Cheese Halva.

Hello everybody.

Yesterday I did this kind of famous Arabic dessert for the fist time, always thought it’s a difficult messy recipe but actually it’s not at all, got the recipe from a lovely friend which explained it in a very clear easy way.

Ingredients and method:

1 cup fine semolina.
1 cup milk.
1 cup sugar.
1/2 kg mozzarella cheese.
2 tablespoons rose water.
1/2 tsp crushed mistika.
2 cups fresh cream.
1 cup syrup.
crushed pistachios for garnish.

* Mix semolina,milk and sugar very well.

*Heat till it thickens then add rose water and mistaka.

*lower heat then gradually start adding the cheese and whisk all together till you get a smooth homogeneous .

*spread half of the syrup on your kitchen surface then spread the dough evenly over it till you get a big triangle.

*add a line of cream on the edge then roll one time till you get a cylindrical shape.

*cut with a sharp knife to even pieces and line them in a plate.

*repeat till all dough is done.

*garnish with pistachios then leave in fridge to cool.

Old Fashioned Date Cookies (نواعم)

Hello everybody.

Usual beginning of the week, cleaning,cooking and organizing.

Lunch today was mloukhieh with chicken though my family are not fans but it’s a good quick solution sometimes.

After all household work was done I thought I’d try a small quantity of these cookies so as to try the new mould my hubby bought from downtown and mainly cause I have this extra pack of dates from last Eid,don’t like to keep old stuff for long periods.

Found this recipe in various pages but I elaborated a bit on it, to be honest I used a bit of pure homemade ghee (سمنه بلدية) in order to have this old times smell and flavour.

Ingredients and method :
# 2 cups fine semolina.
# 4 cups flour.
# 2 cups butter or ghee ( I used 1/2 ghee, 1 butter and 1/2 vegetable oil)
# 1 tablespoon anise powder.
# 1 teaspoon fennel powder.
# 1 tsp special cookie spice (كلفه كعك)
#1/2 cup sugar.
# 1 tsp instant yeast dissolved in 1 tablespoon sugar and a cup of warm water.
# 2 tablespoons rose water.

# pitted dates mixed with cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and anise powders.

# Heat butter then mix with semolina, flour and all spices very well till crumbly.
# leave for 2-3 hours till all butter is well absorbed.
# add frothy yeast and water and mix all well.
# add rose water and knead all together.

# start working right away by stuffing small portions of dough with dates and shape them in the moulds.
# bake in a well heated oven at first then reduce heat to medium till golden.

Serve with tea or coffee.

وصفه النواعم :
2 كوب سميد ناعم
4 كوب طحين
2 كوب زبده او سمنه( اليوم استعملت كوب زبده، نصف كوب سمنة بلدية ونصف كوب زيت نباتي)
ملعقة كبيرة يانسون
ملعقة صغيرة شومر
ملعقة صغيرة كلفه كعك
نصف كوب سكر
ملعقة صغيرة خميره مذوبه مع كوب ماء فاتر ومعلقه سكر
ملعقة كبيرة ماء زهر.
تمر مطحون ومعجون مع قرفه، هيل،كبش قرنفل ويانسون

اضيفي الزبدة الذائبه وهي ساخنه الى السميد والطحين والبهارات واخلطي جيدا.
يترك المزيج ليتشرب الزبد لمده 2-3 ساعات.
تضاف الخميره والماء وماء الزهر ويعجن المزيج جيدا
تحشى كرات من العجين بالتمر وتوضع في القالب وتصف بالصواني
تشوى النواعم في فرن حامي جدا من قبل ومن ثم متوسط عند الشوي

صحتين وعافيه

old fashioned cookies.

ready to go.

Preserved Grape Dessert (خبيصه عنب)

Hello everybody.

Did you ever thought of what to do with all the grapes that ripene all at once on your vine tree? Well of course you can make juice, raisins, vinegar or simply give aways to family and friends.

A very very old way that our late grandmas used to preserve excessive amounts of grapes is making this kind of dessert that can be kept without any damage throughout Winter season, nice energetic dessert.

In Arabic it’s called “Khabissa “خبيصه. It’s done a lot till now in Jordan specially in Northern Villages were they grow very good grapes all over.

In Greece and Cyprus they do something similar called Soujouka, usually done with nuts wrapped in grape juice or pomegranate or kharoub.Thought to try doing some today but found it a bit difficult so I’ll stick to old Jordanian way this time.

Ingredients and method :
# 10 cups of sieved fresh grape juice.
# 1 cup fine semolina.
# 1 cup sugar.
# 2 1/2 tablespoons anise powder.
# 2 tablespoons Areesh seeds ( don’t know what’s the English name for it, it’s a kind of seed)
# 1 tablespoon sesame seeds.
# 1 tablespoon black seeds.
# 2 tablespoons crushed almonds.

# mix all ingredients well together and bring to a boil till it thickens.
# pour and spread mixture in a wide pan over a clean thin cloth.
# leave in the sun for 3-5 days till it’s really dry.
# cover with any kind of cloth or tool to keep away bugs and dust.
# cut to squares and keep in a well closed jar.

Note: you can make this like very thin sheets and roll them when dried or as cubes depending on your liking.

Will post photos of end up results later on.

boiled mixture.

covered and set in the sun.

Halva (حلاوه السميد).

Hello everybody, hope you’re enjoying the holiday so far.

Today we’re Mansaf-ing also,a record this month too much mansafs in such a short time,all by coincidence by the way.

A kind of dessert that’s both light and goes well with mansaf is this Greek recipe, they call it halva or semolina dessert.

Ingredients and method:

* 2 cups semolina ( you can use 1 coarse and 1 fine semolina or 2 fine )

* 3/4 cup vegetable oil.

* 3 cups sugar.

* 4 cups water.

* 1 tsp cinnamon.

* some almonds or walnuts for decoration.

* in one pan add semolina,oil and cinnamon stir well over low heat till all golden or brownish.

* in another pan boil sugar and water for 10 minutes.

* add syrup over semolina slowly and mix very well and leave to boil all together till it thickens.

* pour mixture in a mold or any shaped pan you have,you can add nuts in the bottom or later as you wish.

* leave in fridge to cool then turn it over and sprinkle with cinnamon before serving.

book photo.

Harisseh or Basboussa. (Semolina Cake).

Hello everybody.

Many friends and family are asking me these days,aren’t you tired of cooking everyday? or even the most frequent question , Is that really you cooking or do you write down recipes from the internet???

Well,answers are, I’m not tired cause I don’t actually cook everyday ,most of the days to be exact,I sometimes make an extra salad or side dish when I have leftovers,or even make cookies or cake like today. As for the second question,I really want to emphasize that it’s me cooking,and I’ve never copied a picture or recipe from any website , and I do really hope that my readers are enjoying and benefiting from my recipes and articles.

Today I’m making a favorite sweet to many, specially my husband, Harisseh or Basboussa as some people name it cause yesterday we were visiting the lovely Odeh couple and the sweet auntie suggested i make it when I asked her what to do as sweets tomorrow,and of course hubby encouraged the idea!

I have many many different recipes for it,each time I try one, this time it’s Auntie Fozzieh’s Harisseh as written in my cookbook,she’s my husband’s beloved aunt,he says my auntie makes the best harisseh,hope mine will be as good as hers 😉

Ingredients and method:

* 2 cups coarse semolina.

* 1 cup sugar.

* 1 1/2 cups milk or half yogurt and one milk.

* 1/2 spoon sodium bicarbonate.

* 3 teaspoons baking powder.

* some butter for brushing the surface only.

* sugar syrup ( boil 3 cups of sugar with 1 1/2 cups water and a small spoon lemon juice,simmer till syrupy).

* Mix all ingredients very well preferably with your hands,then leave to rest and rise for 3-4 hours.

* brush deep oven pan with tahini or butter,add batter.

* brush butter on surface,you may decorate with nuts and coconut if you like.

* bake in a medium heated oven for 30 minutes or till edges are golden then toast the surface also.

* add cooled syrup on it while hot so as be be absorbed well.

* cut to squares and serve.

Now I’m waiting for the judge,fingers crossed !!

Semolina Pudding Cake.

Hello everybody.
Mansaf-ing today also !!!! . We have a dear guest from UAE so Mansaf is requested.
I did the dessert though we brought knafeh, but I have this recipe since mother’s day thought i’ll try it today.
This one also has no title, put one according to ingredients or as I have it in my cook book Rania’s Cake.

Ingredients and method:
* 3 cups milk.
* 4 large tablespoons cornflour.
* 1/2 cup sugar.
* 1 tsp rose water. ( ماء ورد )
* 1 tsp blossom water (ماء زهر ).
* 1 pack cream.
* mix milk with cornflour and boil till thick then add rest of ingredients, mix well and leave to cool .then use as filling.

* 1 cup sugar.
* 1 cup milk powder.
* 1 cup semolina.
* 3 tablespoons coconut.
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil.
* 1 tsp vanilla.
* 1 1/2 tsp baking powder.
* 2 eggs.
* 1 small spoon white vinegar.
* 1 pack cream.
* zest of lemon or orange.

* mix all together till homogeneous.
* spread half of batter in oven pan.
* spread cooled filling on top.
* spread other half of batter on top, I used wax paper for easy handling then removed it when cake almost done.
* bake 30-35 minutes till done in a medium heated oven.
* serve when cooled.

Greek Semolina Cake (هريسه يونانيه )

Hello everybody.

I usually like to have something sweet on the kitchen table to serve with coffee or tea in case any sudden visitors came by, which is frequent..not that I mind, all family and friends know that they’re welcome anytime, coffee and sweets always available ( حمدلله).
As expected brownies were gone in no time.so today it’s my husband’s turn for his favorite dessert Harisseh or as some people call it Basbousa. I do have some excellent quality semolina (.سميد ). Must thank my hubby’s best friend Basil for that for he’s always a generous provider of excellent flour and semolina .

This recipe is a bit diffrent than normally done Harisseh. I have it in my Greek cook book (a must have cause all its recepies are great).
Ingredients:
*4 eggs.
* 1 tsp vanilla.
* 1 cup sugar.
* 1/2 cup coconut (optional).
* 1/2 yoghurt.
* 3/4 cup butter.
* 2 1/2 cups coarse or fine semolina.
* 2 tsp baking powder.
* 1/4 tsp sodium bicarbonate.
For the sugar syrup :
* 3 cups sugar.
* 1 1/2 cups water.
* 1 small spoon lemon juice.

*Mix all ingredients alternatively. Grease a
medium size pan with butter or tahini (طحينه ).add the batter
*Sprinkle with almonds then bake in a medium heated oven till golden.
* As for the syrup mix sugar and water, heat till it boils, add lemon juice and leave to simmer till it thickens .approximately 20-30 min.leave to cool.
* Add cold syrup on cake when still hot so as to be absorbed well.

Well lunch today is light, still have some noodles from yesterday so i made some spinach pastries..these will do I guess.:)

The dough is the same as pizza I made last week, but I added some sesame seeds and black seeds (قزحه ) , I also used 4 cups whole wheat flour with 2 cups plain white flour.
* Filling was spinach rubbed in salt, finely chopped onion, summaq ( سماق ) ،lemon juice,olive oil,some pomegranate molasses ( دبس رمان )، salt, pepper, paprika and chilli powder as desired.
* Devide dough to small balls, spread, fill with spinach then close as triangles.
I even had some extra dough today, filled it with cheese and fresh thyme leaves from the garden.:)
*Bake in a well heated oven till bottoms are brown then drizzle tops with olive oil and roast.

Enjoy ♡♥♡♥