What do we all need after a good party? A hangover cure! Well, if you think that our ancients did not use any kind of hangover cure, then you are wrong. How can a human being drink a gallon of alcohol and not have a hangover?
Like us, our ancients used to gulp down a hangover cure too so they could proceed with the day. The recipe we are going to explore today is a thousand years old. How effective it was can be known only when you try it. So let’s make a hangover cure!
We are going back to the Islamic Golden Age in the 10th century to try a recipe from the oldest Arabic cookbook. The cookbook dates back to the Golden Age of Islam. The Golden Age of Islam dates from the 8th century to the 14th century. At one point, Baghdad was the largest city in the world. The round city of Baghdad was an amazing, fortified city and an architectural wonder. The city was located between Asia and Europe, so it basically turned into a hub for scholars, philosophers, and traders between Europe and the Tang Dynasty in China.
Traditionally, Muslims do not drink, but in the 10th century, it depended on the Caliph. So some people used to drink, and some did not. The Caliph was the title given to the Muslim civil and religious leaders who ruled in Baghdad until 1258. Caliph Al-Mahdi loved this dish so much that he wrote a poem about it.
“A dish as flavourful and balmy as the delicate fingers
of the gazelle that cooked it.
Its pale hue shimmers like her contour flickering
through her sheer gown.
Having eaten it intoxicated, one will be all a new and
the hangover will itself renew.
Whoever share this meal with us, will pay his favors
in full only if of it he has his fill.”
He seemed to have liked it a lot. The poem is very intense with so many emotions in it. The dish is called Kishkiyya.
Ingredients for Kishkiyya
- 3 lbs of lamb, bone in
- ½ cup of olive oil
- Handful of chickpeas
- ½ lb of chopped onion
- ¼ lb of fresh herbs (4 oz – 2 oz oregano, 2 oz dill)
- 1 piece of galangal
- Water
- Chard
- Seasonal green vegetables – spinach, lettuce
- 3 pieces/balls of kishk, commonly known as kashk
- ½ pound of liquid/powder kishk
- Verjus
- 6 g of cumin
- 6 g of cassia (cinnamon)
- 1 g of cloves
- 1 g of spikenard
How to Make Kishkiyya
To make Kishkiyya, you need bone-in lamb, but you can also use cut-up shoulder, leg, or anything that has a lot of bones in it. Bones give this cure a lot of flavor and collagen. For this recipe, we are using shanks, but you can also add some other bone pieces as well to give it a nice taste.
- Take a big pot and put the lamb pieces in it. Add some oil and galangal and top it up with some herbs. Adding fresh herbs is not common in western cuisine, but in the Middle East, it’s very common. As the herbs cook, they tend to change their flavor.
- Chop up some oregano and dill, then add it to the pot. Take a big handful of dried chickpeas and nicely chopped onions and add them to the pot too. Fill the pot with water and let it cook. The ingredients need to cook for a long time so that they cook nicely.
- Cook the dish for 6 hours. Halfway there, it will start to look nice and tender.
- Add some vegetables, like spinach, lettuce, kale, and Swiss chard. You can add any seasonal vegetables available at that time. Cut them roughly and add them to the pot.
- There was already a layer of the onion that should be nicely cooked by now. Add one more layer of finely chopped onions after adding the vegetables.
- Mix the powdered and liquid kishk with verjus. According to the recipe, you can blend it per your taste. Dissolve the kishk and verjus nicely to avoid clumps in the stew.
- Add the verjus and kishk mixture to the pot and top it up with the cumin and cinnamon powder.
- Let it cook for several minutes till the vegetables become a little softer.
- Finish it up by sprinkling some cloves and spikenard. Let it simmer for a while and then take it off the heat.
What makes Kishkiyya a good hangover cure is hydration and carbohydrates. It does not taste sour at all, even after adding the verjus and kishk. The dish is very heavy and tastes similar to haleem (a Pakistani dish).
Food Notes
- Galangal has a sharp, citrusy, almost piney flavor and it is in the same category as ginger. However, it is less spicy and more aromatic than ginger.
- The Greeks believed oregano was created by Aphrodite as a symbol of happiness. Oregano was found throughout the Mediterranean and was spread throughout Eurasia. Oregano has a long history on the continent, so this is definitely something they would have used in the 10th century.
- Dill dates back to the 1st century and it was also mentioned in the Bible. So this herb was readily available to the people back then. Dill has been used as a medical herb dating back to Ancient Egypt and was even found in the tomb of Amenhotep II.
- Kishk/Kashk can be different, depending on the region. Sometimes it can be fermented dairy that has been cooked down, or dehydrated, or whisked together in a bowl.
In this recipe, we are using a powdered version. It’s a fermented dairy that has been dried. We also have a liquid version. It looks like a thick sourdough, different from yogurt, with a different sour flavor.
There are other versions of kishk too where they cook fermented dairy with barley and dehydrate it. It is an old method of preserving dairy. You can find it in places like Greece, the Balkans, and the Middle East.
- Verjus is mostly known as a very common ingredient throughout Europe during the Middle Ages. It is sour grape juice, the juice we get after squishing grapes but before we turn it into wine. It is a great ingredient to cook with if you want to add some acid or brighten it by going for something more chill than vinegar.
- Spikenard was often made into an essential oil during ancient times. The Egyptians even using it in their embalming process. It is supposed to cure many issues, such as gastric or stomach issues, anxiety, and insomnia.
