Mersu

Short pastry filled with pistachios and dates

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City/Region: Mari, Mesopotamia

Time Period: c. 1800 B.C.E.

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In the ancient ruined Mesoptamian city of Mari, a clay tablet receipt from 4,000 years ago was found that mentioned dates and pistachios for making mersu for the king. We don’t know exactly what mersu was or if there were other ingredients in it, but I think there was more to it than just dates and pistachios. The king employed 8 specialists who made mersu, so my guess is that it was at least as complicated as this pastry, possibly much more so.

The flavor combination in this interpretation is wonderful. The pastry is a little crumbly, and the filling is chewy, rich, and quite sweet, with the added texture of the nuts. 

I made my pastry dough unsweetened and I really liked the contrast between the unsweetened dough and the very sweet filling, but you can add some date syrup or honey to your dough if you’d like.

“1 gur of dates
And 10 sila of pistachios
For making mersu
Meal of the king”

— Receipt from Mari, c. 1800 BCE

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Ingredients:

Dough

• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander seed
• 2 1/2 cups (300 g) emmer flour, or bread flour
• 2/3 cup (150 g) ghee or clarified butter that’s been allowed to solidify
• 1/2 cup (170 g) date syrup or honey, optional*

Filling

• 1/2 cup (75 g) shelled pistachios
• 1 cup (150 g) pitted dates

Decoration

• Whole pistachios, optional

*The filling is quite sweet, so whether or not the dough is sweetened is up to you.

Instructions:

1. For the dough: In a large bowl, whisk the ground coriander seed and flour together until combined.
2. Add the ghee and and mix until it comes together to form a dough. I used my hands for this. With emmer flour, it took about 5 minutes for it to come together. If you use bread flour, this process will probably be easier.
3. Mix in the date syrup or honey if you’re using it. If the dough isn’t coming together, you can mix in cold water a teaspoon or so at a time until it does. Cover and set the dough aside to rest while you make the filing.
4. For the filling: Crush the pistachios in a mortar or a food processor. You want there to be mostly coarse pieces of broken pistachio, there’s no need to grind it down into a powder.
5. Mash the dates in a mortar or grind them up in a food processor until you get a paste.
6. Combine the crushed pistachios and date paste in a bowl and mash them together until the mixture is fairly uniform. It’s messy, but I found my hands worked well for this step as well.
7. To assemble: Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
8. Divide the filling into 18 pieces and roll them into balls or form them into patties.
9. Divide the rested dough into 18 pieces. Flatten the pieces out into rough circles. It might be a little crumbly, but that’s okay. Place a piece of the filling into the center of each round and wrap the dough around it. You may need to add a bit of dough in patches to cover the filling completely. Try to get the dough as thin as possible while still covering the filling; it will be more pleasant to eat this way.
10. Flatten the formed mersu into hockey puck-like rounds. Place the mersu about 2 inches (5 cm) apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. If you’d like, you can decorate them by gently pressing a few whole pistachios into the tops.
11. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until they’re lightly browned on top.
12. Let them cool completely before serving them forth.

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