appears for only a few weeks and the yield varies enormously by year, which makes it scarce.
• The syrup must reach the hard ball stage, around one hundred and twenty degrees: too low and the nougat never sets, too high and it goes hard and brittle, and a few degrees changes the texture completely. Boiling sugar is far hotter than boiling water, sticks to skin and burns badly, so never touch or taste it hot and keep children away.
• Pour the syrup into the whipped whites in a very thin stream down the side of the bowl, taking a full minute over it: pouring fast cooks the whites into lumps and throws hot syrup about. The hot syrup does heat the whites substantially, which reduces the raw egg risk, though it is not a full pasteurising hold; pasteurised whites remove the question entirely.

Substitutions

• Sugar with honey makes a comparable nougat where wild manna cannot be obtained, though it will not taste the same.
• Glucose syrup or honey is needed to stop the sugar crystallising and going grainy.

Variations

• Gaz in Iran is made the same way, using manna from tamarisk in some places.
• Rosewater or ground cardamom flavours it in different versions.
• Rice paper is left on and eaten with it, and oiled baking paper stands in.

History

Made from the sweet secretion gathered off oak trees in Kurdistan; the name means manna from heaven.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mann al-sama?

Mann al-sama is a dessert from Iraq: white nougat of wild manna whipped with egg white and pistachios. Made from the sweet secretion gathered off oak trees in Kurdistan; the name means manna from heaven.

How long does Mann al-sama take to make?

Mann al-sama takes 1 hour of preparation and 40 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 40 pieces. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Mann al-sama?

Yes, within limits. Sugar with honey makes a comparable nougat where wild manna cannot be obtained, though it will not taste the same. Glucose syrup or honey is needed to stop the sugar crystallising and going grainy.

What is the most important thing to get right in Mann al-sama?

Use a glass or metal bowl rather than plastic. The whites must be ready before the syrup. Whip them while the syrup is boiling. Put the sugar, glucose and water in a pan. Add the manna syrup if you have it. Warm it until the sugar dissolves. Add the lemon juice once it boils. Glucose syrup stops the sugar crystallising.