Jūdhāba of Bread (Jūdhābat al-Khubz)

History

Jūdhāba (pl. jawādhib) is one of the emblematic dishes of medieval Arab cuisine and is generally held to be Persian in origin. In its classic form it is a two-part dish: a sweet pudding of leavened bread — softened in milk or water and layered with sugar, pounded almonds and saffron — is set in a pan at the bottom of the tannūr (clay oven), while a chicken, a joint of mutton, or even a whole sheep is suspended on a skewer above it, so that the pudding catches the roasting meat's dripping fat and juices. The result is a sweet-savoury casserole served with the meat set on top. So prized was it that it earned the honorific "Mother of Joy," was sold ready-made in Baghdad's markets, and — in a tale attributed to ʿĪsā ibn Hishām — was reckoned a thing to order whenever one could afford it. Writing in Baghdad in 1226, al-Baghdadi gives the dish a whole family of variants: his chapter groups the jawādhib together, opening here with jūdhābat al-khubz (bread jūdhāba) and continuing to versions built on qaṭāʾif and other bases. The name itself came to cover a spreading family of permutations, travelling across the Mediterranean to al-Andalus, where a later meatless version kept the name while substituting thin ruqāq flatbreads and almonds for the drip technique.

Ingredients

• leavened bread crumb
• water or fresh milk
• sugar
• almonds
• saffron
• perfumed ground sugar

Instructions

1. Soak the soft crumb of leavened bread in water or fresh milk until it swells.
2. Layer sugar and finely pounded almonds below and above it, and color with saffron.
3. Leave over the fire, stirring, until the aroma of cooking wafts up.
4. Lift off and, when ladling out, sprinkle finely ground perfumed sugar over it.