Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Walima Second Challenge Representing the Bahraini Cuisine

The Kingdom of Bahrain (Arabicمملكة البحرين‎, Mamlakat al-Baḥrayn, literally: Kingdom of the Two Seas) is an Arabic Island Country in the Persian Gulf ruled by the Al Khalifa Royal Family. Saudi Arabia lies to the west and is connected to Bahrain by the King Fahd Causeway, which officially opened on 25 November 1986. Qatar is to the southeast across the Gulf of Bahrain. The planned Qatar-Bahrain Friendship Bridge will link Bahrain to Qatar as the longest fixed link in the world.
The culinary history of Bahrain spreads over a wider time span from the far off Dilmun era to the present days. In between, it has also adopted both eastern and western eating habits to perfection making cuisine of Bahrain a medley of flavors.The food items in traditional Bahraini cuisine include fish, meat, rice and dates. Among the most famous Bahraini dishes are Machboos - dish prepared with meat or fish and served with rice and Muhammar - sweet rice served with dates or sugar. Fresh fish is an important part of the Bahraini diet. Dishes prepared with Hamour, Crayfish, Crap, Prawns, Lobster, Tuna, Safi, and Mackerel are the most popular fishes that are served grilled, fried or steamed mostly with rice.
The June Challenge is brought to us by Arlette from Phoenician Gourmet and Summer from mimicooks.com. They choose two recipes giving the participants the choice between savoury or sweet.
Fish Stew
Ingredients:
1 tsp of turmeric
2 tbsp of vegetable oil
1 kg of fish fillet cubed
2 jalapeno peppers seeds removed and finely chopped
1 tbsp of freshly chopped fresh ginger
4 cloves of garlic chopped
2 med size chopped onions around 300gm
300 gm chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp of dried mustard
2 ½ cups of water (625ml)
2 cubes of chicken bouillon (unless you have homemade chicken stock. Replace the water with stock)
2 tbsp of freshly chopped cilantro
Preparation:
Mix the turmeric with veggie oil, and marinate the fish in it for couple of minutes.Then lay the fish on a baking tray and bake in a preheated 400F oven for 18 minutes to turn golden brown.In a food processor, add the garlic, onion, jalapeno peppers tomatoes ginger and mustard, and whip until it turns to paste. Heat a non stick pan and cook the paste on medium heat, without oil, till it start to turn golden,(takes around 5 min) add the water and dissolved chicken bouillon or the chicken stock, whatever you have on hand, and cook for 7-8 minutes more to become a thick sauce, pour over the fish in the oven and continue cooking for 10 more minutes.Serve over basmati rice and sprinkle fresh cilantro on top..
Khabeesah - Dessert
Ingredients:
4¼ cups plain flour or 600 g (I used Semolina flour)
4½ cups water or 1125 ml (I used whole Milk)
½ teaspoon saffron filaments
¾ cup sugar or 150 g (used one cup)
¾ tablespoon ground cardamom
3 tablespoons rose water
3 tablespoons desiccated coconut
½ cup butter unsalted or 100 gm
1 can sweetened condensed milk - 397 g (used pure Canadian maple syrup)
Preparation:
Sift the flour and add it to a large saucepan placed over medium heat. Toss flour and stir continuously until golden brown. Remove from heat and sift again.Add water, saffron, sugar, cardamom, rose water, desiccated coconut and half the quantity of butter to a large saucepan. Bring ingredients to boil.Add the toasted flour gradually to the water while stirring continuously.Add remaining butter, and stir until well combined. Cover and cook on very low heat for 30 minutes.
Remove from heat and cool.Add condensed milk and stir until well combined.
Serve at room temperature with coffee. You can add tooted nuts on top of the platter.
A cup of Turkish Coffee with a plate of Khabeesah
Toasting the Coconuts,then the Semolina, adding the Milk and sugar, stirring then adding the toasted coconuts after you take it off the heat.

a serving plate of Khabeesah with toasted coconuts



the plate is decorated with toasted coconuts, chopped almond, pistachios and dried apricots mixed with some cardamom. Its a smooth pudding full of the aroma and flavours of Saffron and Cardamom and the Rose water . tasty , reminds me of a dish I grew up eating specially for breakfast called Mamounieh, its also prepared by toasting semolina, then adding sugar , water and butter and cooked together. (this was the reason I used semolina) Serve it hot with a dash of cinnamon, and if you want to get the best of the two world add Arabic Cheese, and you will be biting into sweet and salty flavour at the same time . Try it and enjoy a nice pudding served any time!!!!


Ahlan Wa Sahlan


To see the Savoury Recipe check the Walima Members and see their posting.

Our July Challenge will Represent the Egyptian Cuisine, Join us if you are interested to taste the Middle Eastern Flavours.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Bakewell Tart - June Daring Bakers Challenge




A customer at the North Bay Farmer’s Market gave me two frozen bags of Sour Cherries, she said use them in your baking, also they make good jam. She will have fresh fruits soon, and if I need more she can pick me fresh ones when they are ready.

Sour Cherry is not a popular fruit in Lebanon, I know that we use the nut inside the seeds for our baking, and it’s called Mahleb, and it’s available in all Lebanese/Middle Eastern Stores.

I wanted to make some jam using the frozen sour cherries, and I searched to net to find 1) an easy way to take the seeds 2) a good recipe for jam without using pectin which we don’t use.
I found a simple way by cooking the cherries for 10-15 minutes then mash them or use a hand mouline to mash the fruit and get rid of the seeds. The result was a red syrupy paste. My first choice was using Quince to the mixture first to add a texture and get the nature pectin but quince is not available in the markets in North Bay, so my second choice went to the green pears, which is almost similar to quince and they do keep their shapes and taste excellent in jams and have pectin. And my two frozen bags turned to exotic jam with beautiful flavour, I added freshly ground cloves, nutmeg and fennel seeds in the mix

I wanted to make some pies for the market, and since the challenge of June was the Bakewell Tart, this became my first choice, and on Friday morning
I prepared enough dough to make 20 - 4 inch pies and 20 - 8 inch pies.
A dozen of each size was made using the Bakewell Tart recipe, and since I made enough frangipane to made fresh fruit tarts with frangipane paste.

There are two types of Bakewell Tart. The first is the “pudding” where a layer of jam is covered by an almondy pastry cream and baked in puff pastry. The second is the “tart” where a rich Shortcrust pastry holds jam and an almondy sponge cake-like filling.
The version we’re daring you to make is a combination of the two: a sweet almond-flavored Shortcrust pastry, frangipane and jam.
Like many regional dishes there’s no “one way” to make a Bakewell Tart or Pudding, but most of today’s versions fall within one of two types. The first is the “pudding” where a layer of jam is covered by an almondy pastry cream and baked in puff pastry. The second is the “tart” where a rich Shortcrust pastry holds jam and an almondy sponge cake-like filling.
Thanks to Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Aneemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar who chose such a delicious and classic English treat. What a fun challenge this was!

Dough recipe for 9 inch pie:
225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water
Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rubs the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.
Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form cohesive and slightly sticky dough.
Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Frangipane:
Prep time: 10-15 minutes Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula
125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour
Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep it’s slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.





Chilled Tart Shells ready for the OvenSour Cherry & Pear Jam is used for stuffing


Fragipane topping over the jam


Dozen 4" tarts & dozen 8" tarts were baked for the market



Tasty and elegant Tart, easy to prepare with a beautiful dough base



A nice color combination

I will definetley make this tart again