Salma, the Ancient (and Awesome) Pasta!

My unemployment is showing. I haven’t done a lick of work since the end of September.  I’ve kept myself occupied with bursts of scone-baking (using the leftover whey from the ricotta cake topping from last week), minestrone-cooking, tortilla-wokking and waaaay too much reading.

Indeed, I’ve been very busy.

Very busy lying in bed, drinking coffee, and telling myself that I really ought to get my act together and do something productive for once.

So I have, briefly. I’ve made something new.

Or rather, something really quite old. Today’s recipe comes from, seriously, a 14th century cookbook called Kitab al-Tibakh (aka كتاب الطبيخ or Book of Dishes), which I was happily able to easily translate as the Turkish words are pretty much the same, though with different grammar linking them- kitap (book)+tabak (dish)). What we have here are (apparently) the world’s oldest recorded pasta shapes. They’re shaped like coins, by hand, squashed between your fingers. No need for a pasta maker or even a knife. I find that very exciting.

I know the premise of this blog is comfort foods attempted under Chinese circumstances, but having spent a large chunk of my adult life in the Levantine end of the Middle East, I can, with confidence, place any sort of yogurt-meat-dough dish firmly in my column of comfort. And it’s totally doable in China, so I’m clear.

Given that today is the Canadian Thanksgiving and I can’t be bothered to track down a turkey or butcher a terrified street chicken, I’m offering this as my Thanksgiving dinner.  And indeed, I’m pretty thankful for this absurdly awesome meal.

I can’t even begin to tell you how stunning it was- so much more than the sum of its parts.

For the little pasta coins, I used 100% rye flour. It’s a bit more nutritious than your basic all-purpose white flour and the one I have is organic.  They don’t say how much water they used, but for the rye I ended up using just shy of a cup for the amount of flour called for. The ten minutes of kneading are totally manageable as the dough ball is small, soft, malleable and actually a lot easier to deal with than my Italian egg-noodle recipe. It had a marvellous texture.

For the yogurt, I made it myself but you could try to either make your own (Taobao sells ‘soured milk’ makers, such as the one the lovely Fiona brought me back from Oz) or buy some of the unsweetened tiny tubs from the supermarket. Make sure it’s unsweetened or it’ll be gross. Hell, just make a batch in your toaster oven if you can.  This recipe calls for two cloves of minced garlic to be stirred in. It’s nicer if left to steep for a while. If you happen to have any dried mint or sumak or pul biber, I’m sure it would be even more awesome as those are the basics that are dusted over Turkish manti and garlic yogurt.

For the topping, I used beef as I have no idea where to find ground lamb here. Doug hates lamb anyway, so I’d have had to eat it all by myself. That would have been just awful. Delectably awful. The beef was basic local ground beef. The recipe said to drain the fat after sauteeing it but, um, there was none. I actually had to add a little olive oil to the wok as it was pretty dry.

I also threw in a pair of  deseeded long red chillies even though the recipe didn’t call for it (probably because the recipe’s from the 14th century and chillies- and by extension, the Americas- hadn’t yet appeared on the Middle Eastern culinary horizon). We just like things spicy. Apologies for the lack of authenticity. Again.

When the pasta coins have been boiled and drained and the meat has been browned and is fragrant and dreamily spiced, get the bowls ready.

Here are the instructions from the website where I found the recipe (click on the title for the link).

Salma

Serves 3 [We split it between the two of us as we were very, very hungry, with Doug getting a larger proportion than me. He couldn’t finish his half. Let’s say this recipe really is meant for 3…]

Ingredients

For the pasta:

1½ cups flour [I used rye]

Salt

Water

For the sauce:

1 pound minced lamb or beef

1 onion, minced

3 tablespoons oil

Cinnamon, coriander [I just kept adding pinches until the taste and smell seemed right]

1 cup unflavored yogurt

2 cloves garlic

Fresh mint [I had no mint, alas!]

Directions

1. Mix flour with 1 teaspoon salt and enough water to make a stiff but smooth dough. Knead hard 10 minutes, cover and let rest ½ hour.
2. Pinch off pieces the size of a chickpea and roll into balls. Roll the balls in flour, one at a time, and pinch between thumb and forefinger or flatten on a floured work surface with your thumb.
3. Put the oil in a pan, add the onion and fry until softened. Add the meat and fry, stirring and mashing to break it up as much as possible, until done and quite brown, about 10 minutes. Drain fat and season meat to taste with salt, cinnamon and coriander.
4. Bring about 4 quarts of water to a boil, add a teaspoon or two of salt, and throw in the salma. Boil, stirring often in the beginning to keep the salma from sticking together, until done, about 8 minutes. If the water threatens to bubble over, skim. Drain the salma.
5. Mix the yogurt with the garlic and 2 teaspoons minced mint and toss with the hot pasta. The meat may be mixed in or served on top of it. Warm up in a pan or microwave if needed. Garnish with whole mint leaves if wished.