Jallab
Date and grape molasses loosened with rose water and iced, then floated with soaked pine nuts and raisins. Sold on every corner in summer and eaten as much as drunk.
Photograph credit: Jallab by AdamBomb_23 · CC BY 2.0 · Flickr
Make Ahead and Storage
The base mix keeps refrigerated for a week. Soak the nuts fresh on the day.
How to Make Jallab
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Put the pine nuts and raisins in a bowl of cold water and leave them to swell for at least 3 hours. The nuts should float and give when pressed.
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Whisk the date molasses, grape molasses, rose water and orange blossom water together until smooth.
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Add the cold water and whisk again. Taste — it should be sweet but distinctly savoury underneath, not like a cordial.
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Adjust with more water if it is too intense, or a little more date molasses if it is thin.
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Fill four tall glasses with crushed ice and pour the jallab over.
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Drain the soaked nuts and raisins and spoon them over the top, where they will float.
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Serve with a long spoon as well as a straw.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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A Few Pointers
- Soak the pine nuts for hours. Dry ones sink and stay hard.
- Pour over ice rather than pre-chilling.
- Taste before serving — molasses brands vary a lot in sweetness.
Why the Method Is What It Is
The pine nuts must be soaked, and for longer than seems necessary. Dropped in dry they sink, stay hard and taste of nothing; after a few hours in cold water they swell, soften and float on the surface, which is where they belong and how the drink is recognised. Build it over ice rather than chilling it in advance too — jallab should be poured cold onto crushed ice so it stays layered for a moment before anyone stirs it.
What to Put Next to It
Ka'ak bil simsim · Salted pistachios · A hot afternoon
Quick Answers
How long does Jallab take to make?
10 minutes of preparation and of cooking, plus 3 hours of soaking the pine nuts, so allow 3 hours 10 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 4.
What's in a Serving
Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: an ingredient listed without an amount is not counted, so the figures run low. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
Cooked this? Keep a note for next time
Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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