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Pašrūtum (Unwinding Mesopotamian Vegetable Stew)

Pašrūtum (Unwinding Mesopotamian Vegetable Stew) is a reconstructed traditional Ancient Mesopotamian recipe for vegetarian stew thickened with bread. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Mesopotamian version of: Unwinding Mesopotamian Vegetable Stew (Pašrūtum).

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

70 minutes

Total Time:

90 minutes

Serves:

4

Rating:

Tags : Vegetarian RecipesBread RecipesMesopotamia Recipes

This is one of the oldest written recipe that I've ever seen or attempted. It's recorded on one of the Yale Mesopotamian Tablets. These represent records of humanity's oldest recipes and almost all the ingredients are fairly readily available today. Three of the four tablets in the collection date to the Old Babylonian period, no later than about 1730 BCE. The tablets all list recipes that include instructions on how to prepare them.

The first recipe I'm presenting is for Pašrūtum (which is translated as 'unwinding'; though the meaning of the nami is unclear. A vegetable stew thickened with bread). This is not truly vegetarian as fat is called for, which almost certainly came from with fat-failed sheep, a breed that is still common in Arabia and North Africa. The fat from these animals' tails is prized even today, as it tends to be less greasy than most other animal fat. I was really lucky when I prepared this to be living in South Africa, where fat-tailed sheep are raised for the local and the Arabic markets.

Note that the kurrat referred to in the recipe is Egyptian leek or salad leek (Allium porrum var. aegyptiacum) this variety has small bulbs, and primarily the leaves are eaten. Substitute baby or salad leeks.

Original Recipe

Here is the text transliterated to the Roman alphabet:
pa-aš-ru-tum ši-rum u₂-ul iz-za-az me-e tu-ka-an li-pi-a ta-na-di ZA.HA.TIN ŠE.LU₂^sar 瞉a-ba-tum ki-ma la hu-ki-mi kar₃-šum ha-za-nu-um ba-pi-ra ta-ha-ša-al ta-na-pi-ma i-na pa-ni na-sa₃-hi a-na ^dugUTUL₂ tu-ša-ap-pa₂-ah pašrūtum štrum ul izzaz mê tukân lipia tanaddi šuhutinnū kişibirrum 瞉ābātum kīma lā hukkumi karšum hazannum bappira tahaššal tanappi-ma ina pāni nasāhi ana diqārim tušappah

In translation:
Unwinding. Meat is not used. You prepare water. You add fat. (You add) kurrat, coriander leaves, salt as desired, leek, garlic. You pound up dried sourdough, you sift (it) and you scatter (it) over the pot before removing it.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

1/2 loaf Roman sourdough bread made with spelt and barley flours
½ teaspoon salt
40g kurrat (or spring leek), finely chopped
8g coriander (leaves and stems), finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
100g leeks, finely chopped
4 tbsp rendered sheep fat to be authentic (or 4 tbsp untoasted sesame oil for vegetarian)
1.25l water

Method:

The night before take stale Roman sourdough bread then slice thickly and leave on your counter top over night to dry. The following morning, take half the bread, process to fine crumbs and pass through a sieve.

For the stock: Place a large pan over medium heat. Add the sheep fat (or sesame oil) and use to fry the onion for about 5 minutes, or until translucent. Add in the kurrat, leek, coriander greens, salt and garlic and stir to combine then pour over the water. Bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered for 60 minutes.

Add in enough of the fine breadcrumbs to thicken the stock to your liking. If you want more texture, then break some of the left-over bread into chunks and add these to the broth.

Cook for a few minutes for the bread to soften then ladle into bowls and serve.