The Gulf and Arabia · Volume 09, The Terrace, the Wadi and a Kitchen Carried Out
Fahsa
The highlands, Sana'a and Ta'izz
Illustration
- Time
- 1 hour
- Researched
- Researched from 91 sources in the brief
Chunks of veal, mutton or chicken, browned hard in ghee or oil, then cooked down with onion, tomato, garlic and a Yemeni spice mix, cumin, cardamom, coriander, black pepper, in stock until very tender. Served bubbling in a stone or clay vessel that holds its heat, eaten with bread; hilbah is stirred in after cooking, not during, unlike saltah's dolloped finish. Fahsa is popularly, and wrongly, described in some English-language writing as an Aden speciality; the strongest sourcing found places its heartland firmly in Sana'a and its surrounding governorate and in Ta'izz.
As tradition built it
Serves 4. About 1 hour.
Ingredients
- 600g veal or mutton, cubed
- 2 tbsp ghee
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 tsp cumin
- 0.5 tsp ground cardamom
- 0.5 tsp ground coriander
- 0.5 tsp black pepper
- 500ml stock
- 3 to 4 tbsp hilbeh (see Dish 1), whipped
Method
- Brown the meat hard, in batches, in the ghee, over high heat.
- Add the onion and garlic, softening a few minutes, then the tomato, cumin, ground cardamom, ground coriander and black pepper.
- Add the stock, bring to a simmer, cover and cook gently 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the meat is very tender and the sauce has reduced and thickened.
- Off the heat, stir the whipped hilbeh through, rather than serving it dolloped on top as in saltah.
- Serve bubbling hot, with bread.
Notes
No precise quantities for fahsa were found; the recipe above is an indicative reconstruction from a consistent technique description and should be adjusted to taste.
What a modern chef changes
Slower heat, the same finish
Rung 1, adapted
Method
- Braise at a stable 140°C in a covered pot in the oven, rather than on the hob, for a more even, hands-off tenderising over the same hour.
- Reduce the braising liquid separately once the meat is tender, then reunite the two, for a sauce with real body rather than one thinned by the meat's own released liquid.
- Whip the hilbeh to the fuller Rung 1 standard before stirring it in off the heat, since fahsa's hilbeh gets folded through rather than judged as a standalone dollop, and a properly aerated froth still lightens the finished dish even once mixed in.