Knafeh (Middle Eastern shredded pastry dessert)

My kitchen Holy Grail has always been kataifi pastry, those hair thin strands of filo dough used in so many Middle Eastern sweet recipes. Alas, not something easily obtainable in the UK, at least if you live outside of an area with a large Middle Eastern population. I live in the north of the country, and while I am in a multicultural city, our speciality grocery stores are Asian and Chinese. So... kataifi pastry has always been there on the horizon, taunting me with its inaccessibility! I did find an online retailer who would deliver outside of London, but delivery costs were steep...

Fast forward to a food related discussion with a work colleague a couple of months ago, his family are from Sudan and he was telling me that one of the Asian grocery stores had started stocking some Egyptian and Sudanese ingredients, namely fresh and frozen molokhiya, Egyptian rice, karkadeh etc so I decided to take a trip. And oh yes, they had the above ingredients and more... I peered into the freezer and was met with boxes of frozen kataifi pastry! Hallelulya!

So what to make with this rare kitchen delight? For my first attempt there was no question, it would be knafeh. Syrup soaked kataifi pastry encasing a warm gooey cheese middle. Traditionally it's made with nablusi cheese or sweet cheese. An unsalted cheese with the texture of mozzarella. Indeed mozzarella (soaked to remove any salt) is a fine alternative. Though here I have a confession to make... I have a bit of a mental taste block as far as sweet cheese goes. I like my melty cheese savoury, and while I do enjoy traditional knafeh, I was making this primarily for people unfamiliar with the dish (and possibly with similar sweet cheese aversion) so I used rocotta for the filling instead. If you want the stringiness, then slice mozzarella and lay it on the pastry base on top of the ricotta and you have a pretty good facsimile.
I'd love to say that there are substitutions for kataifi pastry, but nothing really gives the same results. I tried years ago making knafeh with shredded wheat. it 'looked' okay, and tasted okay, but the taste was overwhelmingly of shredded wheat. I'm wondering whether taking leaves of filo pastry allowing them to air dry and then blitzing in a food processor may give close results, as the traditional recipes for kanafeh usually involve processing the pastry until you have a fine crumb, the strands are not absolutely neccessary...

Knafeh
200g kataifi pastry
100g margarine
Splash of orange blossom water

Filling
200g ricotta
Geranium blossom water (optional)

Syrup
100ml water
100ml sugar
Lemon juice
1 tablespoon orange blossom water
 

1. Break the kataifi pastry into small pieces, some recipes call for blitzing it in a food processor until the crumb is the size of couscous, I wanted some texture so I crumbled it in my hands until the pieces were roughly the size of rice grains
2. Stir in the melted margarine until it’s well mixed, add a little of the orange blossom water to this
3. Brush the bottom of a baking tin with margarine or ghee, and decorate with halved almonds (optional, as you can see from the photo my almonds 'drifted' slightly during cooking!)

4. Take around half of the pastry and press it into a loose bottomed baking tin (these quantities are enough to fill a 20cm sandwich tin) make sure it’s pressed down quite firmly (I used a tin can covered in plastic wrap)
5. For the filling I used ricotta, traditionally knafeh is made from Nablusi cheese, an unsalted cheese that when melted has the stringiness of mozzarella, and indeed mozzarella (soaked to remove as much of the salt as possible) is a good alternative. I mixed the ricotta with a few drops of geranium oil
6. Spoon the filling onto the pastry base, keeping it clear of the edges
7. Lightly spoon the remainder of the kataifi dough over the top of the cheese until it’s covered. You don’t need to press down too hard but make sure to press down firmly at the edges (the idea being that the pastry is going to totally encase the cheese filling)
8. Cook in a preheated oven for around 20 minutes until golden brown, my oven settings aren’t too accurate so I can’t say what the temperature was
9. While the knafeh is cooking prepare a simple sugar syrup and allow it to cool
10. Once the knafeh is cooked, pour over the syrup
Leave for a few minutes, then eat! Delicious with strained yoghurt or cream if you’re wanting something more luxurious. Also nice cold

Kar Assaly (Egyptian pumpkin pie)

I've been woefully neglectful of my blog of late (but not of cooking and if anyone is interested in following my cooking experimentation I can be found here on Instagram). I've a ton of recipes that I've been meaning to upload, but I have been without a laptop, and unable to upload using my mobile phone, so they have had to languish a bit. Hopefully I'll be a bit more regular in my updates now! 

It’s winter and the grocery stores are filled with pumpkins and squashes, I normally prefer my pumpkins savoury, but had been intended on experimenting with sweet. I’d recently acquired a copy of an Egyptian cookbook, and one dessert recipe in particular caught my eye, Kar Assaly. It’s pie-like dessert with a sweet pumpkin base smothered in a creamy béchamel sauce and baked in the oven. The original recipe is quite heavy, and has a lot of added sugar, now… while I do like my desserts sweet, I decided to try and use as little sugar as possible, so to the base I added some grated sweet potato and carrot to add natural sweetness. I also went down the non-dairy route, mainly because my local supermarket was selling off some hazelnut milk, and I thought that would make a lovely addition to the béchamel. If you prefer to go with the original, then add sugar to taste to the pumpkin mixture, and substitute regular milk for the hazelnut milk.

Ingredients
1 small sweet potato (grated)
2 carrots (grated)
500g pumpkin (ideally butternut squash)
6 cardamom pods
1 stick of cinnamon
2 tablespoons orange blossom water
100g desiccated coconut
50g chopped nuts
Squeeze of honey (optional)
Handful of raisins (optional)

For the béchamel
50g margarine or ghee
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk (adjust according to thickness)

1. Add the grated carrots and sweet potato to a pan with the cardamom pods and cinnamon stick and enough water to cover and simmer until they start to disintegrate. While these are cooking, boil the pumpkin until tender and drain (if you want to go for the original recipe, boil the pumpkin in sugar water)
2. Remove the cardamom pods and cinnamon from the carrot and sweet potato mixture, mash the pumpkin and add to the pan. Stir in the coconut and orange blossom water. The pumpkin filling should have the consistency of thick mashed potato, if it’s too runny add more coconut, if too thick then add a little of the pumpkin cooking liquid
3. Spread a layer of the pumpkin in the bottom of an oven proof dish. Top with some of the nuts and raisins and then add the remainder and the rest of the nuts
4. To make the béchamel sauce, fry the flour in margarine or ghee until it loses the raw smell
5. Whisk in the milk, adding a small amount at first
Cook for around 10 minutes until thickened, if the sauce is too thick then just add more milk until it’s the desired thickness
6. Pour over the top of the pumpkin mixture (I sprinkled some flaked almonds on for a bit of extra texture) and bake until golden brown and bubbling (around 20-30 minutes) eat hot, warm or room temperature!

Nevzine (Turkish walnut and tahini cake)

It seems that when I have things on my mind, or am distracted I cook. That is my coping mechanism, and as life has been rather chaotic recently (a house move, and possibly another move on the horizon) my response is to make food. I'm not really big on comfort eating, but I find the preparation of meals to be the ultimate in relaxation. I guess with cooking it is one of those things that is seen either as a pleasure or a chore. My grandmother worked as a cook for a living, and when she wasn't working she would be always found in the kitchen cooking for pleasure. My mother on the other hand, while a good cook sees food preparation to be something that has to be endured between doing far more interesting things like gardening! So the love of cooking obviously skipped a generation. 

I’ve been trying to use up odds and ends left in my store cupboards, and had some ground walnuts and half used bags of flour and a quarter of a jar of tahini. In addition I’d unearthed a jar of pekmez, that thick gooey Turkish spread made from grape must. Ingredients that spoke to me of their desire to be made into a cake. And what better way to use them up than to make nevzine, a rich and utterly delicious Turkish cake that is lovingly soaked in pekmez until it is oozingly delicious. It's very similar to basbousa or revani, though more commonly made with regular flour. I didn't have enough flour for the recipe, so substituted fine semolina. The cake may not have been quite as dense as the traditional variety, but I think the semolina gave it a nice texture. Feel free to use all flour if you prefer. I also substituted yoghurt for milk, again I don't think that the flavour or texture suffered for this addition. 

Ingredients

2 cups of flour (either regular white flour or use half semolina and half flour)

50g ground walnuts

100g melted margarine

3 tablespoons yoghurt

3 tablespoons tahini

For the syrup

Make a 1:1 sugar syrup (i.e. 100g sugar to 100ml water with a squeeze of lemon juice)

3 tablespoons pekmez

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, then add the melted margarine and mix until you have the consistency of wet sand. Then stir in the yoghurt and tahini. The dough should be thick batter-like consistency

2. Spoon it into an oven proof dish. Smooth down the surface and cut it into squares, placing a walnut half in the middle of each portion

3. Cook for around 40 minutes, a little bit vague, but my oven doesn't have set temperatures and my method is to light the fire, put in whatever I’m baking and then check it after 30 minutes! It's a method that seems to work (I'm guessing you should heat it to around 175C if you have an oven with settings). You want the cake to be firm and the top lightly golden

4. While the cake is cooking make the sugar/pekmez syrup and leave to cool

5. Once the cake is cooked, reinforce the score marks, and then pour over the syrup until all the cake is covered. Allow to cool and ideally refrigerate overnight so the syrup can completely soak in

The cake is delicious with coffee, and if it needs any further accompaniment a spoonful of ice cream or strained yoghurt complements it beautifully!

Kakaolu muhallebi (Turkish style chocolate milk dessert)

Of all the varieties of muhallebi available, kakaolu muhallebi (cocoa / chocolate muhallebi) is probably one of my favourites. Because after all, who doesn’t love chocolate?!

The recipe couldn’t be any simpler, and the whole process takes maybe 10 minutes maximum, you do need to give it a few hours (or ideally overnight) to cool and set, but apart from that, it’s something that can be knocked up at a moments notice. The amounts of ingredients are an estimation, when I made this I prepared it by eye, using enough milk to fill the size of containers I had plus a little extra. Add more or less sugar depending on your personal taste, I wanted the dessert to be a little bittersweet...

Ingredients

500ml milk

50g sugar

3 heaped tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder

3 heaped tablespoons cornflour

Dash of orange blossom/rose water (optional)

1. Add the milk (reserving a little) to a pan with the sugar and bring to the boil

2. Mix the reserved milk and the cornflour, stir well until you have a smooth paste

3. To the cocoa powder add some boiling water and mix until smooth, then add this to the cornflour mixture

4. By now the milk will probably be boiling, to create silky smooth muhallebi you need to take care when pouring in the cornflour mixture as it will start to thicken immediately*. I whisk the milk using a hand whisk and slowly pour in the cornflour, whisking all the time. Once it’s all incorporated lower the heat and cook the muhallebi for another minute or so and then take off the heat. Now add the orange blossom or rose water (if using)

5. Pour into small containers and allow to cool, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours (or overnight)

6. Eat!

*As an aside, if you are distracted and horror of horrors your wonderfully silky smooth muhallebi turns into a lumpy fright, all is not lost. Using a hand blender will remove the lumps and no one need ever know

Karkade (Hibiscus) syrup

Karkade (sometimes referred to as ‘red tea’) is a drink made from hibiscus flowers (Hibiscus sabdariffa) popular in Egypt and the Middle East. Often served chilled it is also delicious hot on a winter’s day. The astringent flavour of the hibiscus flowers is counterbalanced by the addition of sugar making a delightfully refreshing brew. Drinks made from hibiscus are popular wherever the hibiscus grows, and anyone who’s been to Mexico will surely be familiar with the aguas fresca ‘agua de Jamaica’.
Anyway, I had originally intended on making my usual rose syrup to serve with mahalabiya, but decided on something slightly different. The tart cranberry-like flavour of the karkade would complement the sweetness of the mahalabiya perfectly, and the jewel-bright redness complements the green pistachios beautifully.
It’s a simple sugar syrup based on 1 part sugar to 1 part water, and it’s equally delicious over yoghurt, porridge or drizzled on some pancakes. Whatever takes your fancy!
Ingredients
1 handful of dried hibiscus flowers
150g sugar
150ml boiling water
1 tablespoon rose water
Squeeze of lemon

1. Put the hibiscus flowers in a bowl and pour over the boiling water. Allow to steep for 30 minutes or so (you want the water to be a rich deep red colour), and then strain – don’t throw away the soaked flowers, you can reuse them
2. Add the hibiscus water to a pan and stir in the sugar, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the lemon (this will stop the sugar from crystalising)
3. Take off the heat and stir in the rose water 
4. Allow to cool and then refrigerate. Delicious on desserts, yoghurt, ice cream...

Mahalabiya cheesecake with a pistachio base

It probably says something about the excitement of my life, but the other night whilst falling asleep an idea struck me -  Mahalabiya cheesecake...

Or more correctly, mahalabiya in the style of a cheesecake, with the malahabiya resting on a crunchy base. I know, sounds amazing doesn’t it?! I was sure that someone had made something like this before, but a quick search of Google didn’t seem to bring up any recipes. Had I invented something new? 

I am sure I haven’t and it’s already a ‘thing’ being made clandestinely and shared secretly... Anyway, some kitchen experimentation resulted and the initial results were rather good. I only had a large loose bottomed cake tin so had to use that. I had wondered if by using a large cake tin the mahalabiya would set, but it firmed up okay (I used a bit more cornflour that I usually would) and the finished dessert could be cut into slices, but as the tin was fairly shallow I felt that the ratio of mahalabiya to base wasn’t quite right, so after finding some mini deep cake tins I tried again. Wowsers!
The quantities below fill either one standard cake tin (with some base mixture left over for another day) or 2 10cm cake tins. 

For the base
100g pistachios
50g ground almonds
50g sugar
2 tablespoons orange blossom water
50g margarine or butter

For the mahalabiya
500ml milk
50g sugar
1 tsp ground mastic (optional)
5 tablespoons cornflour
3 tablespoons orange blossom water

1. Preheat the oven to 150C
2. Grind the pistachios and mix with the almonds and sugar.
3. Melt the margarine or butter and stir in, along with the orange blossom water and knead into a ball
4. Press the mixture into an oiled cake tin/s (for ease of removal one of the fancy ones with a removable bottom is ideal), you want it to be around 0.5cm thick.
5. Bake for around 10-15 minutes until it just starts to colour lightly, take out and allow to cool totally. It will seem quite soft when you take it out the oven, but will harden on standing
6. When the base is cool make the mahalabiya, when I made the test recipe I was impatient and added the hot mahalabiya to the hot base. Nothing bad happened, but the base stays a little crisper if you wait for it to cool
7. Pour a little milk into the cornflour and mix well until smooth, add the remainder of the milk to a pan with the sugar and bring to the boil
8. Once boiling whisk in the cornflour and milk mixture and the ground mastic (if using). At this point the milk will start to thicken, turn down the heat and keep stirring so no lumps form
9. Cook on a low heat for a few minutes and then take off the heat. Allow to cool slightly and stir in the orange blossom water. I didn’t want the mahalabiya to be too hot when I poured it onto the base, so I left it for a few minutes or so. It will thicken and start to set on standing so keep an eye on it as you want it to be pourable
10. Pour the mixture onto the base and allow to cool completely before refrigerating for a few hours
11. Serve sprinkled with chopped pistachios and rose syrup

Pistachio maamouls

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)

Mahalabiya with amardeen (Middle Eastern milk dessert with dried apricot sauce)

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

 

Rose, cardamom and pistachio kulfi (Indian style ice cream)

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!

Date halwa

I was on a halwa making roll this weekend, and as I had some half empty bags of dates and figs I decided to make up another batch of halwa. A super easy recipe that is rather tasty, and a good way to use up those half empty random bags of dried fruit at the back of the kitchen cupboards...

Ingredients
110g chickpea flour
250g dried dates and/or figs
4 tablespoons rose water
100g margarine (melted)
200ml milk
100g sugar
50g chopped mixed nuts
Desiccated coconut (to decorate)

1. Cut the fruit into small pieces, put into a container and pour in a little boiling water to just cover them. Leave overnight (or a few hours) to soak and then puree
2. Dry roast the chickpea flour for around 5 minutes in a heavy bottomed pan until it loses its 'raw' smell, then tip into another container
3. Add the fig/date puree, chopped nuts, sugar, milk and rose water to the pan and slowly heat, adding around half of the melted margarine
4. Sift in the chickpea flour and stir well
5. Bring the mixture to the boil and then turn the heat down, stirring constantly
6. Now add the rest of the margarine
7. Keep on stirring until the mixture starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, this takes around 10-15 minutes
8. Pour into a container lined with cling film. Decorate with some desiccated coconut  (optional)
9. Leave to cool and then cut into pieces

Apricot and pistachio halwa

I was tidying out the kitchen cupboards over the weekend and found half a bag of chickpea flour, hmm... what to do with it? 
While I did fancy making some onion bhajis the thought of cooking up something sweet with it was also mighty appealing, so I decided upon making halwa. This version is somewhere between Middle Eastern style halwa and an Indian barfi. I kind of made up the recipe as I went along and it turned out pretty tasty. Note: despite the fact that this is fruit based it probably contains a million calories, but sometimes it's best not to think about these things too deeply...

Ingredients
110g chickpea flour
250g dried apricots
Fresh orange juice
4 tablespoons rose water
100g margarine (melted)
200ml milk
50g pistachios
Rose petals (to decorate)

1. Cut the apricots into small pieces, put into a container and pour in enough orange juice to just cover them. Leave overnight (or a few hours) to soak and then puree
2. Dry roast the chickpea flour for around 5 minutes in a heavy bottomed pan until it loses its 'raw' smell, then tip into another container
3. Add the apricot puree, pistachios, milk and rose water to the pan and slowly heat, adding around half of the melted margarine
4. Sift in the chickpea flour and stir well
5. Bring the mixture to the boil and then turn the heat down, stirring constantly
6. Now add the rest of the margarine
7. Keep on stirring until the mixture starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, this takes around 10-15 minutes
8. Pour into a container lined with cling film. Decorate with some crushed pistachios and rose petals (optional)
9. Leave to cool and then cut into pieces

Basbousa (semolina cake) with orange blossom syrup

I'm not a big baker of cakes, in fact I rarely attempt to bake anything, preferring instead to make savoury foods. Well, with the exception of Middle Eastern sweets. Basbousa (also known as hareesa, revani or ravani) lies somewhere in between a sweet and a cake. It's found thoughout North Africa and the Middle East, and also in Greece and Turkey, though its actual origins are probably Egyptian. 
There are numerous recipies out there for basbousa, some using self raising flour in addition to semolina, some using eggs, some yoghurt, and some milk. I've gone for the yoghurt version as I think the tanginess of the yoghurt contrasts beautifully with the sweetness of the syrup. And about the syrup, some versions have a rose water syrup whereas others call for a plain simple syrup. 
Don't worry about being too precise with the ingredients, like just about everything I make it doesn't call for exact measurements. Same with the cooking time, depending on the size of dish, efficiency of the oven and the phase of the moon it could take anything from 30 minutes to an hour :)

Ingredients
350g semolina
50g dessicated coconut
100g caster sugar
Vanilla extract (optional)
150g margarine (melted)
200g Greek yoghurt
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt
Blanched almonds (to decorate)
For the syrup
250ml water
225g sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon orange blossom water

1. Mix the semolina, baking powder, coconut, sugar and salt in a bowl
2. Stir in the melted butter, the mixture should look like damp sand
3. Add the yoghurt and vanilla extract (if using) and mix well. You should end up with a thick batter-like dough
4. Grease a baking dish (~ 27cm/10 inch) and spoon in the mixture. Smooth down and leave for around 20 minutes (Use this time to make the syrup and let the oven heat up...)
5. To make the syrup add the water and sugar to a pan and bring to the boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice (this will stop the syrup crystalising when it cools) and then add the orange blossom water. Leave to one side
6. Score the top of the cake mixture into lozenge shapes, and then put into a preheated oven (175C) for 20 minutes

 7. It's not ready yet, you just want to reinforce the scoring, and if you're using almonds to decorate press them into the centre of each lozenge at this point (if you do it right at the start they tend to burn)
8. Put the cake back in the oven and cook for another 20-40 minutes. You want the top to be golden brown, as the cake is so moist cooking it for longer wont dry it out. Just keep checking on it!

9. Once the cake is cooked, take it out of the oven and pour on the sugar syrup. You may not need all the syrup (in fact you probably wont! Keep some aside to drizzle on the leftover yoghurt and top with dessicated coconut and chopped pistachios... delicious). Once it's drunk enough of the syrup it's ready to eat. Basbousa can either be eaten warm or cold.

Ghriba (Moroccan pistachio and chickpea flour cookies)

When I was in Paris last November I found myself perusing the window displays of the many North African bakeries, entranced by the delicious looking offerings on sale. Particularly the makrouth and montecao (a shortbread type cookie). It was when I was making a batch of montecao the other weekend that I decided to use half the dough to make some ghriba - a cookie of many shapes and forms found over North Africa. I had an awful lot of pistachios in the cupboard, so decided that my cookies would be pistachio based. Incidentally 'ghriba' in Arabic means strange or foreign, indicating possibly that these cookies come from elsewhere. They are popular among the North African Jewish communities so it is possible that they arrived via Spain...

A note about chickpea flour, uncooked it has a beany flavour with a slightly bitter aftertaste however once cooked it gives the cookies a delicious creamy texture with no flavour. As with most of my recipes, quantities are approximate and nothing particulary bad should happen if you use a little more or less...

Ingredients
1 cup chick pea flour
100g blanched ground pistachios
1/2 cup sugar
50g margarine
Pinch of salt
4 cardamom pods (remove seeds and grind)
Natural green food colouring (optional)

1. If you can’t buy ready blanched peeled pistachios (can anyone?), boil for a few minutes and then plunge into cold water. Remove the skins (an easy way is to put your hands in the water and rub the pistachios between your fingers, the skins should sink to the bottom of the bowl), and once de-skinned blend to a paste. It doesn’t have to be too smooth.
2. Add the chickpea flour to a bowl and mix with the sugar and ground cardamom seeds.
3. Stir in the ground pistachios, it doesn’t matter if the resulting mixture is a little lumpy
4. Melt the margarine, and slowly add to the dry ingredients (along with green food colouring if using).  This is one of those recipes that doesn’t hinge on exact amounts, if your ground pistachios are more of a paste than a powder then you’re likely to need less margarine. You want the dough to form a fairly tight ball with minimal crumbliness. Chickpea flour contains no gluten so you need something to help it stick together
5. Pinch off small pieces of dough (slightly smaller than golf ball size, I tried to think up a suitable comparison object but drew a blank… ) roll into balls and place on a baking tray
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes in a 175C oven, the cookies will initially be quite soft so leave on the baking tray until cooled. While they are still soft you can decorate them with slithers of almonds, pine nuts or pistachios.
7. Eat, perfect with coffee or mint tea if you are so inclined…

Gajar halwa (Carrot halwa)

I love eating Indian and Pakistani sweets, but have never really attempted making them, partly because I live near so many great sweet shops and partly because a lot of the recipes are quite time consuming. However today a friend gave me a recipe for carrot halwa (well, more of a list of ingredients - quantities are left to the discretion of the cook...) and having nothing better to do on a wet Saturday afternoon I decide to cook up a batch. The end result was pretty tasty, I didn't have any kewra essence that the recipe called for, neither did I have any condensed milk, but to compensate I was quite generous with the amount of milk I used and cooked it down for longer. With regards to the sugar content you can use more or less depending on how much of a sweet tooth you've got and how sweet the carrots are. Cooking times are approximate as are quantities, it's a very forgiving recipe...

Ingredients
1/2 kg carrots
400ml milk
100g sugar
50g margarine (or ghee)
1 pinch of saffron
2 cardamom pods (whole)
seeds from 2 cardamom pods (ground)
50g pistachios, almonds, pine nuts or other nuts of your choice
dried fruit (optional, I didn't have anything in the house!)

1. Grate the carrots finely
2. Pour the milk in a heavy bottomed pan, add the whole cardamom pods and carrots and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the milk has been absorbed and the carrots are soft. Takes around 45 minutes to an hour. Don't worry if it takes longer, it's all good! Fish out the cardamom pods at this stage if you don't want a nasty surprise of biting into one unawares...
3. Now add the margarine or ghee and turn up the heat. The idea is to fry the carrot mixture to give it some more flavour. Again, the time it takes may vary, you want to continue cooking until the mixture comes together in a lump (technical term)
4. Stir in the nuts (and dried fruit if using) and ground cardomom and cook for a few more minutes
5. Add the sugar, the mixture will suddenly start to look 'wet' don't worry, this is normal, now you need to continue stirring until the mixture starts to thicken and caramelise
6. Serve warm (best) or cold, with some additional nuts sprinkled over the top

Makrouth (North African date and semolina cookies)

Despite appearances to the contrary, I don't actually have a sweet tooth. I do however have a weakness for Middle Eastern and North African sweets and pastries... Concentrated sweetness that goes perfectly with a cup of strong black coffee, maybe at the end of a meal, or maybe during a lazy afternoon. The sort of sweetness that caresses the throat and excites the taste buds. I was preparing a batch of maamouls at the weekend, and decided as I had an awful lot of semolina left, I'd try my hand at making makrouth (or makrout, makroud, makgrood depending on how the name's transliterated) a North African semolina pastry filled with dates. Traditionally fried and then soaked in a hot honey mixture, they are beyond delicious. I have to say, I went down a non-traditional route as far as the cooking process goes and baked them, but the end result seemed to be quite acceptible. 

Ingredients
380g semolina
200g margarine (melted)
150ml orange flower water
1 pinch of salt 

For the filling:
250g dates
1 tsp cinnamon
Orange flower water

1. Chop the dates roughly and add around 50-100ml of boiling water to them (the amount of water will depend on how soft your dates are. I love the really dense fudge-like dates but in the UK they are getting harder and harder to find in supermarkets as the pre-soaked ready-to-eat ones seem more in favour. Nice but they don't work as well in cooking. Leave the dates to soak for at least an hour (ideally overnight)
2. Put the semolina and a pinch of salt in a large bowl and pour in the melted margarine and the orange flower water. Mix the margarine into the dry semolina with your fingers until you have what resembles a bowl of damp sand. You don't want to overwork the dough, so there's no need to knead it, but slowly work it together until you have a firm ball. Wrap in cling film and leave for around 30 minutes (while you make the date filling)
3. Pour any excess water from the dates and blend until they become a smooth paste. Stir in the cinnamon and orange flower water. I haven't given quantities for the orange flower water because it all depends on how moist your date paste is. Ideally, you want something that you can form into a sausage shape.
4. Dividing the date mixture into four, roll into 'sausages'
5. Now divide the semolina dough into four pieces and roll out into a log, flattening slightly. It should be the same length as the date sausages
6. Make an indentation in the dough and add the date filling (hot dog in a bun analogy...)
7. Carefully pinch the sides together so the filling is completely encased in the dough, then roll it backwards and forwards to make sure it's all sealed in
8. Usually at this stage special moulds are used, however if you don't have a mould (I don't) just cut the log diagonally into 2cm wide pieces. If you're feeling adventurous you can decorate the top with a pattern
9. Bake the cookies in an oven preheated to 250C for around 20 minutes,or until they just start to brown
10. Once cooked, you can eat 'as is' or go for the dipped in honey option. I made a simple sugar syrup and added a good squeeze of honey and some orange flower water. I then poured the mixture over the cookies and let them soak for around 30 minutes. Serve with a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

Turkish Delight

Turkish delight has always been a kitchen nemesis of mine. I'm not sure why I thought of it that way, because I had only attempted to make it once before, when I was fifteen. 

Back in the pre-internet days I was reliant on library books, and unfortunately the only recipes I could find all contained gelatine rather than the traditional Turkish method of getting that gorgeous jellyness - cornflour. 

I did try substituting agar agar (the only easily available vegetarian jelling agent at the time). The resulting horror has forever stuck with me. A strange crispy crust, with a jelly centre oozing a watery rose-flavoured liquid. It tasted okay, but that was its only saving grace.

Fast forward 20 plus years and I prepared to do battle with my nemesis once more....

Note: As a rule I don't weigh out ingredients, the sugar was estimated (I had a 500g bag), but because the cornflour is essential to the gelling process I thought I had better be accurate.  Most of the recipes I found, specified using a sugar thermometer. I don't have one, but I figured if the Turks could make it for centuries without, then so could I...

Ingredients

450g granulated sugar

900ml water

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

100g cornflour

100g icing sugar

2 tablespoons orange flower water (or rose water)

50g pistachios (optional)

Additional cornflour and icing sugar to dust

1. Line a tin with oiled cling film (I used a 18cm/7 inch sandwich tin) and put to one side.

2. Pour the 450g granulated sugar into medium sized pan, with 150ml of the water and the cream of tartar. The reason for the cream of tartar is so that the sugar doesn't crystalise as it sets. 

3. Bring to the boil and simmer until it reaches 115C (if you are using a sugar thermometer). If you are cooking by eye, then this stage takes around 10-15 minutes. To tell if it's ready, dip a spoon in the syrup and then plunge it into a glass of cold water. Have a feel of the ball that forms. It should be soft and pliable, Hence the reason this stage is called 'soft ball' in sugarwork.

4. Remove the pan from the heat and put it to one side.

5. Put the 100g cornflour and 100g icing sugar into a large pan, adding a little (~100ml) of the remaining 750ml water and mix it into a paste. Slowly add the remainder of the water whisking to ensure that there are no lumps.

6. Bring this mixture to the boil, whisking constantly until it thickens into a gloopy (technical term) gluey paste. It should take around 5 minutes.

7. Take the pan off the heat and slowly pour in the sugar syrup into the cornflour/icing sugar mixture, whisking all the time.

8. Return the pan to the heat and bring the mixture to the boil, once it starts to boil turn down the heat to a simmer. What's going on in your pan should be similar to a bubbling mud spring except without eruptions (if it gets to that stage turn down the heat).

9. Stir regularly to ensure that the mixture doesn't stick, the aim is to cook it until the mixture reaches 120C, if you're not using a thermometer this will take 30 minutes to an hour. Over this time the mixture will thicken to a jellyish consistancy and becomes progressively harder to whisk. 

For my batch, it reached that stage after around 45 minutes.

10. Remove from the heat, and whisk in the orange flower water (or the rose flower water) and the nuts. If you're using rose water you could always put a drop of red food colouring into the syrup.

11. Pour the mixture into the prepared tray and leave to cool overnight.

12. Once cooled dust the visible side with icing sugar and turn out onto a tray then dust its bottom with more icing sugar. You can cut it into cubes at this stage and eat!

Storage

You may find that on standing the Turkish delight 'leaks' a little liquid, traditionally it should be left in an airy place to 'cure' which will toughen the surface and create the leathery skin you get on the commercially prepared stuff. If you are wanting to save it then I'd recommend leaving it on a baking rack in an airy place for a few days before storing it in a box (cardboard or wooden with lots more icing sugar, don't store in plastic or it will sweat!).

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!