Saturday 26 February 2011

PastaFlora


PastaFlora is a cake , more on the scone side, with jam on top......


Ingredients:

1 cup Butter
1 ½ cup Sugar
3 cup Flour
3 Eggs
3 teaspoon Baking Powder
Vanilla
Orange zest
4 tablespoon Apricot Jam

Mix above ingredient (except the jam).

The consistency of the mix is more like a sticky dough than a cake.
Take a handful of dough, leave it aside & put the rest in greased baking tray.
The tray used is 25cm diametre. Flatten the top with the spatula.
Dilute the apricot jam with a teaspoon of water (or a bit of Rum).
Spread the jam on the cake.
With the remaining dough, add a bit of flour to the dough till it isnt sticky. Take a piece & roll it into long thin rope.

 Top the jam with the thin rope in a crisscross way.


Bake in a medium hot oven (gas mark 6) for 35-30 minutes. Let it cool.
When cutting the pieces, cut them between the rope.
 You will have a piece of cake with an “+” of dough on top of the jam.

Sahtein!

Wednesday 23 February 2011

Moufataka

  Moufataka is  rice pudding with tahini & turmeric. It is a recipe from my husband’s family. It is a very rich, tasteful and colourful pudding.

1 cup Ground Rice or Pudding Rice
2 cup Sugar
3 cup Water  (if using pudding  rice add 1 cup water)
1 cup Tahini
1 tbsp Turmeric
Handfull of Pine Nuts (optional)


Put water, rice and turmeric in saucepan on the hob until the rice is cooked (This recipe is made with pudding rice but I prefer to use ground rice as it is easily cooked). Add tahini and sugar. Lower the heat under saucepan. Stir continuously till the mixture start bubbling gently. The mixture becomes thick, creamy and the tahini oil starts coming up to the surface. It might take up to 40-50 min... Pour in serving plate & sprinkle the pine nuts on top. Let it cool at room temperature.

Sunday 20 February 2011

Kaak Me'me' ( Me'me''s Cookies)

 These cookies are not too sweet.........perfect with a cup of coffee or tea... good anytime of the day!




Ingredients:
  
500g Flour
500g Ferkha ( Fine Semolina)
400 g Butter
400g Sugar
250 ml Milk
1 Tbsp instant dried Yeast (= 30 g fresh yeast)
1 tsp Mahlab
1 tsp Miskeh (Mastic pound into powder with a bit of sugar)
1 tsp Ground Aniseed 
1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1 tsp Ground Cloves

 Mix all ingredients together to make it into a soft dough. Cover with towel. Let it rest for ½hr- 1hr. Preheat oven to a gaz mark 6 or 400F. Roll into a long rope up to 1cm thick and cut it into pieces about 8cm long, join the edges into a circle shape or cut them into pieces around 6cm long and leave them straight. Place on greased or parchment paper lined baking tray. Bake in medium hot oven for 10-15 min or until cookies are golden.

Saturday 19 February 2011

Sfouf Sofor (Yellow Cake with Turmeric)

    Sfouf is a cake a little bit on the dry side. We were brought up eating with 2 different kind of Sfoufs: Sfouf bil Debs which is made with Debs el Kharoub ( Carob Molasses) (see previous blog) and Sfouf Sofor (yellow) which is made with turmeric, hence the name.

   Sfouf Sofor is simple and fragrant with a distinctive colour from turmeric.

Ingredients:
4 cups Flour
2 ¼ cup Sugar 
½ cup corn oil ( or any vegetable oil)
¾ cup Butter
1 Tbsp Turmeric
1 Tbsp Aniseed powder
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1 ½ lukewarm water
1 handful of pine nuts( for decoration optional)

 
Preheat oven to gas mark 5 (350F). Mix flour, spices & baking powder.  Cut butter into small pieces and use the tips of your fingers to thoroughly incorporate into the flour and spice mix. Add oil.  Dissolve sugar in the lukewarm water. Add the water and sugar to the flour, mix and incorporate thoroughly with a spoon. The yellow colour will now come through brilliantly.

Pour in grease baking tray. With wet hands, flat the top of the sfouf. Sprinkle the pine nuts on top if you like it. I made my tray half with pine nuts & half without due to different preference in the family!
My tray size is 25cm diametre.
 Cook in medium heat oven, gaz mark 5, for 25-30 min or till you feel it is done.
Once cooled, cut it into squares



& sahtein!

Tuesday 15 February 2011

Tein Matboukh ( Fig Jam)


This is one of my Dad's recipes, he used to make Tein Matboukh every year, end of summer, in a massive saucepan and he stirred them with a wooden spoon made specially that looks like a flat baseball bat! 



Ingredients:

1 kg Dried Fig
1 ltr Water
1 ½ cup Sugar
2 tsp Aniseed powder
2 tsp Miskeh / Mastic (pound into powder with a bit of sugar)
Roasted Sesame Seeds


    Cut the fig into small chunks. Put them in saucepan with water, sugar and aniseed. Place saucepan on a high heat till water starts boiling. Lower the heat to the minimum & let it cook till most of the water evaporated & the figs are soft & tender. Add grounded miskeh/ mastic. Stir the mixture until all the water has evaporated & the mixture is sticking together.
Put it in containers and sprinkle the top with roasted sesame seed.
It is best eaten with walnut on top of the sesame seeds with or without bread.
Yummy!!

Sunday 13 February 2011

Krass Bil Samneh ( Butter Biscuit- no sugar)

 Traditionally, Krass Bil Samneh is eaten during Easter and especially on Easter day for breakfast with coloured boiled eggs. I like it with cheese and my favourite is eating it with dark chocolates! if you dont like dark chocolate , you can substitute it for milk chocolate!!

Ingredients:
700g Ferkha (Fine Semolina)
300g Flour
300g Butter
1 tsp dried Yeast  (I use 1 sachet of fast action Yeast) = 15g fresh yeast
1 Tbsp Mahlab
1 tsp Miskeh / Mastic  (pound into powder with a bit of sugar)
Salt
Water (as much needed)

Mix all ingredients together till it becomes a soft dough. Take a handfull of the dough and roll it into a big round circle of approx 15 cm diameter. Poke them in the middle with fork, circle or any other shape. Twist the edges or leave them flat, make the design your own :) The poking is to avoid the biscuits rising. Cover with a kitchen towel and leave them to rest for 2hrs. Then cook in medium hot oven gas mark 6 (200C=400F) for about 20 mins or once you feel the biscuit is done.


Wednesday 9 February 2011

Sfouf Bil Debs ( Carob Molasses Cake)


        Debs el kharoub, or carob molasses, is a thick sweet syrup made by soaking milled carob pods in water and reducing the extracted liquid. In Lebanon, carob molasses was traditionally used as an alternative to sugar.
   
  Sfouf  is a cake a little bit on the dry side ...So easy to make and absolutely wonderful....
Ingredients:
4 cups Flour
1 cup corn oil
1 cup Debs el Karoub (Carob Molasses)
1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp Ground Aniseed
   a bit of water ( if needed)
Sesame Seed  (for decoration optional)
  Preheat oven to gaz mark 5 ( 350F). Mix all ingredients together. Grease the cake tin with butter or it would be very authentic if use tahini instead to coat the baking tray before pouring the mixture. It will give a crunchy crust and deep flavour. Put the mixture into the baking tray.  Smooth the top with wet hands. Sprinkle the sesame seeds on top a very thin layer and bake in medium oven gas mark 5 ( 350F) for approx 20-30 mins Cut into small squares once cooled.



 
     Another typical Lebanese dessert with Debs is Debs bi Tahineh (Tahini and Carob Molasses).  It is a mix tahini (sesame seed paste) with the molasses in a small bowl and you would use pitta bread to dip and eat. Proportion is really up to the individual taste.  Try equal proportion at first and adjust to taste. I love the idea of mixing a sweet syrup with tahini as a dessert.

Friday 4 February 2011

Chouring

This sweet bread is delicious for breakfast, with coffee or a snack. We used to have it on New Year’s Day. Mum used to hide a coin inside the braid before baking it. On that morning, Mum cut the braid into slices & we have to pick one slice each. The person who got the slice with the coin was destined to have a good & prosperous year.


Ingredients:
3 cups Flour
½ cup Milk
¾ cup Sugar
1/3 cup Butter
2 Eggs
1 tsp dry Yeast( or 15g fresh Yeast)
1 tsp Miskeh / Mastic (pound the mastic into powder)
1 tsp Mahlab/ Mahleb


   Topping:
1 beaten egg
Sugar
Sesame Seeds
Habet Barakeh/ Black Sesame Seeds (optional)

Mix flour, milk, sugar, eggs, yeast, mastic & mahlab together till the dough is soft. Cover the bowl. Leave dough to rest for 2-3 hours in warm place. Punch down the dough and divide it into 2 or 3 portions ( for smaller braids) to create braids. Each portion, divided into 3 equal parts & roll each into ropes about 30cm long. Braid the 3 ropes to form a loaf. Now it is the time to insert a coin!


You can also make other shapes, roll the ropes into spiral like snail, or anything of your choice. Place the braid on a greased or parchement paper lined baking tray. Cover them, and allow rising in a warm place for 1hr. Preheat oven to gas mark 5 or 350F. Brush with beaten egg, sprinkle with sugar,  sesame seeds & habet barakeh. Bake in oven on medium heat for 20-30 min or until it is golden. Sahtein!

Thursday 3 February 2011

Sharabet Afandi ( Clementine Syrup)

   My favourite cold drink is Sharabet Afandi ( Clementine syrup) which mum used to prepare every year. She would proudly serve them in the summer when she had guests.


Ingredients:
1 cup  Clementine Juice
2 cups  Sugar
1/2  Lemon Juice

Once Clementine squeezed,  run the juice through a muslin sheet to remove any chunks of fruit.
Now the juice is very smooth.  Measure the juice; for every cup of juice add 2 cups of sugar.
Stir Well on low heat till the sugar dissolved. No need to boil the syrup. Leave to cool  overnight. Once cooled, poor in bottles and close them properly.

When preparing the drink, pour about 3 tablespoons of syrup into a glass & top it with cold water . 
Still well. Add ice cubes & serve.