I don't need much of an excuse to cook up a batch of maamouls as they are probably one of my favourite cookies to make. However, if I did need an excuse I found the perfect one in London last weekend - a maamoul mould. My granny used to have a few but along with her kitchen axe and massive cauldron they went AWOL after she died. This maamoul mould I bought from the rather fabulous Persepolis in Peckham. Well worth a detour to if you are hankering after all things Iranian (and generally Middle Eastern and scrumptious).
A small note on a couple of the optional ingredients: mastic is a resin from the mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus), it's used in quite a lot of Middle Eastern and Eastern Mediterranean sweets and desserts and lends a pine-y flavour to the finished dish. Mahlab is a spice made from the seeds of a particular species of cherry (Prunus mahaleb) and gives an almondy/cherry flavour to the dish.
Ingredients
300g semolina
100g white flour
150g margarine / ghee
50g caster sugar
1/4 tsp ground mastic (optional)
1/4 tsp mahleb (optional)
1/4 tsp yeast
100ml orange blossom or rose water
For the pistachio filling
100g pistachios
Sugar (to taste)
Orange blossom water
1. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl, melt the margarine or ghee and pour in, along with the orange blossom or rose water. Mix together until it comes together in a large dough ball. Cover with plastic wrap and leave for around 4 hours. I should point out, in that time nothing particularly magical happens, it doesn't transform in size, the waiting period is more to allow the semolina to absorb the fat
2. While the dough is resting, blitz the pistachios in a blender and add sugar to taste and then the flower water until you have a fairly tough marzipan-ish paste
3. Pinch golf ball sized (or walnut, depending on your frame of reference) pieces of the dough and roll into balls. With this quantity you should have enough to make around 20 (ish) maamouls
4. Take a ball into one hand and flatten out with the heel of your other hand. Pinch off a teaspoonful of the pistachio paste and roll into a sausage. Place this in the middle of the flattened dough circle and close the dough around it to encase fully
5. At this point squish it in your maamoul mould, traditionally the oval ones are used for nut fillings, and the round for date. If you don't have a mould then you can decorate a pattern on the top with a fork
6. Arrange the maamouls on a baking tray covered with greaseproof paper and bake in an oven preheated to ~190C for 15-20minutes. You want the bottom golden, but the top to be lightly coloured
7. Cool, and dust with icing sugar to serve (or alternatively leave for 5 minutes and eat while hot... Mmmm)
Keeping on the apricot theme, and with some left over amardeen sauce
from my mahalabiya, I thought I’d make up some amardeen drink. A
refreshing drink made of apricot leather (amardeen*) traditionally
served to break the fast at Ramadan. As with most of my
recipes amounts are approximate. Some recipes for this drink use added
sugar, but personally I find the apricots are sweet enough as is. Feel
free to chuck in some sugar if you like yours extra sweet!
* Also known as kamardeen/din / qamardeen/din / Amar el Deen/Din / Qamar el Deen/Din etc etc depending on the transliteration of Arabic
Ingredients
100g amardeen (or a few handfuls of dried apricots*)
100ml boiling water
2 tablespoons rose water
Pine nuts / pistachios (to decorate)
1. Tear the amardeen / apricot leather into small pieces and put in a bowl.
Cover with boiling water and leave to soak for at least 30 minutes (or
until softened, may take longer). *If you can’t get a hold of amardeen,
dried apricots are an acceptable substitute,
though the flavour wont be as concentrated. Try to avoid the ‘ready to
eat’ apricots that most supermarkets sell nowadays, they are partially
reconstituted and while perfectly ok to eat they are lacking in the
concentrated flavour. Ideally what you want is
wizened dried up shrivelled things
2. Once softened, puree until smooth. If necessary push through a sieve
3. Dilute with cold water until it reaches the desired consistency - you want a thickish juice
4. Stir in the rose water
5. Serve with ice and pine nuts (or pistachios) to decorate
Mahalabiya / malabi / muhalabiyah etc is probably one of my favourite desserts, easy to make and always delicious. I usually make a rose water syrup to go with it, but today I thought I'd try something more refreshing. I'd bought some amardeen (also known as kamardeen, qamardeen, kamar el din, gamar el deen etc etc depending on the transliteration) a fruit leather made of apricot that is popular in the Middle East. It's used in desserts and sweets (particularly Lebanese sweets), and when soaked and pureed it's turned into a refreshing drink, traditionally used to break the fast at Ramadan. If you don't have amardeen, then dried apricots will work almost as well. This recipe makes enough for 4 small portions (or two mahoosive ones!)
Ingredients
For the mahalabiya:
500ml milk
200g sugar
5 tablespoons cornflour
2 tablespoons rose water
For the sauce:
50g amardeen (or a couple of handfuls of dried apricots
Hot water
Orange blossom water (or rose water if you prefer)
1. Rip the amardeen into small pieces, put in a container and pour over enough boiling water just to cover. Leave for around 30 minutes or until softened and blend. Stir in the orange blossom water and add extra hot water until it has a sauce-like consistency (how runny depends on your personal taste). Leave to cool
2. Add the milk and sugar to a pan and bring to the boil
3. While the milk is heating, mix hot water into the cornflour until you have a smooth paste
4. Once the milk boils pour some into the cornflour mixture and whisk until smooth, then quickly pour this back into the pan with the remainder of the milk
5. Turn the heat down and whisk for around 5 minutes until it has the consistency of custard
6. Take off the heat and stir in the rose water. Pour into serving dishes and cool before refrigerating for a few hours
7. To serve, top with the apricot sauce and a sprinkling of flaked almonds
I seem to have gone a bit date crazy recently… In my defence, as my
local supermarkets just seem to stock awful 'ready to eat' dates (i.e.
reconstituted with nastiness, preservatives,
oil and usually tasting of nothing) when I see unadulterated dried
dates or beautiful glistening fresh ones I have a tendency to go a bit wild and buy in bulk. Which has resulted in having around 2kg of dates
in the cupboard, and a couple of packs of
reduced to clear medjool dates that I picked up last night on the way
home from work. So I decided I had to do something with them and quick.
As it is Ramadan at the moment, and it is traditional to break the fast
with dates and a drink, here is a recipe that
combines both.
Ingredients
500ml milk (real, soya, rice or otherwise)
10 dates*
2 tablespoons rose water or orange blossom water
Pinch ground cardamom
Flaked almonds or pistachios to decorate (optional)
1. The first step depends on how squidgy your dates are, if you’ve got
some large juicy medjool dates then just whizz them up in a blender. If
your dates are of the drier variety then chop them up finely and soak in
some freshly boiled water for an hour or so
and then puree
2. Pour the milk, date puree, rose water (or orange blossom water) and cardamom into a blender and blend
3. Serve over ice in a tall glass, decorate with some flaked almonds if
you so wish and enjoy. Also delicious if made into a smoothie with
yoghurt instead of milk, or with a scoop or two of ice cream to thicken
things up, or some oats if you want to have a breakfast smoothie instead. The possibilities are endless...
*I used medjool dates, so soft and lucious that they practically turn into a delicious puree as soon as you look at them. Dried dates will need some soaking to soften them up, and I am not sure how well it would work with a date like deglet noor, as beautiful they are to look at, and with a delightful honeyed taste I am not sure whether they'd puree successfully, but I may be wrong...
Carrots are pretty versatile vegetables turning themselves to just about anything sweet or savoury. Omek houriya (or omi/ommok houriya/houria depending on the transliteration) showcases them in their (almost) natural form, with the flavour enhanced by harissa, cumin, caraway and coriander seeds. This Tunisian recipe is usually served with a topping of tuna, egg and olives but works just as well without the fishyness (or egg, and in my case olives as I realised I had none in the house...). Simple and a perfect way to use up any carrots languishing at the back of your fridge.
Ingredients
Carrots (amount left to the cooks discretion)
Olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp caraway seeds
1 tablespoons harissa
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Boil the carrots until done (~ 10 minutes or thereabouts. You don't want them to be too mushy
2. Drain and mash or blend to a puree. The texture varies, some cooks blend it to a smooth paste, others a more chunky texture
3. Add the crushed garlic, I like adding it when the carrots are still warm as the flavour infuses through the mixture
4. Dry roast the cumin, coriander and caraway seeds in a heavy based pan and then grind. You *could* use ready ground spices, but if at all possible try to grind the coriander yourself, it tastes totally different from the pre-ground stuff
5. Add to the carrot mixture and taste. Season and stir in a splash of olive oil
6. Now mix in the harissa, I have suggested a tablespoonful but it really depends on what brand you are using
7. Eat, traditionally it comes topped with tuna, hardboiled egg and olives
First off I have to say that I am not a big fan of ice cream... I know... I know... I'll let that statement sink in, I accept that I am abnormal. Having said that I do indulge on occasion, such as when the weather is particularly warm (all too rare in the UK) or when like at the moment I have been struck down by laryngitis. Nothing eases a sore throat like smooth and creamy ice cream melting its way down to your stomach.
And onto kulfi, Indian / Pakistani style ice cream, while it shares a lot with its European cousin, it is all together a richer experience, and an absolute doddle to make. No churning required, no fiddling around with egg yolks or anything like that. Just add the ingredients to a pan, cook for a short while and you're done. With regards to flavour, traditionally it's cardamom, rose, mango, saffron, pistachio or malai (cream). For a first attempt I stuck with tradition and went for a combination of rose, cardamom and pistachio, though in addition to the more traditional stuff I also flavoured half the batch with violet, which I have to say was very tasty.
In fact spurred on by that break from tradition I sense another kulfi making session in the near future where I can experiment with date and walnut, apricot and orange blossom water, Turkish delight, halva and an assortment of other Middle Eastern flavours...
Tempted? Try the recipe below, easy as pie and guaranteed delicious results every time!
Ingredients
397g condensed milk
400ml milk
2 tablespoons skimmed milk powder
12 cardamom pods
1 tablespoon rose water
50g pistachios (crushed)
1. Add the condensed milk, milk, milk powder and 8 of the cardamom pods to a heavy bottomed pan and bring to the boil
2. Simmer for 10 minutes until thickened, take off the heat and allow to cool
3. Strain to remove the cardamom pods
4. Grind the seeds from the remaining 4 cardamoms into a powder and stir into the cooled milk along with the crushed pistachios and rose water
5. Pour into individual containers (this amount makes enough to fill 4 yoghurt pot sized containers) and freeze overnight
6. Eat, and enjoy the fact that you have made something that tastes 100 times better than any shop bought ice cream!
I love the taste of vegetables cooked over an open flame, however having an electric oven and hob just doesn't get the same results. I took advantage of the long Bank Holiday weekend and decided to set up a barbeque (one of those disposable supermarket ones) and grill some veggies. Aubergines for baba ghanoush (oven cooked ones taste okay; however burned and charred skin takes it to another level of deliciousness entirely...) were my first choice, and as the charcoals were still white hot I decided to throw on some peppers without any clear idea on what to make with them.
Grilled salads are popular all over North Africa, and this one salad mechouia (or salad mashwiya /meshwiyya depending on the transliteration - meshwiya meaning grilled or roasted in Arabic) makes use of grilled red and green peppers, chillies, tomatoes, garlic and onion. The salad is also found in Israel, brought over by the Moroccan immigrants and is known as matbucha, though the Israeli version is probably heavier on the tomatoes.
It's a simple recipe and one that literally takes a couple of minutes to put together (assuming you already roasted the veggies)
Ingredients
2 green peppers
2 red peppers
1 green chilli
1 large red onion
2 tomatoes
2 large cloves of garlic (unpeeled)
2 tsp capers (optional)
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Black olives (to garnish)
1. Put the veggies on the grill and cook until well done and slightly charred. Leave to cool and then peel
2. While the vegetables are grilling, dry roast the cumin, caraway and coriander seeds in a frying pan for a few minutes until the aroma is released. Grind in a pestle and mortar
3. Chop the peeled peppers into small cubes and toss them in a large bowl (some recipes call for all of the vegetables to be blended, however I prefer my salad chunky - each to their own...)
4. Roughly blend the onions, garlic, chilli and tomatoes together and then add to the chopped peppers. I add some capers at this point.
5. Stir in the ground spices and add the olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.
6. You can eat immediately, but it tastes better after a few hours to allow the flavours to blend. Serve at room temperature decorated with black olives.
