Narjisiyya (Narcissus Dish)

History

Narjisiyya (نرجسية) takes its name from narjis, the narcissus flower. Al-Baghdadi's cook builds a stew of diced fatty meat, small spiced meatballs (kabab), carrots, onion and chickpeas seasoned with coriander, cumin, mastic and cinnamon, then finishes it by arranging whole egg yolks — literally 'eyes of the egg' (ʿuyūn al-bayḍ) — across the surface and dusting them with ground cinnamon. The set yolks, gold centres on a pale field, evoke the white-and-gold narcissus, and it is from this visual resemblance that the dish is named. The device predates 1226: a narjisiyya of sunny-side-up eggs already appears in Ibn Sayyār al-Warrāq's 10th-century Kitāb al-Ṭabīkh, while a differently built version — a lamb omelette cut into flower shapes with carrot 'stamens' — survives in Andalusian cookery; which line came first is unclear, and the concept can be traced back to Abbasid times and possibly further, to Persia. The Iranian nargesi (nargesi esfanaj) is its closest modern relative. The Arabic adjectival -iyya suffix marks such named dishes, and this appearance-based, quasi-poetic naming — in a cuisine whose poets penned lyrics to the beauty of a single vegetable — was characteristic of the refined Abbasid table.

Ingredients

• fatty meat
• fresh tail fat
• salt
• dried coriander
• chickpeas
• fresh onion
• green coriander leaves
• carrot (jazar)
• lean red meat
• dirhams spice mix
• murrī
• eggs

Instructions

1. Render tail fat, add small fatty meat with a little salt and dried coriander, stir until colored; cover with water and a handful peeled chickpeas; boil and skim.
2. Prepare small-cut fresh onion, green coriander leaves and fine-cut pared carrot.
3. Add small spiced kubab of pounded lean meat, then the carrot and onion; stir.
4. Add ~2 dirhams coriander, cumin, mastic and cinnamon; optionally a little murrī.
5. Arrange whole eggs on top, dust with cinnamon, wipe sides, settle over the fire and take up.