This soupy stew is a much-beloved comfort food all over the Levant as well as in Egypt and part of Cyprus, often to the perplexity of those who did not grow up with it. You either love it or you don’t, and those who do love it have— over generations—gone to great lengths to smuggle fresh mulukhiyya leaves into the United States, leaving not a few customs officers scratching their heads.

Mulukhiyya is made with the mucilaginous leaves of the highly nutritious Corchor