Having crossed the hill, we entered the rich vale of Shechem, or Nablus, clad with olives, full of gardens and orange groves with palm trees and watered by plenteous rills.
H.B. Tristram, A Journal of Travels in Palestine
Nablus owes its particularities to its geography and the developments of its more recent history. Its situation naturally marked it as the centre of an ancient road system and the many springs that fed the wadis blessed the area with groves and rich vegetation.
All central Palestine could be taken in at a glance, and the lesson of geography could not be easily forgotten.
H.B. Tristram, A Journal of Travels in Palestine
The view from Mount Gerizim, the highest peak overlooking the central regions with Nablus sprawling over the valley and the steep slopes to the north and south, justifies its nomination as ‘the uncrowned queen of Palestine’. Nablus’s happy location in the mouth of the only east-west path makes it the natural capital of the mountain region. Its past as an urban settlement goes back to 4500 BC and its current name derives from Flavia Neapolis, a Roman colony established in 72 AD on the site of present-day Nablus.
In the seventeenth century, during Ottoman rule, Nablus headed the liwa’ of two hundred villages and was affiliated to the Damascus province. The administrative reforms of 1887–88 and the establishment of mutassarifiyat, governorates, resulted in linking the mutassarifiyah of Nablus to the wilayet of Beirut, while the autonomous mutassarifiyah of Jerusalem dealt directly with Constantinople. These new administrative divisions contributed to remarkable differences in the social development of the Nablus area and, more particularly, promoted its specificity as a culinary centre.
Nablus is especially renowned for its sweets, and knafeh, the emblem of a long-standing tradition of Palestinian sweet-making originated, there.
One of the main ingredients used in the preparation of many desserts is white sheep’s cheese, a cheese that is typical of Palestine where there is no cheese culture per se. Its processing has remained unchanged through generations. It is made in spring when pastures are green and the milk is bountiful and cooked and preserved in salted water for year-round consumption. Although commercial dairies have been supplying the market with the same type of traditional cheese, many households continue the practice of boiling and preserving their own cheese for the year, and others still depend on their traditional supplier from Nablus.
The essential components in the preparation of this cheese are izha, mahlab and gum arabic that are added in the cooking process. The cheese is then preserved in large glass jars or large tin containers and is desalinated in small batches according to consumption by soaking it for a few hours in water. For the preparation of desserts, it has to be totally desalinated and needs to be soaked at least overnight.
A friend of my mother’s, Nihaya Anabtawi, originally from Nablus, taught me how to prepare some of the desserts included in this section. The desserts she serves at her dinner parties have earned her quite a reputation in Bethlehem circles, where she has been living for 30 years.
‘Esh means bread. Esh el-saraya, literally ‘the bread of the palaces’, is an appellation laden with images of a thousand and one dreams and totally appropriate to this delectable dessert. This layered dessert can turn any dinner party into an unforgettable experience.
Kishta is a double cream of thick consistency that can be bought from Middle Eastern pastry shops or supermarkets. A good substitute is double cream or fresh cream.
½ loaf of sliced white bread (250 g/9 oz), toasted
2 cups water
1½ cups sugar
1 tbs freshly
squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp rosewater
350 g (12 oz) kishta
1 cup milk
1½ tbs cornflour
2 tbs rosewater
80 g (3 oz) shelled and chopped pistachios
Chop the toasted bread in a food processor on low so as to get coarse but small chunks. Spread the crumbs at the bottom of a rectangular medium size serving plate – about 25 cm (10 in) – with a 6 cm (about 2½ in) edge. To prepare the syrup, dissolve the sugar in the water and let it boil for a few minutes, adding the lemon juice in the process. Add the rosewater after you remove it from the heat. Pour it hot over the bread so as to soak it completely. With the back of a fork, press the layer of sweetened bread against the bottom of the plate so as to form an even, thick layer.
In a small casserole, mix the kishta, the milk and cornflour thoroughly and bring to the boil on a medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Cook over a low heat for a few minutes or until the cream pudding is thick enough to cling to the back of the spoon. Remove from the heat and add the rosewater. Spread the pudding over the bread mixture, covering it completely. Sprinkle a thick layer of pistachios on top and let cool.Refrigerate for a few hours before serving.
If you are using fresh cream, add three tablespoonfuls of cornflour to three cups of fresh cream and cook the same way as kishta, adding the rosewater last.
Before cream puffs, pies and eclairs became standard fare, every christening, circumcision or wedding was an occasion to offer ghraybeh. Just like Scottish shortcake, they melt in the mouth and disappear in a jiffy. Make sure not to over-eat!
120 g (4 oz) clarified butter
50 g (2 oz) or ½ cup icing sugar
2½–2¾ cup flour
1 tbs araq
Beat the butter and sugar with a hand-held mixer until it becomes creamy. Add the araq and gradually add two cups of the flour while beating constantly. Gently knead the thick batter adding flour in very small quantities at a time until it just stops being sticky when you roll it between the palms of your hands. Taking small quantities of batter, roll into an S shape or shape into small flat circles which you should hollow with your index finger.
Bake in a preheated moderately slow oven (170° C/325° F/Gas mark4) for 20 minutes until they are dry but before they brown. Ghraybeh biscuits have to be pearl white. Makes 2½ dozen biscuits.
This speciality of Nablus is the most representative Palestinian dessert. A delicacy, it is served at banquets and special receptions.
One basic ingredient is vermicelli dough, only obtainable in certain stores or at better suppliers of Middle Eastern food. The other is the cheese, which is more readily available. I have experimented with this dessert by using fresh mozzarella and have alternated with using it ever since.
The easier way to prepare the dough is in a steamer, cooking small quantities at a time for ten minutes. The other method requires care and patience: cook small quantities at a time over very low heat by turning over the loosened dough with your fingertips. Either way, the tricky part is the final cooking as you cannot bake knafeh in the oven.
1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) vermicelli dough
600 g (1 lb 6 oz) soft unsalted sheep’s cheese
½–¾ cup soft butter (you can add to it 1–2 tsp samneh)
1 tsp orange food dye, special for knafeh (optional)
Coarsely chopped pistachios (for decoration)
For the syrup
4 cups sugar
1¾ cups water
2 tbs lemon juice
Use fresh sheep’s cheese or soak your preserved cheese overnight, changing the water at least once. Either way, put the cheese on kitchen paper to get rid of the excess water and either grate it or mash it with a fork. If you are using fresh mozzarella, drain properly and slice it into thin slices. Set the cheese aside until the dough is ready.
Prepare a round baking tray with shallow edges – 46 cm (18 in) in diameter for the quantity of dough indicated in the recipe – by mixing two tablespoonfuls of butter with the dye and generously greasing the tray.
If you choose the steaming method, add ½ cup butter to the dough as you finish and mix gently. The other method also requires you to ‘grill’ small quantities at a time in a tray over a very low heat. Divide the butter and the dough, at least into four portions for one kilogram (2¼ pounds), and for every portion melt the butter and mix it thoroughly with the dough. Put the tray over a very low heat and turn the dough around with your fingertips until it just starts to change colour. Be sure not to overcook or you will end up with a dry dessert. Remove from heat. Repeat with the rest of the dough in the same way, each time adding butter and mixing it thoroughly with the dough.
Spread two thirds of the dough evenly to cover the bottom of the greased tray and press it with the palm of your hand, particularly round the edges, until it becomes compact. Spread the cheese over the layer of dough to cover it entirely and press it gently with the flat of your hand. Cover the cheese with the rest of the cooked vermicelli dough and press lightly with the palm of your hand. Cover with a large sheet of aluminium foil.
The second stage of cooking is a delicate procedure requiring no more than 30 minutes. Until very recently, sweet speciality shops in Nablus cooked the knafeh on a traditional wood fire; they now use gas stoves with wide burners especially designed to spread the heat all around the tray while holding it a few centimetres above the burner. As stove-tops are not designed for this purpose, I use two diffusers under the tray and rotate it at 8 minute intervals, making sure that the centre does not overcook. Once all the edges pull away from the tray, it is an indication that the cooking is done. Turn off the heat.
While the tray is slowly simmering dissolve the sugar in the water in a casserole and bring to the boil. Let it boil for a few minutes then add the lemon juice and let it boil for another three minutes.
When the knafeh is ready, remove from heat and flip over on to another, slightly bigger tray. Pour the syrup over the whole surface and decorate with coarsely chopped pistachios and serve immediately. Leftover knafeh can be heated in a double boiler or in the microwave oven, tightly covered at medium power.
Serve it warm in winter and chilled in summer. The following recipe makes four servings.
4 cups milk
8 tsp cornflour
½ cup sugar
1½ tbs rosewater
½ tsp gum arabic (optional)
40 g of crushed pistachios
Heat three cups of the milk. Mix the cornflour in the remaining milk and stir until it dissolves. Add the hot milk while stirring and cook on a medium heat while stirring constantly. When it starts to bubble, lower the heat and cook for a few more minutes until the mixture clings to the back of a wooden spoon. Add 1½ tbs rosewater just before removing the pudding from the fire. Remove from heat and pour into individual bowls. When it has cooled serve sprinkled with crushed pistachios.
I went down in the garden of nuts, to see the green plants of the valley, to see whether the vine budded, and the pomegranates were in flower.
Song of Songs
This version of fresh fruit salad owes its success to the velvet-smooth sauce made with qamardin, and the contrast with crunchy walnuts.
Qamardin is a sweet made of apricot paste. It is available at most Middle Eastern food stores in the shape of candy sheets.
The fruits suggested above may be substituted with any of your choice or according to what is available in the market. I always include bananas and apples as basics. I prefer to use the more flavourful baladi apples from the Battir and Beit-Ummar areas during summer when they are in season. Alternate peaches with kiwis, pineapples or mangoes and add pomegranates whenever they are available.
4 apples
3 peaches
2 bananas
1 pomegranate
½ cup coarsely
chopped walnuts
½ cup raisins (optional)
100 g (4 oz) qamardin
¾ cup water
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup orange juice
2 tbs rosewater
Soak the qamardin in ¾ cup of water for one to two hours or until it is completely dissolved. The resulting sauce should have the consistency of molasses. Add ¼ cup each lemon and orange juice and two tablespoonfuls of rosewater and set aside while you cut up the fruits. You can add the sauce to the salad one hour before serving and chill in a tightly covered container. Add the chopped walnuts just before serving.
Tips
Raisins are a nice addition for a winter fruit salad. Add them just before serving.
Occasionally my mother used to buy tins of English assorted biscuits and she would save the cans for later use. I remember these tins vividly with the pictures of the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace and other London landmarks on the sides, portrayed against brilliant blue skies. What I remember most is their recycled use as they lined the upper shelf of the kitchen sideboard and held within their shiny interior the most delicious homemade biscuits in the world. It was a comforting presence that speeded up many a tedious homework and inspired rare accomplishments of dexterity on the pianoforte: I still recall with almost Proustian vividness the pleasure of soaking a well-earned reward in a cup of sweet tea with hot milk. It seems to me that my childhood days must have drifted through the heady aroma of baking that clung to the walls and the furniture, until the challenge of later years when I struggled to join the anorexic ranks of the post-Twiggy generation!
Aniseed biscuits will always be a teatime favourite. While the original recipe calls for clarified butter, it comes out equally delicious with regular butter. This recipe yields about 2½ dozen biscuits.
2 cups flour
½ cup sugar
100 g (4 oz) clarified butter
1 egg
⅓ tsp aniseed and caraway mixture
1 tsp baking powder
Preheat the oven to 200° C/400° F/Gas mark 6.
In a glass bowl, measure the sifted flour, and add a teaspoonful of baking powder and the aniseed and caraway mixture, the sugar, butter and egg and mix thoroughly. Divide the dough in six balls and on your worktop roll out each into a ¾ in rope. Cut it at 6 cm intervals and form each piece into a small circle. Place on a greased baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes until they turn pale brown. Let them rest for three minutes before moving them to a cooling rack. Serve immediately or store in a jar or tin.
My father’s generation feasted on dried raisins, apricots, figs or dates accompanied by almonds and walnuts. While fresh apricots, especially mishmish mistkawi from the Beit-Jala area, were a favourite, the next best way to enjoy them was as a preserve in syrup. The key to this recipe is not to overcook the apricots, in order to finish the cooking process in the sunshine.
1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) apricots
2 cups water
½ kg (1 lb 2 oz) sugar
1 tbs freshly
squeezed lemon juice
½ cup whole blanched almonds
In a pan, mix together the sugar and the water and put to boil on medium heat. Wash and dry the apricots and drop them a few at a time in the syrup, bring them to the boil and cook them for four minutes. Remove them to a tray and repeat the process until all the apricots are cooked. Add the lemon juice and let the syrup boil for another 10 minutes until it starts to thicken. Turn off the heat and set the mixture aside to cool. Open the apricots slightly from the top, remove the stone and add an almond. Put them back in the tray and pour the cooled syrup over them to cover them completely. Set them covered with a thin cloth in direct sunlight, on a windowsill or on the ledge of the terrace for a few hours each day, for three days. Preserve in a sterilised airtight jar and store away from heat.
You can serve this dessert with vanilla ice cream or mhallabiyeh.
Date cakes are usually shaped like rings and symbolise the crown of thorns put on the head of Jesus at his crucifixion. Traditionally prepared for Easter, many families will not serve them at any other time of year. They are invariably served with ma‘moul, made with the same dough but with a walnut or pistachio stuffing.
Towards the end of Lent women get together in each other’s houses to share in the preparation of these cakes. They catch up on the latest town gossip while their hands get busy in the chain: one kneads, the other gets the date stuffing ready and the third stuffs while a fourth does the carving.
Even women with large families who are working have not renounced this tradition and will organise their evenings around this self-imposed task. Some of them will supplement their income and make the cakes for less assiduous women who have relinquished this habit.
For the dough
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) fine wheat semolina
200 g (7 oz) clarified butter
1 tbp samneh (optional)
½ cup sirej (sesame oil)
½ tbs active yeast
4 tbs sugar
1½ tbs orange blossom essence
For the stuffing
150 g (5 oz) thick date paste
¼ cup soft butter
½ tsp freshly ground cinnamon
The dough mixture needs to rest for a few hours or overnight. Melt the butter (and the samneh) and work it delicately into the semolina. Add the sirej and mix thoroughly until all the oil is absorbed into the semolina. Leave to rest, covered, for a few hours or overnight.
When it is time to prepare the cakes, add the yeast, dissolved in three tablespoonfuls of water, and the sugar and essence, and knead the dough, adding warm water a little at a time until you obtain a soft, smooth mixture. Working the dough is very important and determines the success of your baking. Leave the dough to rest for two hours before shaping the cakes.
Knead the date paste with the butter and cinnamon and shape into ropes ¾ cm in diameter. Have a small plate of flour handy to dip your fingertips in if the paste gets too sticky.
Take a quantity of dough the size of a ping-pong ball, and spread it on your worktop into an oblong flat strip. Add a small portion of the rolled-out date paste and wrap the dough around it to cover it completely. Shape the cake into a ring and, resting it on the palm of your hand, pinch a grooved design all over the surface using special tweezers. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and leave to rest for one hour.
Bake in a moderately hot oven (190°C/375°F/Gas mark 5) for 25–30 minutes. (Makes about 15 cakes).
The options for the stuffing make this sweet dish quite versatile: it is a wonderful dessert for a festive dinner, concludes a light brunch on a high note and adds a traditional touch to afternoon tea.
The basic filo dough is available in most shops that specialise in Middle Eastern or Greek food and in the better supermarkets. In the Nablus area, where this dessert is called kellaj, the filo dough is made with fine semolina as opposed to flour, which gives the dessert a lighter texture; however, regular filo will do as well.
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) ultra thin filo dough
150 g (5 oz) soft butter
600 g (1 lb 6 oz) soft white sheep’s cheese, unsalted
For the syrup
2 cups sugar
1½ cups water
1 tbs lemon juice
1 small cinnamon stick
Walnut stuffing
200 g (7 oz) walnuts, crushed
50 g (2 oz) sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2–3 tbs butter
By soaking the cheese overnight you remove all the salt, unless it is fresh. Grate or mash the cheese with a fork, whichever is easier, and set it aside while you prepare the dough.
Heat the oven to 210°C/410°F/Gas mark 6. Grease a large tray 45 cm (18 in) in diameter with 5 cm (2 in) edges or a square 45 cm (18 in) tray. Spread a filo sheet and brush it all over with butter. Add another sheet and repeat the same process until you have five sheets evenly stacked. Spread the cheese over the surface, brush it with butter and top with the remaining five sheets, brushing each in turn with butter, especially the top layer. With a sharp knife cut the surface into squares, letting the knife almost reach the bottom.
Put in the oven; it takes approximately 45 minutes to bake and for the surface to become golden and crisp. While the m’tabbaq is baking, dissolve the sugar in a cup of water in a casserole, add a small cinnamon stick and put it on medium heat. Once it boils add a tsp of lemon juice and let it boil for 8 to 10 minutes.
Pour the syrup over the m’tabbaq the minute you take it out of the oven and leave to rest for a few minutes. Cut the pieces and serve hot or warm in individual plates. You can sprinkle some crushed pistachios on every portion.
Mix the walnuts with the sugar and cinnamon and spread them over the patsries. Dot with the butter. Cover with more layers of filo; cut in diamond shapes and bake in the same way.
Instead of walnuts, you can use four apples, peeled and sliced, to which you will add three tablespoonfuls of honey and ½ teaspoonful of cinnamon.
A speciality from the Nablus area, this delicacy is most commonly served for breakfast. Instead of using the regular syrup I like to serve it with azarole jelly. It is essential that this dessert be served immediately after frying. The following measurements are enough for 15 fingers.
See recipe for zalabiyeh, p.175
For the stuffing
1½ cups semolina
1 cup milk
½ cup sugar
Stir the semolina in a greased saucepan on a low heat for 8 minutes. Add the sugar and milk and stir, cooking the mixture for another five minutes until it pulls away from the sides of the pan. Spread it on a lightly greased square or rectangular plate or on greased foil paper until it cools, then cut it into small rectangles 3 x 1 cm (1 x ½ in).
Spread the dough on to a floured surface and cut it into rectangles big enough to wrap around the semolina fingers. Press both ends with a fork and fry in hot oil. Serve immediately with a syrup or preserve of your choice.
I stayed home with my mother and grandmother and watched my mother cook a dish she had promised me: heytaliyeh, a rice and milk pudding. The milkwoman had knocked at our door, and my mother had bought a few pints of milk from her, which the milkwoman had poured into the cooking pot. This was an important event because my mother used to say she could not afford to buy milk except on special occasions and when absolutely necessary.
No sooner was I alone than I looked at the white appetising dish with burning desire. I stretched out my finger to it and tasted it. How delicious it was!
I let my friends in, and together we pushed open the big iron door of our house and entered. There were seven or eight of us.
In spite of the darkness, the rice-and-milk pudding on the floor was glowing like the sun. I dragged it to a spot near the door for more light, and said, ‘Sit down.’
Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, The First Well
4 cups milk
4 tbs ground rice
4 tbs sugar
2 tsp rosewater
For the garnish
Blanched and lightly toasted almonds, crushed
Lightly toasted pine nuts
Freshly grated coconut
In a heavy casserole, dissolve the rice in one cup of the milk and gradually add the rest of the milk, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon in order to avoid lumps from forming. Cook over a medium heat while stirring patiently as it might take a good 20 minutes. When it starts boiling, reduce the heat to low and cook for another few minutes or until the pudding covers the back of the wooden spoon. Add the sugar and rosewater and stir some more then turn off the heat. Serve immediately in individual bowls. You can eat it warm or cold from the refrigerator. Garnish each bowl with the almonds, pine nuts and coconut just before serving.
Marakat kameh, which literally translates as ‘wheat pudding’, is the old appellation for this spicy pudding that is more commonly referred to as burbara, after Saint Barbara whose feast falls on 4 December.
In Beit-Jala, a town near Bethlehem, it is customary to serve the strained wheat at funerals. Among the Armenian community this dessert, called Anush abur, is served for Christmas. It is often garnished with pomegranate seeds instead of the raisins.
Preferably served hot, this highly flavoursome pudding warms up the heart as the cold settles in seriously for the winter season. The key to a successful burbara pudding is in the spices; it makes a big difference if you use freshly toasted seeds and grind them on the spot. To grill the fennel and aniseed seeds, put a small frying pan over a low heat, and when it is hot, add the required amount of seeds and stir for a few minutes.
250 g (9 oz) wheat
1 cup sugar tsp cinnamon
2 tsp aniseed
2 tsp crushed fennel seeds
60 g (2 oz) each of Blanched almonds
Pine nuts
Chopped pistachios
Chopped walnuts
Raisins
Measure the wheat in a large pan and cover with two litres (3½ pints) of water. Cook until the wheat doubles in size. You might need to add some more water during the cooking. Add the spices and sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves. Lower the heat and cook for another few minutes. The consistency of the pudding should be creamy.
Serve hot in individual bowls and garnish according to taste.
Ma‘moul accompanies the date cakes, ka‘k b’ajweh, as an Easter sweet. They symbolise the sponge that was used to wipe the face of Jesus as he suffered on the cross. As is the case with the date cakes, ‘pinching’ the finished cakes with special tweezers is an exercise in patience and creativity that not many enjoy. It is delicate but necessary work as it allows the cakes to hold the powdered sugar with which they are sprinkled before serving. It is customary to stuff these cakes with walnuts, although pistachios have become quite popular, especially in the Nablus and Galilee areas.
On a lighter note, Anton Shammas, a Palestinian writer from the village of Fassuta in upper Galilee, has this story to tell about walnuts:
Fifty walnuts were arranged in a line on the upper ledge of the house, and Grandfather Jubran, from where he stood on the lower level, had to crack them with blows from his forehead. The nuts cracked open one after the other, but the heart of the employer’s daughter was harder to crack, and he did not win her heart.
Anton Shammas, Arabesque
Dough (see recipe p.218)
For the stuffing
200 g (7 oz) walnuts
1 cup sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
Makes about 15 cakes
Take a small quantity of the dough and roll it into a ball about the size of a ping-pong ball. With your index finger work an opening in the dough and keep on widening the opening and thinning the sides until you obtain a pocket into which you spoon a small amount of stuffing. With dexterity and some delicacy, close the opening and flip the small cake over then, with a light touch of the fingers, shape it into a small dome. While still in your palm, take the tweezers and lightly pinch the whole upper surface of the cake. Place on a tray and repeat.
The poor man’s dessert, zalabiyeh, are fried and served immediately sprinkled with icing sugar or syrup. In Nablus, they are traditionally served for breakfast with halawet el-qaryeh, a thick and sweet pumpkin preserve. I love zalabiyeh with azarole jelly; the day my mother cooked this jelly she always treated us to the fritters that we dipped in the first batch of barely cooled jelly.
Any leftover dough will do; however, the traditional way is the simple basic dough of flour and water.
2 cups flour
Dash of salt
¾–1 cup warm water
Measure the flour and add the salt. Pour in half a cup of warm water and mix the dough thoroughly; add another quarter cup of water and work the dough by pressing the heels of your hands into the dough, folding and turning; repeat the process, adding a few drops of water until you obtain a smooth, elastic, soft dough. Shape the dough into a ball and leave to set in a warm place for one hour. Sprinkle the worktop and the dough with flour and roll out the dough in a thin sheet. Cut it into small triangles. Sprinkle the triangles with black cumin seeds or habet el-baraka and fry them in hot oil. Serve immediately.
Once the month of Ramadan begins, every bakery and every other shop sets up a stand to prepare qatayef for the numerous shoppers, who stop and indulge in this irresistible temptation, no matter how overloaded with shopping bags they are. The iftar, the meal served after sunset to break the fast, announced officially after the evening prayer in every city, town and village all over Palestine, cannot be complete without qatayef.
In the Bethlehem and Jerusalem areas they are traditionally prepared with semolina; however, in Nablus and Galilee, most probably due to Syrian influence, they are also prepared with a flour batter. Either way, they are quite popular and can be prepared with a variety of stuffings and in different sizes, depending on the occasion. Small bite-size qatayef are quite a sensation at large receptions and for special occasions.
For the batter
3½ cups fine semolina
½ tsp salt
1 tsp active yeast dissolved in 3 tbs water
1½–2 cups water
Walnut stuffing
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) chopped walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup sugar
Cheese stuffing
600 g (1 lb 6 oz) white sheep’s cheese, unsalted
½ cup sugar
2tsp lemon juice
Mix all the batter ingredients in a glass bowl, adding enough water to obtain a medium-thin pancake batter. Cover it and leave it to rest for at least one hour. Once you are sure that the leavening has occurred, whisk the batter and pour small quantities at a time on a greased and hot cast-iron frying pan. Remove from heat when bubbles appear on the surface and place on a clean towel over a tabak or wicker tray.
Prepare the stuffing of your choice. Mix the crushed walnuts with the cinnamon and the sugar; or mash the white cheese to which you add some sugar and mix. Experiment by substituting cottage cheese. It really works.
To stuff the qatayef, place the pancake in the palm of one hand and spoon a small amount of stuffing in the centre, flip one side over the other and stick the edges together using the index finger and thumb. The final product has the shape of a crescent. Place the qatayef on a greased pan, dotting each with ½ tsp of butter and bake in a preheated oven at 180° C/ 360° F/Gas mark 4 for 20 minutes. Make sure you do not overbake as the edges will become quite dry and tough to chew. Prepare the syrup with three cups of sugar dissolved in 1¾ cups of water, to which you add two teaspoons of lemon juice. Pour over the qatayef’ the moment you get them out of the oven. Serve immediately.
Tips
When you prepare the pancakes, have a small cup of oil at hand in which you dip kitchen paper in order to grease the skillet after each pancake.
Once the pancakes are ready you have to stuff them immediately otherwise they will not close properly. Stuffed qatayef can be refrigerated for up to two days. Bake them and add the syrup for immediate consumption.
A traditional Armenian dessert from the old country, it is served on special occasions. Easy to prepare, it is preferable to serve it fresh and warm.
3 cups semolina
200 g (7 oz) softened butter
50 g (2 oz) pine nuts
1½ cups sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup water dash of cinnamon
Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan and add the semolina and pine nuts, mixing thoroughly. Keep on stirring the mixture on medium heat until the pine nuts turn golden. Turn off the heat.
In another saucepan, measure the sugar and mix in the milk and the water and bring to the boil over medium heat. Add to the hot semolina while stirring well and bring to the boil once more. Remove from heat and leave to rest for one hour. Mix and serve in individual plates, sprinkled with a dash of cinnamon.
Harisseh is yet another poor man’s dessert but is quite a favourite among all my four children. Nancy, an older aunt of the family, used to visit us frequently, always bringing with her a tray of harisseh. She would insert an almond in one of the pieces as an unusual gift. My eldest daughter, Mona, always keen to get the gift herself, would gorge herself on the harisseh and force me to intervene discreetly with the aunt, begging her to slip the piece on her plate.
Now that they are all grown up and studying abroad, they still expect her to visit with her speciality whenever they come for the holidays.
If you are a determined fan of samneh, you can add one or two teaspoons to the syrup for the flavour, but remember to reduce the amount of butter indicated in the recipe.
3½ cups semolina
1 cup sugar
2½ cups yoghurt
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda and ½ tsp water
Blanched almonds or pine nuts for decoration
For the syrup
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
100 g (4 oz) butter
Heat the oven to 180° C/360° F/Gas mark 4.
In a glass bowl, mix the semolina, sugar, yoghurt and dissolved bicarbonate and pour the mixture into a greased 30 x 25 cm (12 x 10 in) cake pan. Decorate with the blanched and halved almonds or the pine nuts and put in the hot oven.
Meanwhile dissolve the sugar in the water in a casserole and on a medium heat until it boils. Turn off the heat and add the butter. Stir until it dissolves.
Pour the syrup over the harisseh the moment you you remove it from the oven. Serve warm.
