When I was living in Jordan, I struggled to find a good resource to learn about Middle Eastern recipes that have no real equivalents elsewhere. Luckily, in the years since then, the podcast company Sowt has created Mahdoom (مهضوم), a podcast about the substance and history of various Middle Eastern dishes. The episodes are all in Arabic and each about 20 minutes long, making them perfect study material. The show also features speakers from different regions, which gives bite-size exposure to different Arabic dialects (no pun intended).

The episode we’re digging into today is about one of the first dishes I learned to cook in Jordan: mulukhiya. My rudimentary cooking skills were deemed sufficient for this dish. Mulukhiya (jute leaf) is a spinach-like plant that’s chopped into fine pieces then cooked in a chicken or rabbit broth until it thickens into a sort of spinach stew. The stew is typically served hot with chicken or rabbit and rice and is perfect for a cold winter day (with a cup of sahlab).

Listen along on Sowt and check out our vocabulary list for help. Happy listening and صحتين!

Vocabulary / مفردات

يهضم / هضم
He digests / he digested

مهضوم
Digested (adj.)

بتدلل / دللت
She demonstrates or shows / she demonstrated or showed

طنجرة / طنجرات
Large pot/s

نبات / نباتات
Plant/s

ورق / اوراق
Leave/s (noun)

بذرة / بذور
Seed/s

ملخ
Original name for mulukhiyah

مغلي/ة
Boiling

احتفاق
Making or coming up with

مكون / مكونات
Ingredient/s

مفروم
Chopped or minced (adj.)

نسوي ملوخية / سوينا ملوخية
We make mulukhiyah / we made mulukhiyah

Additional vocabulary note:

The literal meaning of اطلع is to go out and someone who’s going out for a night on the town could be called طالع/ة. But the word is also used in a less literal sense meaning to reveal or demonstrate something. For example, in this introduction when they say that stories about food will be used to demonstrate larger truths about ourselves and our culture (اطلع عن حالنا و عن ثقافتنا).