For those of you who have been following my blog for awhile, you are aware that Moudy is my beautiful and most lovable traditional Saudi mother-in-law. And she always has wonderful and interesting stories of her experiences growing up in Saudi’s “older days.” Recently she and my husband shared with me the old tradition followed in Makkah during Hajj back when my husband was a young boy of seven years old.
It was a tradition that every Hajj all the Makkah families would make a month’s worth of mamool. Now before I go further into this story, I better explain for those not aware just what exactly is mamool. Mamool is a sweet originating from the Middle East and became very popular in Saudi Arabia. Mamool in arabic means “filled” and basically mamool are filled cookies. During Hajj, mamool are always filled with fresh dates although they can also be made with various nuts as fillings too.
Now Mama Moudy (as my Mother-in-law is typically refered) had a method when she made her annual mamool. She was blessed with seven daughters and several sons. She and her daughters set up an assembly line where they all worked together over a several day period preparing the mamool. First they would peel the skin off of the fresh dates as well as remove the date pit from each date. Then they would take the date mixture and with their hands, mix it until is resembled a paste. Of course she would also add her other special and secret ingredients into the mix that distinguished her mamool from all the rest in Makkah. Once the mix was ready, she and her daughters would roll it 
into small balls and place on large trays. After all the trays were filled with the mamool balls, the assembly line segued down to the boys which included my husband. In those days many homes, to include Mama Moudy’s did not have a traditional oven yet the mamool needed to be backed. Therefore the boys were responsible to take the trays to a neighborhood baker who had a traditional oven and for a small fee, he would bake the mamool. My husband would run into all of his friends who were also taking mamool to the baker to be baked in the oven.
Once the mamool had been baked my husband and his brothers would very carefully carry the trays which were covered in cloth back to their home. At that point, Mama Moudy and her daughters were again ready to glaze each mamool ball with granulated or confectionary sugar. Once all the mamool has been prepared it was then stored in multiple containers for Mama Moudy, her family, relatives and friends to enjoy throughout the month of Hajj.
If your appetite has been whet, following are several links which provide tasty recipes to this delectable sweet:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mamool-or-Maamoul/Detail.aspx
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/mamoul.htm
http://www.ummah.net/family/recipes/mamool.html
Filed under: Food, Just for fun, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Living | Tagged: Dates, Food, Saudi Arabia, Sweets | 29 Comments »
