Hais — Date, Butter, and Dried Cheese Balls
Pitted dates kneaded with clarified butter and crumbled dried cheese, rolled into dense balls. Rich in sugar and fat, salty from the cheese, it is the desert energy bar before its time — one would slip it into the saddlebag.
Pitted dates kneaded with clarified butter and crumbled dried cheese, rolled into dense balls. Rich in sugar and fat, salty from the cheese, it is the desert energy bar before its time — one would slip it into the saddlebag.
Before the long road to Kufa, prepare your zad, your provision. Pit the dates, crush them in the samn, and crumble over them the aqit, that dried and hard milk cheese. Knead everything with your hands until it holds together, then roll it into balls. One single ball will sustain you from morning to evening on your mount, when water is scarce and the camp far away. The provident rider never goes hungry on the road.
- •Pitted dates — two handfuls (sweet and energy base)
- •Clarified butter (samn) — a spoonful (fat binder)
- •Dried milk cheese (aqit) — a crumbled handful (salty and protein contribution)
Hais — Date, Butter, and Dried Cheese Balls
Pitted dates kneaded with clarified butter and crumbled dried cheese, rolled into dense balls. Rich in sugar and fat, salty from the cheese, it is the desert energy bar before its time — one would slip it into the saddlebag.
Why this dish? Ali was an indefatigable warrior, present at Badr, Khaybar, and Siffin, traversing the routes between Medina, Kufa, and the Euphrates. Hais was the energy provision of the Arab traveler and fighter: compact, rich, and non-perishable on the road.
Before the long road to Kufa, prepare your zad, your provision. Pit the dates, crush them in the samn, and crumble over them the aqit, that dried and hard milk cheese. Knead everything with your hands until it holds together, then roll it into balls. One single ball will sustain you from morning to evening on your mount, when water is scarce and the camp far away. The provident rider never goes hungry on the road.
Ingredients (period version)
- Pitted dates — two handfuls (sweet and energy base)
- Clarified butter (samn) — a spoonful (fat binder)
- Dried milk cheese (aqit) — a crumbled handful (salty and protein contribution)
Ingredients
- Soft pitted dates — 200 g (sweet base)
- Clarified butter (ghee) — 2 tbsp (fat binder)
- Grated dry cheese (e.g., very dry pecorino or aged ewe cheese) — 60 g (salty contribution)
- Toasted barley flour (optional) — 1 tbsp (to bind if too moist)
Method
- Mash the pitted dates into a paste with a fork or pestle.
- Slightly melt the ghee and mix it into the dates.
- Add the finely grated dry cheese and mix until homogeneous.
- If the paste is too sticky, add a little toasted barley flour.
- Shape into walnut-sized balls between your hands.
- Let firm up in a cool place for 30 minutes; they keep for several days without refrigeration.
How it was made : Hais is an attested mixture of dates, samn (clarified butter), and aqit (dried and hardened milk cheese, typical of nomads). Very caloric and stable, it served as travel and military campaign provisions — the functional ancestor of the energy bar. The modern reconstruction replaces the hard-to-find aqit with very dry ewe cheese.
The contemporary twist : Roll each ball in toasted sesame seeds and present them as sweet-and-savory truffles: a millennia-old hiking snack updated for today.
Ali ibn Abi Talib · Charactorium
