Murri

Murri or Almorí (in Andalusia) was a condiment made of fermented barley or fish used in medieval Byzantine cuisine and Arab cuisine.

There are two kinds of murri, the more usual kind made using fermented barley, with a less common version made from fish. Almost every substantial dish in medieval Arab cuisine used murri in small quantities. It could be used as a substitute for salt or sumac, and has been compared to soy sauce by Rudolf Grewe, Charles Perry, and others due to its high monosodium glutamate content and resultant umami flavor

Traditionally, murri production was undertaken annually in households at the end of March and continued over a period of 90 days. Barley-based murri entails the wrapping of raw barley dough in fig leaves which are left to sit for 40 days. The dough is then ground and mixed with water, salt, and usually additional flour. It is then left to ferment for another 40 days in a warm place. The resulting dark mahoghany brown paste, mixed with water to form a liquid, is murri.

A fast method for preparing murri is to mix 2 parts barley flour to one part salt and make a loaf that is baked in the oven until hard and then pounded into crumbs to soak in water for a day and a night. This mixture, known as the first murri, is then strained and set aside. Then, raisins, carob, dill fennel, nigella, sesame, anis, mace, citron leaf, and pine seed milk are boiled with water and strained. The second murri is then added to the first, and boiled until thickened.

Murri mixed with milk was known as kamakh.

Read More at Wikipedia.

Recipe for see Murri Here .