If you follow me on twitter, you may be aware that until recently we’ve had a family of Sudanese refugees living next door. While they were here, Kylie started teaching English to the kids – Rimas, Rina and Roni. The mother, Leidia, is expecting a baby soon, so they moved to a bigger house a couple of weeks ago.
While they lived next door the kids fell in love with Jonah, our Golden Retriever, so yesterday morning Kylie and I took him over for a visit. We spent an hour or so down at the local park with Ibrahim and the kids, and when we got back, Leidia insisted we stay for lunch. She thought she’d give us a treat with some Sudanese food – kissra with molokhia.
Kissra is made from rye flour and wheat flour and is like a soft, slightly rubbery (but not in a bad way) crepe. It was placed in the bottom of a bowl with the molokhia spooned over it. How to describe molokhia? Simply describing the ingredients – chopped molokhia (or spinach) leaves, garlic and other spices – doesn’t do it justice. Think of the green ectoplasm dripping off the draws of the library catalogue in Ghostbusters, and you might be close.
Molokhia - photo from Munaqaba Modesty
I tried to eat it. I really did. But with each tiny bite I just couldn’t suppress the gag reflex. As much as I didn’t want to be rude, and despite the evil eye that Kylie was shooting my way, I made the call that pushing it away would be far less offensive than throwing up.
The watermelon was nice, though.