CONCA, (OLeon) WITH RECIPE FOR THE 13TH C. EMIR'S TURNOVERS

shell bowl
Photo from: Queen Conch

OCast conchas (shell bowl), 10^th C bowl, large cup or small plate. It could be earthenware, bronze, copper or silver. [Sánchez-Albornoz. 2000:146:147:190]

RECIPE KNOWN AS THE THARDA OF THE EMIR ADAPTED FROM HUICI’S TRANSLATION OF ANÓN, AL-ANDALUS #167. RECETA CONOCIDA POR “TARDA[1]” DEL EMIR, p 108-109

Ingredients

For the dough:
2 c flour

Filling Turnovers with Nut/Crumb Mix
Photo by: Lord-Williams

¼ tsp salt
1/2 c water
1 pk dry yeast
50 g animal fat[2] or oil

2-3 c canola or olive oil for frying

For the filling

¼ c pistachios

¼ c almonds

¼ c pine nuts

½ c sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

1 scraping fresh ginger

1 c total rosewater

½ c honey

Preparation

A Superb Dessert!
Photo by: Lord-Williams

Knead white flour well with salt water, a little oil and yeast, make four thin raghîfs (flat cakes thinner than pita), with half the dough. Fry each in a frying pan with ¼ c fresh oil, until they brown a little. Remove them from the frying pan and pound them well.

 Make tiny hollow little almojábanas (tarts or turnovers), and tops out of the dough for them.[3] Fry them in fresh oil (if making tarts), watch them and take care do not turn brown. Fry the lids as well.

Pound peeled pistachios, almonds, and pine-nuts, and sugar coarsely, add spices and knead them with rosewater and mix with the ground raghîf until completely mixed. Fill the pastries with this, and cover them. (Turnovers are stuffed before frying. They should be fried now.) Arrange them in a bowl and fill the spaces with the leftover stuffing.  Sprinke with rosewater and plenty of powdered sugar. Make a honey and rosewater syrup heating ½ c of each. Drizzle this over the dish. It will be good, God willing.

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[1] Huici explains that this word was spelt tharda, tarid and taríd, which is a soppes with bread, a pastry or a meat pie.

[2] Being a Hispano-Muslim recipe lard cannot be used.

[3] The Medieval Spanish chef made turnovers by cutting the dough into 2 ½”circles, and filling them with 1 tbsp stuffing. These were folded over and the edges were sealed with the end of a teaspoon.