An Exaltation of Soups (53 page)

1 tablespoon
chawayil,
or to taste (see sidebar)

4 pounds chicken pieces

2 tablespoons oil or rendered chicken fat

2 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or 4 canned tomatoes, juice reserved

2 medium onions, finely chopped

Up to 10 cups (2½ quarts) cold water

2 carrots, peeled and cubed

1 cup cooked chickpeas (canned are fine, but drain and rinse them)

2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 medium-large zucchini, washed and cubed

Salt and
chawayil
to taste

T
HE
R
OMANCE OF
C
HAWAYIL

I love this unusual spice, not just for its distinctive flavor but also because it reflects the distinctive history of Yemeni Jews, the protectors of King Solomon’s spice caravans. I can imagine the soldiers coming home at the end of a long trek, saying “Sarah, I’ve brought you some pepper all the way from the Malabar coast of India; turmeric from southwest Asia; caraway from the Mediterranean; cardamom from Sri Lanka; saffron from Persia—all here to our little village in Sheba. God is great!”

C
HAWAYIL

Grind all the spices to a powder. Makes about 2 tablespoons.

T
HE
A
STONISHING
H
ISTORY OF
Y
EMENI
J
EWS

How on earth did Jews come to Yemen in the first place, and how did they stay isolated and unknown for some 3,000 years? The story goes that it all started with the Queen of Sheba’s clever businessmen. These Sabaean (or Sheban) traders specialized in precious spices, growing and harvesting frankincense and myrrh in their own backyards and augmenting their inventory by sailing up the Persian Gulf to pick up the last leg of the cassia and cinnamon trade from Asia. When the Queen of Sheba said about King Solomon circa 950
B.C.E.
that he was to her “a bag of myrrh, that lies between my breasts” (Song of Solomon 1:13) he was likely thinking the same thing about her, and not necessarily in symbolic terms. He wanted and needed those precious Sabaean goods, so he could burn that sweet myrrh in his new temple and use those spices for the good life that God had promised him: “I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like” (2nd Chronicles 1:12).

But trading routes were treacherous. How to protect the rich spice caravans in Sheba (present-day Yemen) trekking north along the Red Sea coast through desert and wilderness, easy prey for desert tribes? Soldiers, of course. And the soldiers he sent from Jerusalem, seeing the writing on the wall about how long they’d be pulling this duty, set off with their wives and children. They settled in what is now Yemen, convoying shipments from the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula all the way to Jerusalem and back again. When trade with Jerusalem dried up, following the death of Solomon, they remained in their new home, zealously guarding their cultural and religious traditions and raising generations of children, but completely losing contact with their original homeland.

“The most delicious dish is—‘fast and then eat.’ ”

I should mention that we are in the third week of the holy season of Ramadan. Mohammed decreed that for one month out of every year, all Moslems would show their respect to Allah and the poor of the world by fasting every day for twelve hours during the main part of the day. This means that from about 8
A.M.
to 8
P.M.
, no matter what the heat (and it’s hot!),
nothing
shall pass the lips of a Moslem—not a morsel of food, not a sip of water. If you smoke as a rule, you give that up. Alcohol is totally forbidden for the duration. And you have never seen so many stressed faces. The construction workers across from our apartment drag themselves along with their cinderblocks. You can see the men on the street dying for a cigarette. Women out with children clearly find their tempers growing short. And I especially feel sorry for the food merchants—out in the hot sun with water, water everywhere and nary a drop to drink.

I
SLAMIC
F
ESTIVALS

As laid down in the Qur’an, festivals focus on the precepts of Islam, not on historic events, per se. Because the Islamic calendar is based on a 354-day year, all festivals are “movable” and cycle through the seasons, thus Muharram, the beginning of the new year, has nothing at all to do with the end of winter and the beginning of spring. And there are no official harvest festivals, likely because Islam was born in arid Arabian deserts, Mohammed himself beginning life as a young shepherd with a desert tribe. Instead, festivals have everything to do with fasting, alms giving, and pilgrimage/sacrifice, three of Islam’s five Pillars. Traditional foods associated with the holidays of course conform to the Qur’an’s dietary laws, which proscribe pork, blood, and alcohol and require meat to be slaughtered freshly and with a prayer (“In the name of God, God is most great”).

• Muharram
  , the first month of the Islamic year, is tied to the Pillar of fasting, but of a voluntary nature—in honor of Mohammed joining the Jews in Medina on the tenth of the month in their fast for Passover. Foods are not part of the observance.
  

• Ramadan
  , the ninth month of the calendar, is the obligatory twenty-nine-day month of fasting. Muslims break each daylong fast at sunset, then sit down to dinner
  (iftar)
  after the sunset prayer is offered and eat one last meal
  (suhur)
  just before dawn.
  

• Eid al-Fitr
  , the Feast of Fast Breaking, celebrates the end of Ramadan for three days and focuses on sharing meals with the poor. Various soups are eaten as part of celebrations across the world, but usually not as a matter of tradition—except in Pakistan, where the feast is begun with
  yakhni
  , a rich broth. No, it’s a time to feast on the best one can afford, from exquisite sweets to lavish entrees.
  

• Eid al-Adha
  , the Feast of Sacrifice, on the tenth day of the twelfth month, both commemorates the end of the pilgrimage season (when those who can afford it, return from their
  hajj
  to Mecca) and celebrates the great sacrifice of Abraham (who was ready to offer up his son Isaac for the love of God) by families sacrificing an animal, often a lamb, and distributing its meat to the poor.
  

Houston Rockets basketball superstar Hakeem Olajuwon is reported to pick up an order of “soup to go” during Ramadan at a Houston Anthony’s Restaurant, so it’s at the ready to eat after sunset.