Mulukhiyah
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Mulukhiyah

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Mulukhiyah

Mulukhiyah (Arabic: ملوخية, romanized: mulūkhiyyah), also known as mulukhiyya , molokhiyya, melokhiyya, molohiya or ewédú, is a type of jute plant and a dish made from the leaves of Corchorus olitorius, commonly known in English as jute, Jew's-mallow, nalta jute, or tossa jute. It is used as a vegetable and is mainly eaten in Egypt, the Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Israel and Jordan), Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Cyprus, Libya, Tunisia, Nigeria, and Algeria. It is called saluyot in the Philippines. Mulukhiyah is rather bitter, and when boiled, the resulting liquid is a thick, highly mucilaginous broth; it is often described as "slimy", rather like cooked okra.

Mulukhiyah is generally eaten cooked, not raw, and it is either eaten chopped and sautéed in oil, garlic and cilantro like in Lebanon and Syria or turned into a kind of soup or stew like in Egypt, typically bearing the same name as the vegetable in the local language. Traditionally, mulukhiyah is cooked with chicken or at least chicken stock for flavor and is served with white rice, accompanied with lemon or lime. In Tunisia, the dish is prepared with jute powder instead of the leaves and cooked with lamb or beef to be served with bread. In Haiti, a dish prepared from jute leaves is called lalo.

Most scholars are of the opinion that mulukhiyah's origins lie in Ancient Egypt, namely Corchorus capsularis, which is used for food as well as for fiber.

Mulukhiyah was a known dish in the Medieval Arab world. The recipe on how to prepare it is mentioned in the 14th-century Arabic book Kanz el-Fawa'ed fi Tanwi' el-Mawa'ed. According to the Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi (d. 1442), mulukhiyah was the favorite dish of caliph Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan (r. 661–680) the founder of the Umayyad Caliphate. Furthermore, on the 7th of Muharram in the year 395 AH (1005 AD) the Fatimid ruler of Egypt el-Hakem be Amr Ellah (The Ruler by the Order of God)(r. 996–1021) issued a decree which prohibited his subjects from eating the mulukhiyah, which was thought to be an aphrodisiac. However, his successor caliph al-Zahir (r. 1021–1035) permitted the eating of mulukhiyah again. The Druze, who hold Al-Hakim in high regard and give him quasi-divine authority, continue to respect the ban, and do not eat mulukhiyah of any kind to this day.

As used in Egyptian cuisine, molokhiyya (Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [moloˈxejjæ]) is prepared by removing the stem from the leaves, and then chopping the leaves finely. It is mixed with garlic and coriander. The dish generally includes some sort of meat; in Egypt, this is usually chicken or rabbit, but lamb is preferred when available, particularly in Cairo. Cooks in Alexandria often opt to use shrimp in the soup, while Port Said is famous for using fish.

Molokhiyya was consumed in ancient Egyptian cuisine, where the name "molokhiyya" is thought to have originated.

Many Egyptians consider molokhiyya to be the national dish of Egypt, along with ful medames and kushari.

The Egyptian style of preparing molokhiyya is distinctive, and is particularly different from the Levantine variant. The molokhiyya leaves are picked off the stem, with tall stemmed branches. Sometimes the leaves are dried for preservation by leaving them on a large sheet (cloth material) to be left to completely dry for later use. This is referred to as "dried molokhiyya". The dish can be prepared with both fresh and dried leaves, with some variation in taste.

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