Mawlid II
As I mentioned in yesterday's post, muslims celebrate today the birthday of Prophet Mohamed (PBUH). Muslim countries observe this day with different activities but I will talk here about the celebration of Mawlid in Tunisia. Like in the other north african countries, tunisians start celebrating on the eve of Mawlid day, by going to mosques and reciting litanies praising the virtues of the prophet and telling the story of his birth.
The day of Mawlid, most families prepare special dishes to commemorate the birth of the prophet. In addition to the makroudh (small cakes made of a hard wheat paste stuffed with dates and soaked in honey, tunisians preapare also assida, a sweet dish which everyone eats the morning of Mawlid to mark the beginning of festivities. In Tunisia, this traditional dish can be prepared in two ways: the simple and popular assida is a kind of pudding made of fine semolina or flour, sprinkled with oil or butter and honey. The more refined version, probably introduced by the Turks, is a pudding made of crushed pine seeds, topped with a thick layer of white cream and decorated with hazel-nuts, pine seeds, pistachios and crushed almonds.
Pine Assida
The preparation process of the pine assida is complicated and time consuming but it is really delicious. As I said north african countries have similar traditions when it comes to Mawlid but each country has its distinct food. In fact, From the Rock, talks about how our libyan neighbors celebrate Mawlid.
The day of Mawlid, most families prepare special dishes to commemorate the birth of the prophet. In addition to the makroudh (small cakes made of a hard wheat paste stuffed with dates and soaked in honey, tunisians preapare also assida, a sweet dish which everyone eats the morning of Mawlid to mark the beginning of festivities. In Tunisia, this traditional dish can be prepared in two ways: the simple and popular assida is a kind of pudding made of fine semolina or flour, sprinkled with oil or butter and honey. The more refined version, probably introduced by the Turks, is a pudding made of crushed pine seeds, topped with a thick layer of white cream and decorated with hazel-nuts, pine seeds, pistachios and crushed almonds.
Pine Assida
The preparation process of the pine assida is complicated and time consuming but it is really delicious. As I said north african countries have similar traditions when it comes to Mawlid but each country has its distinct food. In fact, From the Rock, talks about how our libyan neighbors celebrate Mawlid.
posted by Hannibal | 3:13 PM
3 Comments:
it looks delicious, but what about the ingredients? are they available everywhere?
I guess most of the ingredients are available in middle eastern stores, crushed pine seeds that constitute the main ingredient of this pudding may be difficult to find though, but in case they are not available they can be replaced by crushed hazelnuts.If you would like to know how to prepare this sweet dish you can check this link (sorry it is in french):
http://khaoula.com/assida_zgougou.htm
Thanks Hannibal I missed this year's Assida by one day ! Happy Mawled to you.
Post a Comment
<< Home