The story of Abraham's preparation of the sacrifice of Isaac is in the bible (which Christians renamed the Old Testament, after compiling the New Testament). So the story is known to Jews, Christians and Moslems.
The idea that you don't have to sacrifice your own child was a major breakthrough. Culturally and psychologically. Later in the bible we read about the sacrifice of a commander's child in the belief that this would guarantee victory. We find child sacrifice in Far East as well as the Middle East.
How is this major story celebrated today?
It is celebrated by Muslims in the Festival of Hari Raya Aidiladha. Hari Raya means great day.
It is a national holiday in Singapore, 24 hours, dusk July 19 2021 to dusk 2022.
In some countries animals are sacrificed in public, in the street.
The sacrificed animal is divided into three, one third to the family, one third to their friends, and one third to the poor.
The sacrificed animals can be cows, sheep or goats. Many cows are sacrificed in Pakistan.
In other places the sacrifice can be sacrific or time or service to the community.
Celebratory foods, apart from the meat, include filled biscuits.
The same style of biscuits are made by Christian communities before Easter and by Jews for other festivals.
If you are the leader of a club, you might wish to send out a good will message. Suitable wording might be
Hari Raya Aidiladha.
Aidiladha is Malay.
For translations into other languages see the handy wikipedia page.
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_al-Adha
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma%27amoul#/media/File:Mamoul_biscotti_libanesi.jpg
About the Author
Angela Lansbury is the Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) for Tampines Changkat Advanced Club and Braddell Heights Advanced Club.
PS
RECIPES
Ma'amoul (Arabic: معمول [mɑʕmuːl] (
listen), also spelled m'aamoul, m'amul, m'aamul) is a filled butter cookie made with semolina flour. The filling can be made with dried fruits like figs or dates or nuts such as pistachios or walnuts and occasionally almonds.[1]
Ma'amoul are usually made during the Easter holiday, and a few days before Eid (then stored to be served with Arabic coffee and chocolate to guests who come during the holiday).[1][2] It is popular throughout the Arab world,[3] especially in the Arabian peninsula.[4]
They may be in the shape of balls, domed or flattened cookies. They can either be decorated by hand or be made in special wooden moulds called tabe.[5]
Variations[edit]
The cookies can be filled with nuts (commonly used nuts are pistachios, almonds or walnuts) or dried fruits, most commonly orange-scented date paste.[6]
The Mizrahi version of ma'amoul differs from the Levantine or Turkish versions by being made with pure white flour and no semolina, today this variation is eaten in Syrian and Egyptian Jewish communities in the Diaspora.[citation needed]
Etymology[edit]
The Arabic word Ma'amoul (Arabic: معمول) is derived from the Arabic verb Arabic: 'amala, meaning to “to do”.[7]
Customs[edit]
The cookies are associated with Eid-al-Fitr or iftar meals during Ramadan for Muslims.[8] For Christians, ma'amoul is part of the Easter celebrations.[5]
They are also popular among Syrian, Lebanese and Egyptian Jewish communities, where ma'amouls with nut fillings are eaten on Purim, and ma'amouls with date fillings are eaten on Rosh Hashanah and Hanukkah.
Sephardic Jews call the pastries menenas.[6]
Cookbook:Ma'amoul
Cookbook | Ingredients | Recipes | Middle Eastern cuisine
Ma'amoul are pastries filled with dates or nuts.
Ingredients[edit | edit source]
- 1 lb. (500 g) plain white flour (up to a quarter of the flour may be replaced with fine semolina)
- 2 tbsp. white sugar
- ½ lb. (250 g) unsalted butter (Normandy butter is best)
- 1-2 tbsp. rose water or orange flower water
- 2 tbsp. water or milk
- icing sugar
- pinch of salt (optional)
- baking powder (optional)
Pistachio filling[edit | edit source]
Mix ½ lb. (250 g) finely chopped pistachios with a somewhat smaller weight of sugar and 1 tbsp. rose water. (Some people use ground almonds, with or without green food colouring, instead of pistachios.)
Walnut filling[edit | edit source]
Mix ½ lb. (250 g) finely chopped walnuts with a somewhat smaller weight of sugar and 1 tbsp. cinnamon.
Date filling[edit | edit source]
Chop 1 lb. (500 g) stoneless dates, and bring to the boil with half a teacup of water, squashing the mixture against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon until approximately uniform in consistency. Blend with an electric chopper if desired. One variant is to add some butter to the mixture as it cooks. Allow to cool.
Equipment[edit | edit source]
Ma'amoul may be made in special wooden moulds. These should be oiled and wiped, then dusted with flour before use (and after every three to four balls, to prevent sticking). There are three shapes of mould. The flattish circular shape is used for date ma’amoul; the round domed shape for walnut ma’amoul; the long oval for pistachio ma’amoul.
Some families do not use moulds, but have special crimping tweezers for making patterns on the top of the pastry. Alternatively, a fork may be used.
Procedure[edit | edit source]
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Mix with 2 tablespoons white sugar, and a pinch of salt if desired. Some people add a very small quantity of baking powder.
- Work in the butter until the consistency is as uniform as possible; one way is to heat the butter in the microwave first until it is nearly melted, and then mix it with the flour into a sort of crumble. Cover and leave for some hours or overnight (not in the fridge, or it will go rock hard).
- Break up the dough with your fingers and add the rose water or orange flower water and 2 tbsp. water or milk until it is malleable, and knead the whole into a smooth ball.
- Take a walnut-sized ball of the dough, stick your thumb into it and hollow out into a cup shape, so that the walls are as thin as possible without breaking.
- Insert filling to about three-quarters full, and pinch the aperture closed. Pat gently into a ball, not letting the walls break.
- Decorate the ball on top with tweezers or the prongs of a fork. Alternatively, pat it into a wooden mould and flatten the exposed bottom surface, then bang the mould face down on the work surface to extract the moulded pastry.
- Repeat the last three steps until all the dough and the filling is used. If at any stage the remaining dough shows signs of drying out, knead in a little more water or milk.
- Place the pastries on a baking sheet (not greased, as the dough is already very buttery) and bake in a preheated oven (180°C / 355°F; 160°C if a fan oven) for 20 minutes: they must not be allowed to become hard or brown. In fact they should look a little moist and underdone when removed from the oven: they will steam off and harden as they cool.
- Leave the pastries to cool, and dust with icing sugar when cold. Keep in a sealed plastic box or biscuit tin.
Variants[edit | edit source]
The Sephardi Jews of the Eastern Mediterranean refer to date ma'amoul as menenas. These are often made in the form of date rolls rather than balls.
Another variant, used on very special occasions, is known as karabij. Make nut ma’amoul, using water rather than milk and no flower water, in the form of balls rather than in a mould, leaving them smooth without making any indentations. Arrange in a pyramid and serve with a special cream called naatiffe. This is made by boiling water, lemon juice, sugar, orange flower water and soapwort root (Saponaria officinalis) into a syrup, and folding in stiffly beaten egg whites.
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, is a semi-retired travel writer still researching bucket list countries and seeking out the special, unusual, people, places, landmarks, hotels, museums and trails, fabulous foods, recipes, clothes and online souvenir shopping.
Angela Lansbury is a member of Toastmasters International.
Angela Lansbury B A Hons is the author of ten books by regular publishers, plus another ten self-published books.
About Angela The Speaker & Trainer
Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters clubs and businesses.
Angela has several blogs speeches, comedy and song writing and organizing, writing intermittently, but writes almost daily on these three:
Please share links to your favourite posts.
TCA (A for Advanced club) is another advanced speakers' club which meets both online for visitors from worldwide and physically for walks, meals and socials in the Tampines area. Meetings are in the TC Community Club when Covid-19 regulations in Singapore allow it, but meanwhile come along to meetings online.
TCA meetings are on the fourth Tuesday evening of each month at 7 p.m Zoom room open to check your sound and online appearance and chit-chat, ready for a 7.15 pm start. I usually manage to attend meetings whether I am in Singapore or the UK.
Another club, totally online, is Singapore Online Dynamic, meeting 9 pm Singapore time on Fridays. I am a member of this club.
I am also a member of Senja-Cashew. When it meets physically it is in a convenient large complex containing a swimming pool beside a landmark lake next to a shopping complex. Right now it is online.
Once you join a club, your club's president will give you the opportunity to be informed of Toastmasters club meetings worldwide, especially those which have interesting workshops.cAbout the Author
Angela Lansbury, is a semi-retired travel writer still researching bucket list countries and seeking out the special, unusual, people, places, landmarks, hotels, museums and trails, fabulous foods, recipes, clothes and online souvenir shopping.
Angela Lansbury is a member of Toastmasters International.
Angela Lansbury B A Hons is the author of ten books by regular publishers, plus another ten self-published books.
About Angela The Speaker & Trainer
Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters clubs and businesses.
Angela has several blogs speeches, comedy and song writing and organizing, writing intermittently, but writes almost daily on these three:
Please share links to your favourite posts.
You also get access to the online magazine. And the club will appoint a mentor to guide you through your first three speeches and plan your year so you can complete a Pathway suited to your personal interests. I chose the basic Presentation mastery path to start. Next I did the Engaging Humor path. Now I am onto the leadership paths such as Visionary Communication.
I am also a coach for Nee Soon South.
All the clubs worldwide have just handed over to the new team from July 1st, all full of enthusiasm, seeking new members, sometimes with a space for a committee member if you are job-hunting, or climbing the corporate ladder, just the thing to add to your c.v.
Toastmasters has made links with the Rotary club organization. So if you are interested in Rotary clubs, you might investigate both.
No comments:
Post a Comment