Welcome to my blog about my experiences while living in Algeria!When Baby Gets Her First Tooth…
They have a tradition here in Setif, Algeria. They prepare a dish of whole wheat grains and chick peas called She-Shem when a baby gets his/her first tooth. It is simple and delicious. The dish stands for long life for the child. My baby girl got her first tooth yesterday. And this is a pic of the prepared dish.
June 7th, 2006 at 5:21 pm
Hi Harmony,
You just forgot to add an “r” to “She-shem” : Sher-shem.It’s really delicious. There is one Sétifian preparation I like : M’hajeb (they call it -if I’m not wrong- M’khalâa). Ususally, M’hajeb are perfect squares stuffed with a lot of goddies (onions, tomato, hot spices etc.) but the way they prepare it in Sétif gives you the opportunity to …eat a lot more !!! For their M’hajeb are round, thin and lighter ! They put a layer of thin paste on a “gharbel” add the stuffing and cover it with a second layer of paste.
Elsewhere, the paste is folded into a thick square which requires more paste.
June 8th, 2006 at 11:05 pm
Hi Lys,
Yes, I know this one very well. They are 15 Dinar a piece in downtown Setif. What a deal for one of the world’s best morsels. My mother-in-law and sister-in-laws prepare it very well, also. If you have worked with the pate/dough than you could imagine what a struggle it would be for a newbie. If have tried and tried to prepare it, but to no avail. Mine turn out crazy looking with sauce coming out the side. Lol.
Harmony
August 20th, 2007 at 3:52 am
Hi, here in Louisiana we have a tradition that whoever finds the babies firt tooth buys the baby an outfit.