Eleven kilometres away in the outlying city of Giza, I met with 27-year-old receptionist Mimi Melad, a self-proclaimed stickler for tradition when it comes to molokhia. "I always cook with fresh (molokhia) from a stall on Al-Haram Street near my home," she said. "And I do the shahe"t (pronounced "cha-h"a") every time," she continued, referring to an age-old cooking ritual still practised today by some Egyptian women. Believed to make the dish more flavoursome, the cook leaned over the steaming molokhia, mouthing the words "shahe"t el mulukhiyah"while making an audible gasp, before clamping the pan"s lid shut.