MAMOUL
DATE STUFFED SEMOLINA COOKIES
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Baking Time: 20- 25 minutes
Makes 20-22 cookies
Dough:
2 cups flour 1 cup semolina
1 teaspoon baking powder ¼ cup milk
2 sticks unsalted butter in room temperature
1 teaspoon rose water
Filling
12 pitted medjool dates
¼ cup powder sugar to dust on the cookies
2 drops of olive oil to oil the mamoul mold
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, combine flour, semolina and baking powder, mix well. Next, add butter, milk and orange blossom water to dry ingredients and combine until dough is formed.
In a food processor, blend walnuts until fine and crumbly, pour walnuts into bowl and add sugar, cinnamon, ginger and orange blossom water.
Next, put the dates into the food processor and blend until it is formed into a fine ball, remove and add cardamom and set aside.
To form maamoul cookies, divide the dough in equal 2 parts for 2 different fillings. Roll dough into balls, smaller than golf balls, poke an indent into the ball and place some of the filling inside, close the opening until all of the filling is
SULTAN SARMASI
BIRD’S NEST SHAPED MINI BAKLAVA
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Baking Time: 20 minutes
Makes 30 mini cupcake size baklavas
½ cup pistachios ½ cup walnuts
½ cup almonds 1 tea spoon orange zest
2 teaspoons melted unsalted butter for the nuts ¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon salt
1 box thawed fillo dough
½ stick melted unsalted butter to brush on the fillo cups
Syrup for Baklava:
¼ cup honey ½ cup sugar
½ cup water 1 tea spoon of rose water
Special Requirement: 2 mini cup cake pans, food processor
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Prepare the syrup first. In a small saucepan over medium heat add the water, sugar and honey and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until reduced and slightly thickened, 8 to 10 minutes. Let it cool on the side.
Arrange the pistachios, walnuts, and almonds on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until golden and fragrant, about 8 minutes. Let nuts cool slightly and add to a food processor along with the orange zest, 3 tablespoons of sugar, butter, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla and pulse to combine.
Fillo dough comes approximately 13x18. There are 20 sheets. We devide the sheets in half. We need to make close to 3.5 inch squares out of 10 sheets. We basically open the bag of fillo, put the first 20 sheets on the side, lay the rest of the sheets on the counter and cut 5 from the length, and 4 from the width , 4 times 5 squares ( total 20 squares ). Hold each square cut fillo dough bundle Place mini fillo shells in wells of 2 mini cupcake pans. Brush the melted butter on the layers of the fillo cups. Add 1 teaspoon of the nut mixture into each shell. Repeat the same procedure for the other 10 sheets of dough you put on the side. Bake until filling is hot, the fillo is golden brown for about 10 – 15 minutes. Once you take the muffin pans out of the oven, place them on the counter. Pour 2 teaspoon syrup into each cup and allow it to soak in, and then repeat with teaspoon. Let it cool before serving. The longer it sits in the refrigerator or on the counter, the better it will taste
BONJAN MOUSAKKA
Cumin –Scented Spicy Eggplant in a Creamy Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
2 Eggplants peeled, and cut in half side way, sliced in ½ inch thickness,
( 4 cups of water and 1 tea spoon of salt mixed for the eggplant )
3 table spoon of olive oil, ½ cup of finely chopped onions,
2 chopped medium size tomatoes,
4-5 chopped garlic cloves
½ tea spoon of cumin seeds,
½ tea spoon of coriander,
½ tea spoon of turmeric,
2-3 cloves, pinch of cinnamon
½ cup of chopped fresh red pepper ,
½ cup of cilantro,
1 table spoon of lemon juice,
1 cup of tomato sauce,
¼ cup of green pepper or chopped chili pepper,
1 tea spoon of kosher salt,
Place the peeled and sliced eggplant in a bowl of water . Add 1 tea spoon of water in the bowl for the eggplant to release the bitter taste of it at least 1 hour ahead of the cooking.
In a medium size skillet place the oil and as the oil gets warmer add the cumin seeds, 2 min. later turmeric, coriander, cinnamon, gloves, and onions and garlic, Fry onions and garlic for about 5-7 min. on low heat, add the chopped red pepper and the rest of the ingredients except eggplant and chopped tomatoes. Cook the sauce for 5-7min. until onions cook well. If it gets too thick add a couple spoon of water. On the other side rinse the eggplant, place it in a previously greased glass or metal tray , pour the sauce over , spread the tomatoes by covering all the eggplant. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15 min. covered, for 10 min. uncovered. Sprinkle with cilantro before serving it. Serve with rice or couscous, warm or cold or serve it with pita bread…