Popeye Did Not Know Egyptian Spinach Called Molokhiya...

This article is only for your information, it is very interesting. You can find Molokhiya already picked, washed,  finely chopped and  frozen in 1 kg sachets in Middle Eastern, or Egyptian groceries.The recipe is after this article.

Popeye Did Not Know Egyptian Spinach Called Molokhiya

by: Junji Takano

Since 1964, I have been eating Egyptian spinach almost every day during my travels in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Philippines. Japan started to plant molokhiya sometime in 1980 for Japanese daily vegetable consumption especially in Miyagi prefecture. Today it has spread all over Japan, and you can now find it in all vegetable and convenience stores, including its seed for hobbyists to plant in their small backyard garden.

One may encounter many different transliterations for the Arabic word molokhiya, such as mulukhiya and molokhia. It is also called jute, Egyptian spinach, Jews mallow, Jute mallow, or saluyot, with a scientific name of Corchorus olitorius.

According to some internet sources, molokhiya means vegetable for King. During 6000 BC, a sick Egyptian King asked a bowl of hot soup, and found it tasty. After taking hot soup every day, the King's illness was healed. Cleopatra also enjoyed the same soup. The soup was the Egyptian spinach called molokhiya. We believe that this miracle vegetable originated in India and Egypt.

Molokhiya is known as the king of vegetables. Its carotene contents are 4.6 times more than spinach, which Popeye loved, and 19 times more than broccoli. Its calcium contents are 9 times more than spinach and 10 times more than broccoli. Even vitamins B1 and B2 are five times more compared to spinach. It contains much more Vitamin E, C, potassium, iron, and other vegetable fibers than any other vegetables.

Molokhiya possesses properties that can boost our immune system to help prevent cancer, premature aging, osteoporosis, fatigue, high blood pressure, and anemia. Its vitamin contents moisturize our skin and make it soft and smooth, and resist early aging. Egyptian spinach is considered demulcent, diuretic, febrifuge and tonic.

In addition, the molokhiya's viscous texture is rich in soluble fiber. This dietary fiber has a cholesterol-lowering effect, relieves constipation, and prevents obesity and diabetes, including colorectal cancer and other lifestyle-related diseases.

Aside from these medicinal effects we know now, we are coming up in discovering more and more of its amazing health effects.

Green young leaves are used as vegetables just like okra or spinach, and are a good source of vitamins and other abundant nutrients. Dried leaves are used as soup thickener or jute tea.

I myself have planted molokhiya in my backyard garden. I'm planting about 20 seeds every 6 months, which is good enough for daily consumption of my family. In my farm in the countryside, even though we do not plant it, wild molokhiya grows in thousands every now and then throughout the year.

100 grams of Molokhiya leaves contains:
Carotene - 10,000 µg
Calcium - 500 mg
Potassium - 650 mg
Iron - 3.8 mg
Vitamin B1 - 0.24 mg
Vitamin B2 - 0.76mg

No wonder, our caretakers in my farm as well as their neighbors are very healthy. Most of them live over 83–103 years old. In fact, three of them are 101, 102 and 103 years old, and are still active. Probably, my family and I are in good health because of the Egyptian spinach? So healthy that we might not need the PYRO-ENERGEN, ha ha ha.

We are very glad of this miracle and mysterious vegetable that was introduced to Japan from Egypt.

If you are worried about cholesterol contents in your blood and high blood symptoms, take moloheiya starting today.

You can find hundreds of molohiya recipe on the net. Whether it's for beauty and to prevent premature aging and to keep your skin healthy...no wonder, Cleopatra loved to eat moloheiya. I personally recommend you to take this.
For a fiesta made with chicken and beef you will need :
 Serves 6 - 8
-  1 Chicken, boiled in 3 liters of water.
-  1 kg of tender beef cut ask your butcher to break the bone in order to give a better flavor to the broth.
-  2 big onions roughly chopped.
-  Pepper corns.
-  Salt the chicken cavity.
Method to boil the chicken and beef.
-  Combine all the above in a large pot, put enough water to cover both chicken and beef,  cover and boil for 30 minutes or till the chicken falls off the bone.

-  Take chicken out of the pot, let cool, take meat off the bone. Place chicken bite size pieces on a platter.
-  When meat is nice and tender, take that out as well, cut into bite size pieces and place on the same platter as the chicken pieces but separately.
-  Take another pot and strain the resulting broth from the onion. Use the onion to garnish the meat and chicken.
 - This is the pot you will make the molokhiya in.
Making of the Molokhiya.

-  Boil broth, throw in 2kg / or 2 sachets of frozen molokhiya. On medium heat let the frozen molokhiya slowly melt into the broth. When the two kg are melted and dispersed check for viscosity of the soup mixture. If too diluted then add one more kg of frozen molokhiya.
-  Let simmer till the soup gets hot. The soup must not boil or else it will loose the viscous fiber this soup is so famous for. 
Making of the Ta'aliya: This is a mixture of melted fresh butter, garlic passed through the press and powdered coriander.

-  Melt about 50 gr of fresh butter.
-  Press 5 cloves of garlic through the garlic press and into the melted, hot butter.
-  Stir fry the garlic till that beautiful aroma is obtained.
-  At that point, throw in about 2 Tbsp. of freshly ground coriander seeds.
-  Stir fry till you get that even more wonderful well known odor of the Ta'aliya.
 -  Do not over fry either the garlic or Ta'aliya.
-  Hot as it is, throw into the Molokhiya soup.
-  Stir and mix with ladle.
-  The molokhiya must not boil. So keep on stirring until really hot and steaming. Be careful because it get cold very easily.
-  Funny enough in Greece and Egypt this plant grows only in summer around July/August so that's the time to eat this dish!!
Serve with already prepared tahini (under label dips) very finely minced red onion in a good vinegar not balsamic, steaming hot white rice, the chicken / meat pieces, and shami bread (pita bread).

Ways to eat Molokhiya:

1.   In a soup dish, put quantity of  rice you wish to eat as a first serving, add 3 - 4 ladles of molokhiya on rice, add a few pieces of chicken and / or meat, top with a Tbsp. of vinegar/onion.
2. I personally like to eat the molokhiya neat in a bowl. Rice, chicken, meat, slices of chili peppers, onion/vinegar, tahini with pita bread on the side,that way I enjoy all the flavors separately.

 Enjoy this hot meal in the middle of summer. No alcohol, just ice water to drink.
Stelio