Mloukhia

Ingredients

The powder

• 150 gmloukhia powder
• dried ground jute leaf
• sieved

The meat

• 1 kgbeef on the bone
• in large pieces
• or lamb

The pot

• 250 mlolive oil
• 6garlic cloves, crushed
• 2bay leaves
• 1 tablespoonground coriander
• 1 teaspooncaraway seed, ground
• 1 teaspoonchilli powder
• about 2 litres water
• salt and black pepper

To finish

• juice of 1 lemon
• a little more olive oil

To serve

• crusty bread
• or plain rice
• at the new year
• or at Mawlid

Directions

1. Oil rises to the surface as it cooks. It is the sign the sauce is done. Sieve the mloukhia powder into a bowl. It takes a moment and is worth doing. Pour the olive oil into a large heavy pot.
2. Warm it gently over a low heat. Keep the heat low throughout this stage. Add the sieved powder to the warm oil. Stir it in with a wooden spoon. It forms a thick dark paste immediately. Cook the paste over a low heat. Stir it constantly throughout. Give it about fifteen minutes.
3. Add the crushed garlic to the paste. Add the coriander and the caraway. Add the chilli powder and bay leaves. Cook them for two more full minutes. Add hot water a ladleful at a time. Stir it in thoroughly before adding more. Adding liquid gradually keeps it smooth.
4. Work it in one ladle at a time. Take your time over the first few. It should become a smooth thick sauce. Add all the water gradually this way. Add the beef pieces to the pot. Season it with salt and black pepper. It becomes extremely tender over the hours.
5. Bring it up to a very bare simmer. Cover the pot partly rather than fully. Let it cook for three to four hours. The sauce then never reduces down.
6. Stir it every twenty minutes or so. The powder settles and catches otherwise. Stir right into the corners of the pot. Use a heavy pot to help with that. Add hot water if it gets too thick. It should stay a thick pourable sauce. Keep going until it reaches that.
7. Oil should separate and pool on top. That layer should be visible and dark. Reduce it further if it is too loose. Taste it and adjust the salt as needed.
8. Add plenty of black pepper as well. It usually needs more salt than expected. Taste it properly right at the end. Finishing it is straightforward enough. Squeeze in a little lemon juice. Add it off the heat rather than cooked. Take the pot right off the heat.
9. Let it stand for twenty minutes. Serving it is always done hot. Ladle it out into a wide dish. Serve crusty bread alongside it. It keeps four days refrigerated.

Technique

• This is not the bright green soupy molokhia of Egypt: Tunisian mloukhia uses dried powder and cooks for three or four hours until nearly black, going from green through olive and brown as the chlorophyll degrades and new flavours develop. The darkness is the whole point, and a green sauce has not cooked long enough. They are genuinely different dishes.
• The powder is fried in the oil into a thick paste first, then liquid is added a ladleful at a time and stirred smooth before more goes in; pouring it all in at once gives lumps that never break down. Keep the heat low throughout the frying, since burnt powder makes the whole pot bitter.
• Two hundred and fifty millilitres of olive oil is not a mistake — it is what cooks the leaf powder and stops it catching. Oil separating and pooling dark on top at the end is expected and a sign the sauce is finished.

Substitutions

• Lamb stands in for beef, and both are cooked on the bone.
• Cover the pot only partly, since a full lid traps the steam and the sauce never reduces.

Variations

• The atlas also carries mlenda from Tanzania and ligusha from Eswatini, both the same jute mallow plant cooked fresh and briefly.
• It is eaten at the new year and at Mawlid, the green leaf standing for a green and prosperous year.
• It is better on the second day and rests twenty minutes off the heat before serving.

History

Cooked from powdered jute leaf for hours until nearly black; Tunisians eat it at the new year and at Mawlid, wishing for a green and prosperous year.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mloukhia?

Mloukhia is a soup & stew from Tunisia: inky slow-cooked jute-leaf sauce with beef, ladled over rice or bread. Cooked from powdered jute leaf for hours until nearly black; Tunisians eat it at the new year and at Mawlid, wishing for a green and prosperous year.

How long does Mloukhia take to make?

Mloukhia takes 20 minutes of preparation and 4 hours of cooking. The recipe makes serves 8. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Mloukhia?

Yes, within limits. Lamb stands in for beef, and both are cooked on the bone. Cover the pot only partly, since a full lid traps the steam and the sauce never reduces.

What is the most important thing to get right in Mloukhia?

Bring it up to a very bare simmer. Cover the pot partly rather than fully. Let it cook for three to four hours. The sauce then never reduces down.