Treya is a comforting dish with a long history that deserves a revival. It’s essentially yet another version of the universally loved pasta with chicken, but what is so wonderful and unique about this dish is that it has been traced back to a thirteenth-century medieval Syrian cookbook.
Prolific Jewish food writer Claudia Roden made the discovery when she was researching medieval cookery. She was astonished to find the recipe, as her father’s family also made this dish in Egypt, as well as her aunt Regine from Aleppo, Syria, and a friend of hers from Beirut, Lebanon. Roden saw it as proof of the Jewish people’s long history in the Middle East; a testimony not only to the lasting legacy of home cookbooks, but the migration of the Jewish people.
When we think of Jewish food, we often focus on the big Shabbat dishes, or beautifully adorned festive food, but it is the comforting mid-week meals that mothers have been throwing together while raising children for hundreds of years that are often overlooked.
In Morocco, n’treya is traditionally a Yom Kippur pre-fast dish of chicken, onions and pasta, served with candied eggplant and a rich apricot sauce called mishmishiya. Some have associated treya with macaroni hamin, a Shabbat dish from Jerusalem’s Sephardi community that was traditionally cooked overnight in the baker’s oven before being picked up on the way back from synagogue on a Shabbat morning.
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Treya, however, isn’t slow-cooked; in fact, it comes together in 40 minutes, making it the perfect weeknight meal. On cold winter days, I’m always looking for warming comfort food to nourish my family, and this easy recipe certainly fits the bill. With fussy children to cook for, I know that a variation on the familiar flavors of pasta, chicken and much-loved chicken soup will be a hit. Cooking the chicken with spices in water before adding the pasta creates a fragrant chicken broth, which imparts its flavor deep within the pasta.
I hope you’ll make this for your family, and that treya will still be served in homes in another 400 years.
Treya
Treya is a quick, comforting chicken and pasta dish with roots in a 13th-century Syrian cookbook and Jewish culinary history.
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4-6
Ingredients
- 4–6 bone-in chicken thighs
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- ¾ tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch saffron (optional)
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 750 ml water
- 500 g spaghetti or linguine
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil over medium heat, then fry the onion until soft. Add the spices, salt and pepper, and mix well.
- Coat the chicken pieces in the spiced oil and fry over medium heat for approximately 5-7 minutes, until the chicken is golden on all sides. Once slightly coloured, add the water and bring to a boil. Skim off any scum that rises to the top.
- Once boiling, turn down to a gentle simmer, cover and let cook for 20-25 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
- Once cooked, take out the chicken, remove and discard the skin, and shred the meat.
- Place the pasta in the stock, topping up with water if needed.
- Cook the pasta for approximately 10-12 minutes (as per cooking instructions), until it’s al dente. The stock should have been completely absorbed by now by the pasta but if not, turn up the heat and let it bubble and reduce a little.
- Add the shredded chicken back to the now-cooked pasta and mix well. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding half a teaspoon more of each of the spices if need be.
- Serve immediately in pasta bowls.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Quick
- Cuisine: Sephardi
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