Maamouls stuffed with Turkish delight

Maamouls are delicious Middle Eastern shortbread pastries usually filled with dates, pistachios or walnuts. After seeing a box of Turkish delight stuffed maamouls in my local Asian grocery store,  I was inspired to try and recreate the recipe at home as a change from the date or apricot versions I usually bake.
The traditional way to make maamouls is to form a ball of pastry, make an indentation for the filling and then seal them up. I did try that way initially, unfortunately because the pastry is quite flaky it didn't have enough structural integrity to hold in the molten Turkish delight and the result was an explosion. Not one to be beaten, I thought I'd try again, this time making the pastry a little moister than usual and cut it into circles to fill empanada style. 

Ingredients (makes 25-30 maamoul)

250g self raising flour
150g semolina
1 tsp baking powder
100g margarine
1 tablespoon rose water
100ml milk (or water)
200g Turkish delight (around 8 cubes, each cube cut into smaller pieces) 

Preheat the oven to 150C

1. In a large bowl mix the flour, semolina and baking powder, and then rub in the margarine until you get a breadcrumb consistency
2. Add the rosewater and slowly pour in the milk, you may not need the whole 100ml
3. Mix until you get a firm dough
4. Flour your work surface and roll out the dough until it is around 5mm thick and cut out circles (I used 68mm diameter circle cutters - I only know this because the size is printed on the side!)
5. Add 2 small cubes of Turkish delight to the centre of each pastry circle, folding the sides to make a neat little parcel

6. Pinch the edges together tightly to ensure that the filling doesn't spill out

7. Bake the maamouls at 150 C for around 30 minutes, or until they are golden brown
8. Allow to cool and give a light dusting with icing sugar or cinnamon

Eat!!





 

Tortilla Soup

Deliciousness in a bowl! Traditionally tortilla soup usually has chicken or pork involved in the preparation at some point. However, it's pretty straightforward to create a vegetarian version, and with all the tastes going on, it would take a particularly picky carnivore to actually notice that anything was 'missing'. There are so many recipes for tortilla soup out there, with the exception of the tortillas (the hint's in the name) and probably the avocado all other ingredients are variable. The addition of ancho chilli gives the soup a lovely deep red colour and an earthy flavour, the chipotle adds smokiness and a little heat.
Before I go on, I should probably say something about my measuring system, or lack of it. Any volumes mentioned in my recipes are approximations. If you use a little more or a little less nothing bad is going to happen. Same with the spices, it's not an exact science...

What you'll need:
500ml vegetable stock
500ml passata or canned tomatoes 
1 onion chopped finely
3 or 4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
Oregano
Cumin
Smoked paprika
1 large dried ancho chilli
1 dried chipotle chilli 

Toppings:
1 handful of coriander chopped
1 large ripe avocado
2 fresh corn tortillas*
1 small red onion
Black olives (optional)
1/2 cup of fresh, frozen or canned sweetcorn (optional)
Grated cheese (optional) 
Sour cream (optional) 

To make the soup
1. First off, soak the ancho and chipotle chillies in boiling water for around an hour to soften. Drain (reserving approximately 1 tablespoonful of the liquid) remove the seeds and blend into a paste. Keep to one side
2.  Fry the onion and garlic in olive oil (or a vegetable oil of your choice) until soft
3. Now add the chilli paste, dried herbs and spices and stir a little longer
4. Pour in the tomatoes and vegetable stock, reduce the heat, put a lid on the pan and simmer for 40 minutes 

Meanwhile... to prepare the toppings. These can be put in separate bowls so everyone can help themselves to a little of what they fancy.

5. Cut the tortillas into strips 1cm (ish) wide and around 4cm long, and fry in vegetable oil until crispy. Drain on kitchen paper and leave to one side
6. Using the same oil, toss in the sweetcorn kernels and fry until just starting to go crispy. As an alternative (a tastier but time-consuming alternative), you could roast whole sweetcorn cobs and slice off the kernels 
7. Peel and de-stone the avocado and either slice or chop into rough chunks
8. Slice the olives and red onion finely

To serve:
First add some of the fried tortilla strips to the bottom of the serving bowls and some avocado chunks. Sprinkle in some grated cheese if you want at this stage as well.
Pour in the soup and garnish with more fried tortilla strips and avocado. The additional toppings can be added as desired.

*Note: If you can't get fresh corn tortillas don't substitute with wheat tortillas because you wont get the same taste or texture. You could add some tortilla chips as an alternative, you wont get the same texture but it's better than nothing!  
    

Malabi (Middle Eastern milk dessert with rose syrup and nuts)

Malabi (also called mahalabya, muhallibieh and numerous other spellings) is a milk dessert found all over the Middle East. It's usually flavoured with rose water, though some versions call for orange flower water, and occasionally mastic is substituted. Texture wise it can be anything from slightly runny to a thick, almost jelly-ish consistence. Either way, it's a luxurious, sensuous experience that is actually quite straightforward to make.

 
Malabi with rose syrup and chopped nuts

Ingredients

500ml milk

200g sugar

5 tablespoons of cornflour

2 tablespoons of rose water/orange flower water

For syrup

150ml water

200g sugar

1 tablespoonful rose water

red or pink food colouring (optional)

For topping

Desiccated coconut

Flaked almonds

Chopped pistachios

Rose petals (optional)

1. Bring the milk and sugar to the boil in a saucepan, then reduce the heat to a simmer

2. In a separate bowl add a couple of spoonfuls of the hot milk to the cornflour and mix until smooth (at this point keep one eye on the milk, I didn't, and ended up spending the afternoon scraping the burnt remnants off the cooker because I had forgotten that boiling milk has a tendency to boil over... Cookery 101)

3. Add the cornflour mixture to the pan and whisk well

4. Continue to cook on a low heat for around 5 minutes until the milk thickens, once it has the consistency of custard take it off the heat

5. At this stage stir in the rose water or orange flower water

6. Pour into serving bowls let the mixture cool, and then put the bowls in the fridge

For the sugar syrup:

Bring the water to the boil in a pan and add the sugar, stirring constantly until the sugar is dissolved.

Reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer until it thickens to a syrup, then add the rose water and take off the heat

Once it's cooled slightly add a couple of drops of food colouring (if you're using)

Allow to cool completely and refrigerate

To serve:

Drizzle some rose syrup over each bowl of malabi and sprinkle on the nuts.

Eat!

Baked aubergine in tahini sauce

Simple to make but oh so tasty!

6 baby aubergines or 1 large one

4 tablespoons of light tahini

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tsp za'atar

1 pinch of ground sumac (or a squeeze of lemon)

Salt to taste

Chopped coriander to garnish

1. Heat the oven to 200C

2. If using baby aubergines cut them lengthways up to the stalk, if using a large aubergine, cut it into slices approximately 3cm thick

3. Put the aubergines in a baking dish, season with a little salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and bake for around 30 minutes, or until tender

4. Meanwhile mix the tahini and olive oil in a separate bowl, and add the zaatar and sumac.  If you can't get hold of these then substitute finely ground oregano and lemon juice 

5. Taste and add salt if needed

6. Once the aubergines are cooked pour over the sauce and garnish with chopped coriander

Delicious either straight out the oven, or at room temperature

Roasted carrot and tahini dip

A simple, yet unbelievably tasty recipe!


3  large carrots
2 tablespoons of light tahini
Soy sauce, cumin, smoked paprika and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh coriander



1. Heat the oven to 200°C
2. Wash the carrots (no need to peel), chop into large pieces, wrap them in aluminium foil and bake for around 30 minutes (or until soft) opening the bag towards the end to let some of the steam out
3. Let them cool and then put them in a bowl and mash (or blend in a food processor)
4. Add soy sauce, tahini and spices to taste
5. Stir in the coriander
6. Eat! (can be used as a dip, also works well as a spread)

N.B This recipe also works nicely with parsnips and beetroot, though I usually balance the sweetness with a squeeze of lemon juice and some chilli.

Stuffed vine leaves with rice and olives

1 pack of vine leaves

250g long grain rice
90g black olives finely chopped
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 small onion finely chopped
cumin, dried oregano, smoked paprika, cinnamon and salt/pepper to taste
200ml passatta
300ml hot vegetable stock

(makes 40-50)

1. Soak the vine leaves in cold water for an hour to remove any excess salt. Drain and pat dry. If there are any damaged leaves, or big tough leaves keep them to one side to line the pan

2. While the vine leaves are soaking, cook the rice according to instructions and/or your preferred method for approximately half the usual time. You want it to remain al dente (some recipes call for uncooked rice, you could do it either way, but if the rice is uncooked you probably want to fish out one of the parcels at the end of the cooking time and check it's cooked). Drain and leave to one side

3. Fry onion and garlic until soft

4. Add the onion, garlic, spices and chopped olives into the rice mixture. Season to taste

5. Put a spoonful of the rice mixture into the centre of a vine leaf and roll up tightly. You may need more or less mixture depending on the size of the vine leaf

6. Repeat the process until you run out of leaves, filling, or have made so many packages that you can’t fit them in your pan!

7. Taking the damaged leaves you reserved earlier, line the bottom of a large pan

8. Start to arrange the stuffed vine leaves around the bottom. Once you’ve completed one layer, make another layer on top, and repeat the process until all the stuffed vine leaves are snugly in the pan

9. Mix the passata and vegetable stock together and then slowly pour over the vine leaves 

10. Once you’ve added it all, put a plate on the top (to weigh down the contents and stop any stray leaves floating around), put the lid on the pan, bring to the boil and then simmer on a low heat for around 45 minutes. The sauce will mostly be absorbed by the rice

Eat!!

Tamales

I love Mexican food. A passion that started in earnest on my twelfth birthday when my uncle bought me a tortilla press and a 1 kilo bag of masa harina. It may not have been on every young girl's dream gift list, but in those days (back in the last century) northern England was not exactly a mecca for exotic foods. I am not sure where my uncle managed to find the masa harina from, but to me it was like a bag of gold dust, and it stands out years later, as being one of my most memorable presents ever...
 
Tamales were always the Holy Grail of food items I wanted to try. They looked so wonderful, these little packages of joy. I had considered making them myself but was put off by tales of how complicated it was. Also, having never eaten a tamale and unlikely to come across one in the near future I put it to the back of my mind, until a couple of months ago when I travelled to Mexico and got to taste them. The first thing I did when I returned home was to hunt down some corn husks and masa harina. 
 
Do not listen to the naysayers who claim it's difficult. Sure, it may be time consuming if you're making enough to feed a small village, and if you're making a meat filling that may up the complication factor somewhat. But the actual process? Simple. These took around 3 hours from start to finish, which also included time out to try and find something to use as a steamer. 

Tamales de elote con queso (makes enough for around 20) 

Dried corn husks - soak them in hot water for at least 1 hour prior to use (the packet I bought said 15 minutes, but after 4 hours of soaking they still had the texture and pliability of cardboard...)

For the masa:
250g masa harina
100g margarine
1 tsp salt
1-2 tsp cumin
500ml stock  

For the filling:
350g sweetcorn
1 handful of fresh coriander
80g soft cheese (i.e. one of the mini tubs)
Chopped green chilli to taste (I used some frozen homemade green chilli salsa)
Mix everything in a blender, you still want it to have some texture and then leave to one side while you make the masa

Making the masa:

1. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl

2. Melt the fat – most recipes talk about whipping the fat (usually lard) I don’t have a food processor, and in sub zero temperatures the thought of manually trying to whip up semi-solid margarine is not appealing. Doing it this way gives the same results taste and texture wise

3. Pour the melted fat into the dry ingredients and mix in well, the mixture should have the texture of breadcrumbs

4. Slowly add the stock. The final amount will depend on various factors so it’s easier to add it in small quantities. You’re aiming for your masa to have the texture and consistency of smooth peanut butter on a warm-ish summer day. It will probably take 400-450ml, but I sometimes find if the mixture starts to stiffen up I can add a little bit more as I go along.

5. Whisk the masa thoroughly. You could use a blender or a hand whisk if you want, vigorously stirring with a fork works just as well

6. Take the corn husks out of the water and pat dry, and get all the other ingredients within easy reach. This is probably the most time consuming aspect, but I find it quite relaxing, especially if you stick on some good music*

7. Add a dessert spoonful of masa to the corn husk. A handy hint to spread it out easily (rather than use the back of the spoon and get it stuck everywhere) is to tear off some plastic wrap and use that to smooth down the masa.

8. Add a spoonful of the filling

9. Fold, the aim is to make a neat little package, tear off some strips of corn husk to tie around the tamales if you want. Yes, I am aware that mine aren't that neat, but like all bad cooks I will blame the ingredients. Cardboard corn husks... hmm

10. Repeat, until you run out of a) corn husks, or b) masa

11. Put the tamales into a steamer and steam for around an hour/hour and a half. Don't worry if you have to cram them in, they seem to be very forgiving! 

12.  After an hour you can take one out and check it. You want the tamale to peel away from the corn husk easily

And eat! 

*These tamales were brought to you by King Crimson - Red 

Welcome

So… this is my first post. I opened a blog a few years ago but forgot my password. Yes, I used it that often. So why open a blog? Well, my shelves are filled to overflowing with books, CDs, DVDs and videos, yet my other passions have no home. 
Travel memories stay mainly in my head, which though a pleasant enough home is not always tangible, and with the onset of digital media the joy of leafing through a well-worn photo album was lost. Sure, you can print off the pictures but it's never quite the same. So this can be my photo album, and, as tales of travel often become tales of what was eaten in a particular place this leads to my other love; cooking. 

I don't know if anyone will find themselves here, but should any unwary reader stumble by, then welcome, find a seat, make yourself comfortable...