Luxor4u

Just a little thing I thought I'd share. For years I've been trying to find out what vegetable molokheyia is - apparently it's Jew's Mallow

Also, the popular (and very healthy) drink Helba, is made using fenugreek seeds - sometimes served with a sprig of fresh mint

So now you know !!!!!!!

Thank you for that Countessa, Barry was given Helba in October but we didn't know what it was made of & neither did our friend. :tu:

Helba's lovely

What does it taste like?

I was wondering...how hard is it to find molokhiya outside Egypt, in Europe. I think it will be also dried molokhiya if sold here...haven't been looking for it yet but it sounds quite an exotic thing!

They sell dried and frozen molokhiyya imported from Egypt here. The frozen stuff is nasty, but the dried is nice, if you can overlook the odd cigarette butt you find in the box. The dried stuff is sold in a huge box. I bought a box for $5 about two years ago and still haven't finished it off.

I would like to know what that stuff is that they give you when you have a cold or bad chest. It looks like small pieces of wood.

It is, I think, a member of the jute family. Tastes a bit like fibrous spinach. Has a tendency to go slimy if you overcook it. It has been used in Egyptian cooking for thousand of years.

The piece of wood you were given could be a number of things, but I suspect it is cassia bark (it's a bit like cinnamon), which is also a great cure for the runs! It could also have been horehound root, but I don't know if that is readily available in Egypt. What did it look like? How big?

LuxorLover wrote:I would like to know what that stuff is that they give you when you have a cold or bad chest. It looks like small pieces of wood.

Sounds like khayf-elbar (no idea what it is in English!). Also good for upset stomachs

Reminds me of the time when I first arrived in Luxor and was working here. I had an extremely sore stomach - I mentioned it to a colleague who said he would bring me something. Later he appeared with a small flask and instructed me to drink the contents, which I did. It was only later when I asked what it was that he replied quite nonchalantly "oh, that was opium"

Countessa-My mother pulled that same stunt with a valium tablet when I was in high school one night when everything was going wrong at once-the power went out, then the legs on my bed collapsed, and I got a sudden phone call that was a college interview. Unfortunately, I had a physics test the next day and after I took the valium tablet I started thinking "Physics? Why do I need to study? What's the point? Why should I care?"

Thanks for all the above. I laughed at the idea of Glyph and Countessa being under the influence..............

The pieces of wood are small and they are made into a tea like drink. they can be reused if necessary and do not go slimy, they stay as pieces of wood. I think I remember a sort of cinnamon taste. I know that the taste was not unpleasant. It was given to me when I lost my voice - which I do frequently.

Certainly sounds like cassia bark.

Now I have DRIED molokhiya. My recipe says 450 g fresh molokhiya but i think you have to use dried molokhiya less? But how much????

Personally I cant eat molokhiya - dried or fresh to me its just like eating slimy spinach, and I'm the same with okra too. Dont care HOW nutritious it is. Have you tried the herb "from the mountains" called helbfar it tastes and looks like lemongrass and is good for bad stomachs.

The first couple of times I thought I was eating slimy spinach. I really don't like it at all but I love spinach

I would go one step further, Barry - I compare it to eating what is produced by the nose during a heavy cold - even down to the colour!

countessa wrote: Also, the popular (and very healthy) drink Helba, is made using fenugreek seeds - sometimes served with a sprig of fresh mint

So now you know !!!!!!!

Helba (hilba, hilbe) is also used in basboosa - maybe not in Egypt but there are similar cake recipes all over Middle Eastern countries.

Nice one Stan!

I was not sure about molokhiya on my first trip to Luxor but learned to love it!
However after 'smelling' and or eating it for so long whilst living there I now can't eat the stuff.This was always the the smell greeeting me when I arrived home to my village from work EVERY SINGLE DAY. put me off.