العادات والتقاليد الأجتماعية في حمص ٤_a .. كتاب حمص

The most important dishes:

The primary source for the types of food that existed in the era of our study is the book (Al-Mu'ara'at Al-Zayniyyah Al-Hilaliyya), known as the collection (The Remembrance of the Heedless One About Conjuring Food) by the University of Muhammad Al-Khalid Al-Jalabi Al-Homsi. The book contains poems composed by the poet Muhammad bin Al-Sheikh Muhammad Hilal Al-Hamawi, who died in Damascus (1312 AH = 1894 AD). The poems composed by Sheikh Mustafa Zain al-Din al-Homsi (1826 - 1900 AD) contrasted with the poems of al-Hilali, who used to compose the poem in praise or congratulations and begin it with flirtation, as was the custom of his time. So Sheikh Mustafa deliberately composed a poem on the same sea and the same rhyme, flirting with food and its goodness. It is noted that the food that Sheikh Mustafa flirts with is the food of the rich, which includes types of kebabs, stuffed meats, lamb and chicken meat, and types of luxurious sweets, and he does not mention the food of the poor.

* Mujaddara: The popular dish that no home is without in summer or winter, and it is made as follows: Boil the lentils until they are cooked, then add the appropriate amount of coarse bulgur to it, after purifying it of any small stones that may be in it, then add an appropriate amount of water called ( Samada) When the bulgur is cooked, it will have completely absorbed the water of the Samada. Then heat the oil and fry the chopped onions in it until they begin to turn red, then pour them into the cooking pot and the mujaddara is ready to eat. The rich used to use the sun as a frying pan (2) instead of olive oil, and it was usually served with mujaddara pickles in the four seasons and (1) yoghurt in his days.

* Kibbeh: It is made from fine bulgur and habra as follows: the fine bulgur is then pounded in the stone jar for the kibbeh, just as the habra is pounded and then araq (3) The hara is pounded and then araq is then mixed together and the mixture is pounded several times in the jar until the hara combines with the bulgur and forms a dough. Then a piece is taken from it, the size of the palm of the hand, and it is spread out in a round shape, then the filling is added to it, which is a mashed mixture of lard, lard, and pine nuts, if any. Its counterpart is placed on it, empty of filling, then its letters are flattened until they are completely round and they become a disc that is grilled on a grill over a rectangular frying pan, and the fuel is made of tree charcoal. This is grilled kibbeh, there is fried kibbeh, and kibbeh in Chinese. The rich used to eat it once a month, while the poor once a year. They used to replace it with another type they called (Hila kibbeh), which is bulgur bread mixed with a little flour, without meat or fat, and small balls the size of (1) cm are made from it. They are cooked and then fried in oil and onions like mujaddara, and people used to call them (Moroccan bullets) because they are rare. Because of its heaviness in the intestines and indigestion.

Kibbeh was and still is the most delicious and delicious food, and the late Mustafa Zain Al-Din was often used with it. He mentioned it in his most beautiful poems:

What is love but to wander with a red kippah as a gift to wear clothes?

* Labneh: Pour the milk with water, then raise the mixture over the fire and stir it constantly until it begins to boil, then add the rice to it after (cooking) (1). After the rice is cooked, it is ready to eat. As for the poor, they used (shanina) instead of milk and yellow corn instead of rice.

* Al-Shakria: Pour the milk with water, then raise it to the fire with slow stirring. After it boils, add the boiled meat to it with some of its broth and leave it on the fire until it boils for ten minutes. The Arabs knew this food before Islam and used to call it (Al-Mudaira). During the reign of Al-Mu'tasim, the guard forces in Baghdad and Al-Sawad were called (Shakiriya) after the Persian word (Shakir), which means (servant) and more precisely (boy). It seems that these (Shakiriya) used to eat a lot of milk cooked with meat, so this food was known in relation to them.