Madeeda Hilba (Sudani Fenugreek Porridge)
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Aperçu
Madeeda hilba is a Sudanese fenugreek porridge, thick enough to set like custard, sweetened and enriched with milk. Its name is Arabic: madeeda for the porridge, hilba for the fenugreek that defines it. Its place in the Sudanese year is Ramadan, when it is served as a dessert after the fast is broken. A thick, sweet, milk based dish at the end of a day without food is a specific piece of practical wisdom, and madeeda hilba is one of a small number of dishes that appear on Sudanese tables in that month and rarely outside it. Fenugreek carries a second role. Sudanese households hold that it eases aches and settles the stomach, and the porridge is made for kerijo, the term for a woman who has recently given birth, on the understanding that it supports milk production. That the same dish serves both the Ramadan table and the postpartum household is not a coincidence: fenugreek's association with nursing mothers runs across North and East Africa, the Arabian peninsula and South Asia, wherever the seed is used in cooking. Madeeda hilba is what Sudan does with it.
Note de Patrimoine AFN
Fenugreek is used across North and East Africa, the Arabian peninsula and South Asia as both a culinary and a postpartum ingredient, and in Sudan it is prepared as madeeda hilba, served during Ramadan and made for women after childbirth. Its earliest documented date in Sudanese cooking is uncertain.
Ingrédients
Les mentions alimentaires sont fournies par les contributeurs à titre indicatif. Elles ne sont pas vérifiées par AFN et dépendent des produits que vous achetez. En cas d’allergie grave, vérifiez vous-même chaque ingrédient. Cuisine, allergies et votre propre jugement
Préparation
- 1
Pour the oil into a heavy pan. When it is hot, add the fenugreek seeds and fry for a couple of minutes.
- 2
Add 3 cups of water and the salt, and cook on low to medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until the fenugreek is well cooked.
- 3
Add the milk. When it is hot, add the sugar and stir until it dissolves.
- 4
Meanwhile, whisk the wheat flour with 2 cups of water in a separate bowl until the mixture is free of lumps.
- 5
Add the flour mixture to the pan, stirring continuously to keep lumps from forming.
- 6
Dissolve the baking soda in the remaining 1/3 cup of water, strain it, and add it to the pan. Keep stirring for a few minutes. This deepens the colour and keeps the porridge soft as it sits.
- 7
When the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and has reached the right consistency, take it off the heat and pour it into moulds.
- 8
Serve warm or chilled.
Notes de l’Africook
Notes personnelles de Nympha Nzeribe- Soak the fenugreek seeds for an hour and drain them before use if you want to shorten the cooking time.
- Whisk the flour into cold water separately before it goes anywhere near the hot pan. Flour added dry to hot liquid will lump immediately and the lumps will not come out.
- The stirring is continuous from the point the flour goes in until the porridge leaves the sides of the pan. This is not a dish you can walk away from.
- Fenugreek turns bitter if fried too hard. Two minutes in hot oil is enough to release the aroma; take it further and the bitterness will carry through the whole pot.
- It sets firmer as it cools. Pour it into moulds while it is still fluid, and judge the final texture cold rather than hot.
Questions fréquentes
Does madeeda hilba taste bitter?
Not if the fenugreek is handled properly. Fenugreek is bitter raw and becomes bitter again if it is scorched, but cooked gently in oil and then simmered in water for fifteen to twenty minutes it turns nutty and slightly maple like. The sugar and milk balance what remains. If your porridge is bitter, the seeds were fried too hard or too long.
Can I make madeeda hilba with a milk alternative?
Yes. The milk contributes richness and a little sweetness rather than any structural function, so oat, almond or coconut milk all work, and coconut milk in particular suits the fenugreek. The porridge is thickened by the wheat flour, not the dairy, so the set will not change.
Why is my porridge lumpy?
The flour went in without being slaked first. Whisk the flour into cold water in a separate bowl until completely smooth, then add that mixture to the pan in a thin stream while stirring without stopping. Once lumps have formed, only a sieve or a stick blender will remove them.
When is madeeda hilba eaten in Sudan?
Principally during Ramadan, where it is served as a dessert after the fast is broken. It is also made for women after childbirth, on the understanding that fenugreek supports milk production, and in that context it is prepared outside Ramadan as well.
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