semanis bint as sahn

salam..sekarang bulan Rejab, tentu ramai yang puasa sunat. Saat berbuka tentu ada kuih terhidang..time pose ginila yg byk mengimbas kembali kenangan..di sana ada satu juadah yang buat annas rindu, 'honey cake' kata org dlm internet..

org sana panggil 'bint as sahn'..makan dgn madu..emm best nye!annas suka makan kuih ni, antara juadah sana yang diminati selain dari sanbusah..tapi tak sempat blaja camana buatnya..

search kat internet resipinya, annas jumpa artikel kat bawah ni ..
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During the Ottoman occupation of Yemen, Yemenis were heavily affected by Ottoman influence on many aspects of their lives. Their impact affected Yemeni food as well, about which many old people tell different stories of their origins.
There are no documents that heritage and culture investigators base their findings on when talking about food origins in Yemen. “You might depend on tales from old men and women when researching food,” said Faiza Jahaff, director of Our House for Heritage. “Another way is to depend on your knowledge of Yemeni history and then start analyzing and connecting ideas to come out with an acceptable conclusion about the origins of food in Yemen.”

‘Helbah’ is a name given to the seeds of a tree also called Helbah, and it is very important in making the quintessential Yemeni dish Saltah, which includes potato, soup, sometimes meat, and any number of other ingredients. Helbah is added to these ingredients at the final stage of preparing this dish.

Research into the matter supports that Yemenis knew of Helbah before they started making Saltah. Jahhaf is one of these interested investigators who agrees with this notion. She emphasized that Yemenis knew about Helbah before the Ottomans came to Yemen. With the Ottomans came a dish called ‘Torbeil,’ what is known today as ‘Mahshi,’ and they used to add and collect other kinds of food to make what is today’s Saltah. However, Saltah differs from one area to another; people differ on how they present this dish depending on the food available. For example, those who live in the mountains and highlands prepare Saltah with the traditional soup base, potato, and a Helbah sauce on top. In coastal areas however, people use Helbah seeds which they add to ‘Porridge,’ calling it ‘Aseed Mokarhat’ because it is mixed directly with Helbah seeds instead of mashing them up into a sauce.

Although it was discovered that the main Sana’ni dish is borrowed from the Ottomans, there are dishes that are considered as Yemeni heritage such as ‘Porridge’ and ‘Hareesh.’

Social stories accompanied the existence of some Yemeni dishes such as ‘Bint Al-Sahn’ which mean ‘the girl or daughter of the plate’ and is a flaky bread dish covered in honey. This dish was traditionally presented to the man who wanted to ask for the hand of a family’s daughter. The stories relate that when a man asks about the girl, they tell him to look at how she prepared the Bint Al-Sahn to measure what kind of future wife she will be.

Sweets are also found in the Yemeni menu. Nowadays, the well-known sweet ‘Rawani’ is spread mainly throughout Old Sana’a. However, it is claimed that this sweet is not actually Yemeni but was introduced by Ottoman soldiers. During that time, the soldiers’ families used to send cake to the soldiers that would dry out on the way due to the long distance to Yemen. When soldiers finally got these dried out cakes, they would fill them with water and sugar. This dish became wildly popular even amongst the locals, and is still here long after the Ottomans are gone.

Generally speaking, Arab and Islamic cultures are found to be fairly well integrated and share many aspects among themselves. Investigators said that it was because of the Islamic movement among these countries in the past. When the Islamic armies and movement spread, they influenced different cultures and were influenced by them in turn.

“When I traveled to Morocco, Tunisia and many other countries, I found the same porridge that is here in Yemen to be there in those countries. This supports the assumption that cultures were and are integrating with each other directly or indirectly,” noted Jahaff.

Moreover, the presentation of some dishes around the Arab world is similar. What is known in Yemen as ‘Hareesh’ is similar to ‘Borgol’ in Egypt, and ‘Mansaf’ in Jordan is presented in a similar way as how ‘Couscous’ in Morocco is done. Sharing the same dish from different countries indicates that cultures were connecting with each other in the past to at least some extent which allowed a kind of unity in dishes among vastly different countries.

The problem in this area, as Jahaff pointed out, is that when university students want to see documents in order to be used in their research, they don’t find any written proof that preserves Yemeni identity either in food, clothing, or any other form of cultural heritage.

“There is no support from the government and people are not aware that our food indicates that we are a rich country where most of our dishes depend on seeds. This is proof of our agricultural richness,” Jahaff said.
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oooooo..gitu citernyer, waktu di sana tak banyak ambik tau..sekarang dah jauh dah mula merindu..hehe..kadang2 lepak kat youtube semata2 utk nikmati video pemandangan di sana!huhu..rindu tahap gaban nih!