Read on Twitter
I got medieval tonight and made maqloubeh! 
Maqloubeh literally means “upside down” in Arabic, and it’s a layered dish of fried vegetables and meat first attested in the 13th c. cookbook from Baghdad, the Kitab al-Tabikh.
Maqloubeh literally means “upside down” in Arabic, and it’s a layered dish of fried vegetables and meat first attested in the 13th c. cookbook from Baghdad, the Kitab al-Tabikh.
Layers and layers are the secret to a beautiful and delicious maqloubeh. This recipe, from @SamiTamimi’s new cookbook Falastin, uses lamb and fried summer squash, onions, butter beans, bell pepper, and peas. You layer, pack it tight, press the rice on top, then steam it in broth.
And finally, the moment of truth: will it stick? Or come out a gorgeous kaleidoscope of color and flavor?
If this has piqued your curiosity about medieval Arab cookbooks, here’s a little background on the Kitab al-Tabikh: https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/200604/cooking.with.the.caliphs.htm
Luckily for us, the original manuscript of the Kitab al-Tabikh has recently been translated by @iraqicuisine https://muslimheritage.com/baghdadi-cookbook/
And in medieval Baghdad, cooking wasn’t just for the kitchen staff. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/history-of-cooking-competitions
If you’d like to try the recipe I made, here’s a link to @SamiTamimi’s cookbook Falastin. It was a very happily-received birthday present from my husband last month! https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/570405/falastin-by-sami-tamimi-and-tara-wigley-foreword-by-yotam-ottolenghi/
Erratum...that's butternut squash, not summer squash. I live in Texas, in an eternal summer...
