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8. Bake for 10 minutes, or until they are barely colored. Transfer the pastries to a wire rack to cool before serving. They will keep for at least 1 week in an airtight container.
Semolina Cake
BASBOUSSA
EGYPT
Basboussa in Egypt, nammoura in Lebanon, h’risseh in Syria, and revani in Turkey—all of these names describe a simple sponge cake made with semolina and yogurt and drenched in sugar syrup. The Syrian version is topped with a mixture of pistachios, almonds, walnuts, and cashews; the other versions are garnished with almonds or pine nuts. Egyptian basboussa is typical street food, especially during Ramadan, whereas the others are mainly everyday sweets, and often made at home even if you can find them at sweets makers. In fact, it is one of very few sweets that people prefer to make at home than buy from a sweets maker.
SERVES 6 TO 8
FOR THE SYRUP
1¾ cups (350 g) raw cane sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons rose water
2 teaspoons orange blossom water
FOR THE CAKE
1¼ cups (225 g) semolina flour (choose the regular grade, not the fine)
¼ cup (50 g) raw cane sugar
6 tablespoons (90 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1¾ cups (450 g) yogurt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
Tahini, for the baking dish
⅓ cup (50 g) blanched almonds
1. To make the syrup: Put the sugar, lemon juice, and ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (150 ml) water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring every now and then, then let bubble for 3 minutes. Take off the heat. Add the rose and orange blossom water and let cool.
2. To make the cake: Put the semolina, sugar, and softened butter in a large mixing bowl and work together with a spatula until well blended. Add the yogurt and baking soda and mix until you have a firm cake batter.
3. Grease an 8 x 1½-inch (20 x 3.5 cm) round baking dish with a little tahini (or use a nonstick one) and spread the batter evenly across the dish. Flatten it gently with a spatula. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 3 hours.
4. About 20 minutes before you are ready to bake the cake, preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
5. Cut the uncooked cake into 2-inch (5 cm) squares and press one blanched almond in the middle of each square. Bake for 40 minutes, or until golden.
6. Remove from the oven and pour the cooled syrup all over. Let the cake stand for 30 minutes to soak up the syrup. If you think the amount of syrup is excessive, reduce the quantity to your taste. Bear in mind that the cake will take time to absorb the syrup and although it may look as if it is swimming in it to start, it will eventually fully absorb it. Serve at room temperature.
SYRIAN H’RISSEH: If you want to make the Syrian version, make the cake as directed through step 4. In step 5, just before putting the cake in the oven, do not cut the cake; just cover it with 1 cup (150 g) mixed pistachios, walnuts, and cashews, gently pressing them into the top of the batter. Bake as directed.
Ramadan Date Cookies
QRASS BIL-TAMR
LEBANON | SYRIA
Ramadan is the most important month in the Islamic calendar, a time for fasting during the day and feasting after sunset and until sunrise. During that whole month, sweets occupy an important place in people’s lives. They are offered to guests who come to visit after sunset, or they are snacked on throughout the night before the fast starts again at sunrise. They are also taken to family and/or friends during the nightly visits—social life increases considerably during Ramadan—and these date-filled cookies are a typical Ramadan sweet, together with the nut versions called ma’mul, filled with pistachios or walnuts and shaped differently for people to tell which is which. They are time-consuming to make but well worth the effort. If you can’t find store-bought date paste, substitute with an equal amount of pitted dates and process these with the cinnamon and butter in your food processor until they turn into a smooth paste.
The cookies are shaped with the use of a special mold that traditionally was carved out of wood but is now more often than not made in plastic. I still have my mother’s molds, which—though I could easily replace them as there are still young men who carve them by hand in the souk of Damascus in Syria—I guard jealously as they have acquired a lovely patina over the years.
MAKES ABOUT 40
FOR THE DOUGH
2 cups (350 g) semolina
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon (50 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling the dough
¼ teaspoon instant (fast-acting) yeast
¼ cup (50 g) baker’s sugar or superfine sugar
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (150 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons orange blossom water
3 tablespoons rose water
FOR THE DATE FILLING
12 ounces (350 g) dried date paste
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons (30 g) unsalted butter, melted
1. To make the dough: Mix the semolina, all-purpose flour, yeast, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the softened butter and, with the tips of your fingers, work it in until fully incorporated. Add the orange blossom and rose water and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Roll the dough into a ball and place seam side down on your lightly floured counter. Cover with a very damp cloth and let rest for 1½ hours in a cool place.
2. To make the date filling: Put the date paste in a bowl. Add the cinnamon and gradually add the melted butter, working it in by hand until you have a smooth, soft paste. Pinch off a small piece and shape it into a disk 1½ inches (3.5 cm) in diameter and about ¼ inch (6 mm) thick. Place on a plate and make the remaining disks until you have used up all the paste. You should end up with 40 date disks. Cover with plastic wrap.
3. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
4. To make date-filled cookies: Pinch off a piece of dough and roll into a ball the size of a walnut. Flatten it on your palm until you have a 3-inch (7.5 cm) disk that is about ¼ inch (6 mm) thick. Lay a date disk in the middle of the dough and flap the dough over the date to cover it. Pinch the edges together—the date disk should be covered with an even layer of dough. Lightly press into the round flat mold that is used for the date-filled cookies, then turn the mold over and tap the top edge lightly against a table while holding your other hand underneath to catch the cookie as it falls out of the mold. Slide the cookie onto a nonstick baking sheet, or one lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Make the remaining cookies in the same way. You should end up with 40 date cookies.
5. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until lightly golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serve or pack in an airtight container where they will keep for 2 weeks.
Ramadan Nut-Filled Cookies
MA’MUL BIL-JOZ AW BIL-FISTOQ
LEBANON | SYRIA
These nut-filled cookies are made with special molds called tabe’. If making the nut filling with pistachios, use the oval and pointed mold; if using walnuts, the round and pointed mold. Or if you don’t have the molds, you can shape these inside a small tea strainer or by hand.
MAKES 30
Dough from Ramadan Date Cookies
1¼ cups (175 g) walnuts or pistachios, ground medium fine
¼ cup (50 g) superfine sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1½ teaspoons rose water
1½ teaspoons orange blossom water
Powdered sugar, for dusting
1. Make the dough as directed
2. Put the ground nuts in a medium mixing bowl. Add the sugar and cinnamon and mix well. Then add the rose and orange blossom water and mix again.
3. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
4. To make cookies: Pinch off a small piece of dough and roll it into a ball the size of a walnut. Place it in the cup of your hand and with your index finger, burrow into it to shape it into a hollow cone—be careful not to pierce the bottom. The cone wall
s should be about ¼ inch (6 mm) thick. Fill the pastry cone with 1 teaspoon walnut or pistachio filling and pinch the dough together to close it over the filling. Carefully shape the filled pastry into a ball and lightly press into the ma’mul, leaving the pinched side on the outside so that when you invert the pastry, it is on the bottom. Invert the mold and tap it lightly against your work surface holding your hand underneath to catch the cookie that falls out. Slide the cookie onto a nonstick baking sheet, or one lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Fill and shape the remaining dough in the same way. You may have to scrape the inside of the mold every now and then in case some pastry has stuck to it. You should end up with about 30 nut-filled pastries, each measuring about 2 inches (5 cm) wide at the bottom and 1¼ inches (3 cm) high at the tip.
5. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until lightly golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Dust with powdered sugar. Serve or pack in an airtight container where they will keep for 2 weeks.
Date Halva
BATHITH
ARABIAN GULF
Gulf Arabs don’t have a huge range of sweets. Mostly halvas, fritters, and puddings, with many either made with dates or served with date syrup. It is not surprising really as their cuisine has for a long time been more about survival, given the harsh desert living conditions before the discovery of oil made them wealthy. This halva, which is a typical Arabian Gulf sweet, combines both dates and nuts. It can be made crumbly to serve as a kind of granola, or it can be made soft so that it can be molded in the same ma’mul molds used for the Ramadan Nut-Filled Cookies. Both versions are delightful, although the presentation of the latter is more elegant.
SERVES 4 TO 6
1¼ cups (150 g) white whole wheat flour
2½ cups (375 g) pitted dates
4 tablespoons (60 g) unsalted butter
¼ cup (60 ml) rose water
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ cup (30 g) walnuts, coarsely chopped
¼ cup (30 g) blanched almonds, coarsely chopped
1. Put the flour in a large skillet and toast over medium heat, stirring constantly, until lightly colored, 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool.
2. Put the dates in a large pot and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until they start to mash up. Add the toasted flour and mix well. Stir in the butter, then the rose water and spices. Mix well, then stir in the nuts until well blended. Serve warm or at room temperature.
NOTE: If you are going to mold the halva, you need to use ½ cup (60 g) less flour and add 2 extra tablespoons (30 g) butter and 1 extra tablespoon rose water. Mix well. Then pinch off enough to make a ball the size of a walnut. Press the ball of date halva into the ma’mul mold following the directions in the Ramadan Nut-Filled Cookies. Serve at room temperature.
Date “Fudge”
RANGINA
QATAR
Rangina is originally an Iranian dessert known as ranginak (meaning “colorful”) and named thus because of the slivered pistachios and almond garnish. The recipe below comes from my friend Aisha al-Tamimi, Qatar’s foremost celebrity chef. She sometimes makes her rangina as below and other times she makes the flour halva a little thicker to fill the dates with it, then she thins down what’s left with a little more melted butter to drizzle over the dates. She uses fresh dates whereas Iranians use their own dates, which are darker and softer and a lot riper. I like both versions although when rangina is made with fresh dates, you get a lovely contrast between the crunch of the fresh fruit and the melting softness of the halva. However, fresh dates are not always available—the season is in late summer to early fall—so, use Iranian dates the rest of the year, and follow the traditional method of pouring the halva in between and over the dates as in the recipe below. Serve with regular or mint tea, Arabian or Turkish coffee, or the drink of your choice.
SERVES 6 TO 8
⅔ cup (100 g) walnut halves, cut in half lenthwise
1 tablespoon slivered almonds
1 pound (450 g) Iranian or Barhi dates
1⅔ cups (250 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 sticks plus 1½ tablespoons (250 g) unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon slivered pistachios
1. Preheat the oven to 450°F (220°C).
2. Spread the walnuts and almonds on two separate baking sheets and toast in the hot oven for 4 to 5 minutes. Check on the almonds after 3 minutes in case they are coloring too fast. Take out of the oven and let cool.
3. Carefully pit the dates and gently insert a quarter walnut inside each. Press on the ends to close the dates and lay them neatly in a serving dish, leaving a little space between each.
4. Toast the flour in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring all the time, until the flour turns golden. Gradually stir the melted butter into the flour, stirring all the time until you have a smooth loose paste.
5. Pour this flour halva over and between the dates making sure you fill the gaps. Sprinkle the slivered pistachios and toasted almonds all over. Or you can pour the halva over the serving dish and set the dates into it like in the picture. Let set. Serve at room temperature.
Turkish Flour Halva
UN HELVASI
TURKEY
Unlike complicated halvas such as tahini halva (see sidebar below), flour halva is much simpler and quicker to prepare. Here is the Turkish version that has added pine nuts, whereas the Iranian version has saffron. Both are delectable and when home cooks prepare halva, in Turkey and in Iran, they will often make more than they need so that they can send it out to their neighbors, friends, or family. Sharing halva is an absolute must during ‘Ashura, the day commemorating the killing of Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson.
SERVES 6
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (150 g) unsalted butter
¼ cup (50 g) pine nuts
1¼ cups (150 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (225 g) superfine sugar
1. Melt the butter in a large heavy skillet. Add the pine nuts and flour and stir over low heat until golden. This may take as long as 45 minutes, but it needs to be done to get the nutty taste that is typical of a good halva.
2. Ten minutes before the flour is ready, put the sugar and 1⅔ cups (400 ml) water in a medium saucepan and place over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. Let the syrup bubble for a couple of minutes, then add to the flour, stirring quickly and constantly to avoid lumps. Continue stirring until the mixture starts sticking to the pan. Take off the heat and let sit, covered, for 15 minutes. Transfer to a serving dish and serve warm.
HALVA
* * *
Halva in Turkey is the special occasion sweet par excellence, associated with both joyous and sad occasions. Making it allows people to come together—it takes constant stirring and more than one person will be in the kitchen taking turns stirring the flour or semolina halva; and at funerals a gathering over the preparation of a symbolic food lets people grieve together. There are many different types of halva. Some are made with flour, others with semolina, and others with tahini, although the latter is the preserve of specialized halva makers as it is too difficult and arduous to make at home.
The tahini halva makers I visited in Aleppo pressed their own tahini, which by itself is a complicated process—sesame seeds are first roasted, then soaked, then hulled, then finally pressed to produce tahini. Then they have to prepare the natef, a rather miraculous confection made with soapwort root that is like a soft meringue and finally, they have to mix the tahini with the natef, churning, then beating, then kneading it before it is finally tahini halva, which can be left plain or mixed with nuts or even chocolate now.
Chickpea Flour Halva
KHABISS AL-NAKHI
ARABIAN GULF
This halva comes from the Arabian Gulf and it is made with chickpea flour instead of wheat flour for a slightly different texture, and of course flavor. It is ideal for those who cannot have wheat. Whether made with wheat or chickp
ea flour, halva is associated with ‘Ashura and funerals, although it is served as dessert at joyous occasions as well or as part of fuala (a simple spread of savory and sweet offerings) when guests come to visit.
SERVES 4 TO 6
Pinch of saffron threads
¼ cup (60 ml) rose water
Scant 2 cups (250 g) chickpea flour
1½ teaspoons ground cardamom
1¼ cups (250 g) raw cane sugar
1 cup (250 ml) boiling water
1 stick (125 g) unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons slivered pistachios or chopped pistachios
1. Put the saffron to steep in the rose water.
2. Toast the chickpea flour in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 8 minutes. Be careful not to burn the flour or else it will taste bitter. Add the ground cardamom. Mix well and remove from the heat.
3. Put the sugar in a medium saucepan, melt over medium heat, and cook until it turns golden, about 10 minutes. (As with the flour, be careful not to let the sugar burn. It is better to undercook the caramel than to risk burning it.) As soon as the sugar is ready, carefully and slowly add the boiling water. The caramel will bubble furiously and splatter as you add the water, so make sure you keep your face well away from the pan and wear protective gloves as you stir the water into the caramel.