Like poha, the girls have loved to eat upma since they were babies.

For me, it is a convenient option as it is one of those easy to cook and all-in-one meals – carbs plus vegetables plus some protein from the lentils.

This is what we had for lunch today, with yogurt on the side, clementine juice and then fresh pineapple – which Indira prefers to the canned variety – for dessert.

Though coconut chutney and/or sambhar are the ideal accompaniments for upma, I sometimes eat mine with ketchup – a habit acquired in childhood.  Ma has always made the most delicious upma and it was probably sacrilege to smother its’ flavors in ketchup but back then it was the way Bittu b. and I enjoyed eating it most !

Rava Upma

1 cup of suji/rava/semolina

1 medium-sized onion

2 small carrots

1/4-1/2 cup of frozen green peas (less or more, as you like it)

1 small tomato

1 dry red chilli, broken in two

1/2-3/4 teaspoon of mustard seeds

2 tablespoons (or a little less) of yellow split pea lentils (chana daal)

6-8 curry leaves

2-3 tablespoons of sunflower oil, 1/2 of ghee

Roast the semolina in a warm pan for a few minutes till the grains start to turn a very light brown – at this stage there is a very distinct aroma.

In the meanwhile, in another large frying pan, heat the oil a little and add the mustard seeds. When these begin to crackle, add the curry leaves, the chana daal and the red chilli halves. Roast the daal till it begins to turn a light brown, then add the onions. Cook these for a little longer than when they turn translucent,

Just had a quick look at the USGS seismic app and note that there was a magnitude 4.5 earthquake in Oaxaca, Mexico this morning. I wonder exactly where in Mexico, Oaxaca is, but guess that it probably close to the famous ‘ring of fire’ and the constantly active tectonic plates in the Pacific region.

I have an amateur interest in earthquakes, volcanoes and many other natural subjects.  I am also very interested in cooking good food and enjoy experimenting in the kitchen both randomly and with a scientific approach, just to see what happens.

Over the past few months, I have learnt to make bread from scratch and what an amazing learning experience this has been.  Bread is one of the essential food products that we eat but this is a food product which has, sadly, been taken for granted since the industrialisation of bread.

Many people would agree that they enjoy eating bread made by, what is termed nowadays, Artisan Bakers, compared to mass produced bread found in any supermarket. Most people enjoy eating the variety of national/regional breads on offer when eating out or when travelling abroad. The different textures of bread, the chewiness of the crust, the shape, smell and flavour of freshly baked bread eaten with a hearty soup on a cold day or dipped in green olive oil can only be described as perfection.

I had always thought that making bread would be a laborious task with an uncertain end result, i.e. disaster! This is clearly not the case. Anyone can make good bread and the bread making process can fit around most busy schedules. The key ingredients are available in a well stocked supermarket or a specialist grocers and once you have got to grips with the basics of good bread making, then you will see how easy and truly pleasurable it is. [1]

Yesterday, I baked a semolina and fennel loaf that got the seal of approval from the boyf, who immediately wolfed down half the loaf with the buttery sauce from the scallops he had just made. The recipe to making this loaf with a gentle aniseed flavour is as follows:

First Stage (this stage should be done a day before you would bake the bread)

Estimate time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients

75g Strong White Flour (not plain flour for making cakes)

75g Semolina Flour

5g dried yeast

150ml warm water (this should be blood temperature, not hot or this will kill the yeast and not cold as the yeast will take a long time to wake up and become active)

1. First wake up the yeast in a glass. Put the dried yeast in a clear glass with approx 2g of brown sugar or 2g flour and the 150ml of warm water.  Mix the solution gently so that the yeast and its food supply (the sugar or flour) dissolve. Leave the solution for approx 10 to 15 minutes and you should see a cm or two of froth forming on the top of the solution.  This is a positive sign that your yeast solution is active and ready to make bread.
2. In a mixing bowl, add the measured flour then add the yeast solution. Mix to a soft spongy paste, making sure that there are no pockets of unmixed dry flour. The paste is likely to be wet, which is good. Cover the solution with a bag or clingfilm and leave at room temperature to ferment gently for 16 to 24 hours.

Over this period, the gluten structure of the first stage dough will develop, you will see the dough rise and collapse and the yeast cells will have multiplied to help with the next stage of bread making.

Fermenting the first stage dough over a long period helps to create more flavour in the final dough. Bread can be proved over a shorter period, indeed many of the recipes on the side of the flour packets can be made within six hours or less, however proving bread over a longer period helps to create a flavoursome, breadier loaf.

Second Stage

Estimated time: 25 to 30 minutes

Ingredients

First stage dough

270g semolina flour

Pinch of sea salt

7g crushed fennel

3g crushed coriander seed

1 table spoon of honey ( I used a clover honey, which had a slight floral hint)

135g of warm water

You will need to get your hands dirty for this stage, so remove any jewellery and get ready to knead all the ingredients together.

3. Add all the ingredients together in the mixing bowl which contains the first stage dough and then start mixing by hand. All the ingredients should combine to a wet, sloppy dough and there should be no water left in the bowl. This may take some time as semolina takes a little longer than flour to absorb liquid. Keep kneading until the dough is stretchy. If the dough is a little wet, that’s fine. If the dough is dry, then add some water to soften the mixture. Cover the mixture and leave to rise in the bowl for 2 hours in a warm place.

Final stage

4. Prepare a 1lb non stick loaf tin by dusting with semolina flour

5. Scrape the risen second stage dough from the mixing bowl onto a dusted work surface and gently knead and mould the dough in a oblong/sausage shape to fill a third to half of the bread tin.  Any excess dough can be made into rolls and placed onto a dusted baking sheet.

6. Cover the bread tin and leave the dough to rise until it has doubled in size. This will take approx 1 to 2 hours in a warm place (at 30C) A word of warning, at this stage I would recommend using an inflated bag rather than cling film to cover the loaf tin, as any contact that the rising dough has with the cling film will have the effect of pulling and sinking the risen dough.

7. Check the progress of the dough. When it has nearly doubled in size, heat your oven to 190C and make sure that your oven has got to that temperature before you put the loaf in.

8. Depending on the ferocity of your oven, the loaf should be cooked within 20 to 25 minutes. If you are making rolls with any excess dough, these should be done within 12 to 15 minutes.

The loaf should have a lovely golden brown colour from baking (and from the caramelisation of sugar on the crust).

Turn over on a cooling rack and tap the bottom to see if the loaf has a hollow knock. Leave to cool on the rack for 30 minutes before tucking in.

Enjoy by itself, with olive oil or butter, with a hearty bowl of soup, sliced and served as part of a mixed salad or toasted for tomorrow’s breakfast, if there is any left.

Rava Dosa

Semolina based South Indian Tortillas

Ingredients

• 1 cup semolina
• 1 cup rice flour
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 2 green chilies, chopped
• A pinch of asafoetida
• Few curry leaves, chopped
• Few cahsewnut and coconut pieces
• 1/4 tsp. soda bi-carb
• 3 tsp. oil
• ghee (clarified butter) or oil for frying
• Salt according to taste

Serve with

Serve hot with coconut chutney.

Method

1. Mix both the flours and add the soda bi-carb, salt and enough water to make a very thin batter.
2. Heat the oil in a small vessel, add the cumin seeds and fry until they crackle.
3. Add the green chilies, asafetida, curry leaves and fry for a few seconds. Add this mixture to the batter.
4. Heat a tava (griddle) and grease it lightly with Ghee(clarified butter). Pour 1/2 cup batter in a circular manner, add a few cashewnut pieces and coconut pieces.
5. Pour a little Ghee(clarified butter) in the holes of the dosa, fold in a triangular shape and cook until crisp.

Maybe you’ll say that it’s very simliar to this recipe - and you’re right. And wrong. It’s also a Schmarrn, an Austrian Mehlspeise which is made in a skillet; but this time the base is semolina. Just ordinary wheat-semolina. As it’s not complicated, it’s very good for bento-preparing late in the evening.

My mother uses 750 ml milk, 500 g of semolina and 3 eggs for 5 persons, I changed the mix a little bit for not having to use 3/5 of an egg, it would be too complicated…

You need:
1 little piece of butter or margarine (maybe 20-30 g)
100 g of semolina
100 ml milk
1 egg

In a large skillet, melt the butter and add the semolina. Let it toast a little bit stirring once in a while. In a bowl, mix well the milk and the egg. Add this mix to the semolina, lower the heat and wait until the dough in the pan get’s “dry”, then with a fork or a spoon make little parts (as shown in the picture). Wait until it gets golden brown. Serve with sugar and cinnamom and apple sauce or other compote.

(If you wonder what you see in the picture: the mini-pot in the front doesn’t contain jam but sugar – it’s very useful for my bento!)

Another week. Another Cookbook Challenge. We are now onto Week 5 and the theme is Greek.

Book: Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros Theme: Greek Recipe: Semolina & Yoghurt Syrup Cake with Rosewater

I have with me two distinctly Greek cookbooks. One is Falling Cloudberries and another is Greek Cookery from the Hellenic Heart by George Colombaris on loan from Nicole. Good old George. I can’t say I have any affinity with him since I have yet to see an episode of Masterchef and never really took his anti-food blogger rant personally. However, it seems to be a food blogger tradition to have a slight dig at him. So Tessa wins this round with her lovely, more femininely detailed book as opposed to George’s cold masculine writing style. I am also in love with the idea of rosewater in cakes. Nicole, my personal Greek consultant, said ‘you know, Greeks don’t use rosewater that much. That’s Turkish.’ Whatever Nicole. Tessa assures me this is a typical Greek-Cypriot cake!

Rilsta (from My Food Trail) had kindly invited us around to her fabulous home for a baking session on Saturday. It was also where I met up with Agnes (from Off the Spork) and Arale79 (from Meals on Budget) – who were both amazingly lovely and put up with me jabbering away for 6 hours straight. Where do you find nicer people!?! They also showed me baking tricks and tips (‘you have to use a scale!’) and I had a go at Rilsta’s fabulous red Kitchenaid (so hands-off, so not my style of cooking) but I have to say it’s impressively red and much more awesome than my handheld mixer.

So before I go on to talk about all the fabulous things that the other ladies had made, I will write about the cake. As always, this recipe has been heavily adjusted from the cookbook. So please refer to Tessa’s book if you would like her recipe.

Semolina and Yoghurt Cake

This recipe here is being given on grams mainly because, oh my god, I actually (was made to) WEIGHED the ingredients this time!

1. 125 g. of unsalted butter, chopped and softened*
2. 230 g. (1 cup) of raw sugar
3. 250 g. (1 cup) of plain Greek-style yoghurt
4. 1 tbsp of rosewater
5. 3 eggs, separated
6. zest from 1/2 lemon **
7. 125 g. (1 cup) of plain flour
8. 125 g. (1 cup) of fine semolina
9. 2 tsp of baking powder
10. 55 g. (1/2 cup) of almond meal***

Preheat the oven to 180′c – no fan.

Cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is pale and creamy. Sift together the flour and baking powder and add with semolina to the mixture. Add lemon (or lime) zest, egg yolks, rosewater, yoghurt and almond meal to the mixture and beat until well combined. Whisk egg whites until white and fluffy and soft peaks form and slow fold into the cake mixture.

Line the cake tin (I used 20cm cake tin but I reckon square tin, as Tessa suggested, would have been much better) with baking paper and grease the side with a bit of butter. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for about 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean and the top browned appropriately. Turn the cake out on a wire rack to cool.

Rosewater Syrup

While waiting for the cake to cool, make syrup. You want to pour HOT syrup of COOLED cake, so time yourself accordingly.

1. 1.5 cups of water
2. 1 cup of sugar (or 1.5 cups) ****
3. 3 tbsp of rosewater

Bring the water and sugar to boil for five minutes. Add the rosewater. Slowly pour hot syrup over the cooled cake. Keep soaking the cake until it becomes saturated. You might need to stop and give the cake some time to absorb the syrup.

* I prefer to be patient and wait for my butter to soften but time waits for no one. You can soft the butter at 90W in the microwave in 10 second bursts while keeping a very keen eye on it. That way, your butter will soften and not melt.
** Tessa called for lime rind but I only had lemon.
*** I completely forgot to add the almond meal. Baking failed. Make sure you don’t.
**** I had halved the sugar in the syrup because we were going to serve the cake with Rilsta’s home made ice cream which was rather sweet. Tessa had recommended serving it with not-so-sweet ice cream. So I made a decision to halve the sugar. The cake was definitely more than sweet enough with half sugar syrup BUT it did lack the lovely, proper, sugar-to-the-max authentic Mediterranean dessert feel, so you decide. I personally will go the whole hog with the sugar next time because I am all for the authentic taste despite how scaringly sweet it may be.

And now on to the other fabulous food the other girls made. Rilsta made us a comforting, flavoursome moussaka (see her blog post on how to make it) for lunch. It was so nice I would have had seconds if I didn’t have to save room for dessert.

Arale79 made watermelon and feta salad. I have no idea why I don’t have a picture. I’m pretty sure I took at least one. But it was yum. I also made a small bread salad as a lunch contribution.

Agnes made a batch of kourambiedes (Greek almond shortbread). They were crumbly and lovely. They filled the house with lovely buttery scent. She was so efficient with them. I watched in awe.

Great day. Thanks ladies! Additional thanks to the gracious hostess and her hubby who had to deal with a big pile of dishes and me dirtying their pristine kitchen. I am forever grateful for their hospitality.

Update 21/12/09 – see what everyone else made.

Upma

A tortilla made out of Semolina & Pulse.

Ingredients

• 1 cup semolina
• 1/2 tsp. each cumin and mustard seeds
• 1 onion chopped
• 3 green chilies chopped
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. Oil
• Salt according to taste
• 2-3 cups boiling water

For Garnishing:

Few tomato slices

1 tsp. coriander chopped

Advice

If it feels too dry , add more water and stir. According to once liking you can also mould the mixture into a greased cup when hot and unmould onto serving plate.

Serve with

Green chutney or sauce. Goes very well with steaming coffee or tea.

Method

1. At the very first in a pan add the semolina and stir continuously till the semolina gives out a nice aroma. Takes about 7-8 minutes to roast the semolina on low flame.
2. In an another pan heat the oil and add the cumin and mustard seeds, green chilies, curry leaves and fry on low till light golden.
3. Add the onions to this mixture and cook till the onions are pink.
4. Now add the cooked semolina and salt to this mixture and stir. Carefully pour in 2 cups of boiling water and stir well.
5. Use a long handled spatula for stirring to keep away from the spluttering.
6. Keep on low and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add lemon juice and coriander and mix well.
7. Decorate with tomato slices and eat hot.

As part of a European food tour hosted by Kuchnia Ireny i Andrzeja called “Traveling Europe by Fork,”I prepared semolina halva with pine nuts. Every week, Irena and Andrzej choose a country in Europe (and the vicinity) and cook dishes that are traditional to that region. This week the chosen country is Armenia. After looking through dozens of dessert recipes, I decided on semolina halva, which is a dessert that is very popular in the Caucasus.

I always associated halva with the very sweet nut-butter block, and was very surprised to learn that the term “halva” covers a variety of desserts. The main ingredients include semolina and sweetened condensed milk. It’s very easy to cook, but it does require you to stand by the stove for about an hour. The smell of the toasted semolina with the sweetened milk while it was cooking was just lovely. It wasn’t spicy, but it was a sweet and comforting smell.  I would make this recipe again just for the aroma. My family enjoyed the halva, but nobody was crazy about it. Next time I will cut the recipe in half.

Toasted pine nuts.

Butter melting with oil.

Semolina being toasted in butter and oil.

Semolina soon after adding milk mixture.

Semolina Halva with Pine Nuts
(adapted from Cafe Fernando)
makes 6-8 servings

80 gr of unsalted butter
2 tbs of vegetable oil
250 gr of semolina (1 1/3 cup)
50 gr of toasted pine nuts (1/4 cup)
1 can of condensed milk (I used one that had 300ml)
1/3 cup of milk
ice cream and nuts for decoration (optional)

1. Melt butter with oil at medium heat in a wide saucepan.
2. Add semolina, stir and spread across the bottom of the saucepan. Stir every few minutes.
3. In the meantime, boil 1 1/4 cups of water in a separate pan and then add condensed milk and milk. Keep the mixture warm.
4. When the semolina has browned (about 20 minutes) pour in the milk mixture. When I did this, the contents of the saucepan began to spatter intensively, which really scared me, but it settled down after about 10 seconds. The semolina thickened almost immediately.
5. Cook on a medium-low for about 15 minutes, stirring every five minutes.
6. Take the skillet off the heat, place a couple of paper towels over the skillet and secure by placing the lid. Let steep for 15-20 minutes until extra moisture is absorbed. (I didn’t have to go through this step since the halva was already dry enough).
7. Add toasted pine nuts. Portion about 1/2 cup of the halva in ramekins or serving bowls. Add ice cream, sprinkle nuts and enjoy!

Goan Batk or Semolina Cake

(A Goan rich semolina cake in my mom’s version with easy-to-rem ingredient quantities )
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PrepTime : Serves : Cook Time
15Min 6 60Min

Ingredients :

1 cup sugar
1 cup suji/ rawa
1 cup butter
1 cup maida
1 cup dessicated coconut
1 cup eggs (abt 4-5)
(SEE HOW EASY IT IS SO FAR!! – 1 CUP EACH)

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking pwd
1/2 tsp almond/vanilla essence
1/2 tsp cardamom pwd
1/2 tsp cinnamon pwd
(AGAIN, SO EASY – ALL 1/2 tsp!!)

Cooking Instructions :

Grind all the ingredients to a smooth cake batter – add a little milk if required but the batter should be thick – not too liquid n flowy or creamy. Let it stand for 15mins. Pour the batter into an 9″ X 9″ X 3″ greased and floured cake tin – Tap the tin gently few times on a flat surface to remove air bubbles. Bake in a moderate oven, (350 F) for about 1 hour, or till done. Cool & cut into diamond shape pieces.

Last week, while searching high and low for polenta, all I kept finding on supermarket shelves was semolina.  My aunt used to make semolina based sweet treats and I thought I’d give it a try myself. I found a few recipes for semolina cake – one of them was on taste.com.au which I modified slightly

Ingredients

• 2 large free range eggs
• 125g butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp lemon rind ( i used 3 lemons for this)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup semolina (as in slightly more than half. Stating the obvious here as I almost misread the recipe as 3-4 cups!)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups of self raising flour

(B) Lemon syrup

• 1/4 cup lemon juice (put through a sieve to remove pulp and seeds)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 slices of lemon

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius
2. Grease a 20cm cake tin and line with baking paper (bottom and side)
3. Using a mixer, beat the sugar, butter and lemon rind until pale and creamy
4. Add in an egg, continue beating and repeat for the second egg
5. Pour in the vanilla extract and mix well
6. Add the semolina, flour and milk into the wet mix
7. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake in the oven for 35 – 40 minutes
8. Insert a tooth pick into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.
9. Leave aside while making the lemon syrup
10. For the lemon syrup, add the sugar into a small pan
11. Top with 1/4 cup water
12. Pour in the juice and lemon slices
13. Boil for 10 minutes
14. Pour 3/4 of the syrup onto the cake
15. Bake the cake for 10 minutes in the oven
16. Remove cake from the cake tin and leave to cool on a cooling rack, removing the baking paper in the process
17. Serve the cake with the remaining lemon syrup, or as my hubby suggests, cream or hot custard 

I have always liked carrots. The only carrot food I didn’t like as a child was carrot casserole. I was 20 or something when I started to think it was edible. I still prefer rutabaga, but nowadays I think carrot casserole is good too. I even make it sometimes. Usually carrot casserole is made with rice or barley porridge (leftovers), but semolina can be used too. I followed vegaaniliitto’s recipe to make this casserole and translated in English below.

Carrot Casserole

1,5 kg carrots +  water for boiling
4 dl semolina grains
2 tsp molasses
1½ tbsp salt
½ tsp ground white pepper
1 tsp dry ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
4 dl oat or soy milk
1 dl carrot cooking water
bread crumbs

Peel the carrots and cut them smaller. Cook them in boiling water until they are soft. Save 1 dl water from cooking and mash the carrots. Combine all the ingredients except bread crumbs. Grease an oven proof dish and pour the mixture in it. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top and make a pattern the surface with spoon or fork. Bake 1,5-2 hours in 175 celsius degrees.

You know that feeling when you just fancy baking something easy and uncomplicated?

We had some overripe bananas in the fruitbowl that kept staring at me; I really don’t like to eat them like this, and they kept being overlooked but they are perfect for baking.

I used:

500g of bananas, weight without the skin, chopped coarsely

155g semolina (would have preferred quick cook polenta but this was all I had)

125g unsalted butter, soft

150g demerara sugar

150g plain flour

1 tsp bi-carbonate of soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

2 medium free range eggs

250 natural yoghurt (I like Yeo Valley)

small handful of chopped walnuts of flaked almonds

This is what you do:

1.Pre-heat the oven to 180C.

2. Line and butter a 23cm diameter spring form, lightly dust with flour.

3. Combine the flour, semolina, cinnamon and bi-carb.

4. Whisk the eggs.

5. Cream the butter with the sugar until it is very pale and the sugar has been absorbed (use a handheld mixer or food processor).

6. Add the eggs, bit by bit, making sure it has been absorbed by the sugar/butter mixture before you add more.

7. Add the flour and yoghurt in about 4 batches, alternating between flour and yoghurt, mixing very lightly with a large spoon or plastic spatula. Be careful not to overmix!

8. Add the chopped banana, again mix with a very hand, until just combined.

8. Pour into the prepared tin and sprinkle with flaked almonds or walnut.

9. Bake for 1 hour: check after 45 minutes that the top is not getting too dark, otherwise cover with a piece of  foil.

10. Let the cake cool in the tin for about 30 mins before transferring to a wire rack.

Because of the high banana content, this cake goes off very quickly. Keep in the fridge and bring to room temperature before eating.

Very nice with a cup of very strong, black tea! I like Yorkshire tea.

Monique

It was the Ramadan period. DC and I were driving to our favourite dive shop when we saw sugee custard being sold by the side of the road. It was the one next to Zam Zam (good for murtabak, not for biriyani), I suspect it’s New Victory Restaurant. In another one of our fits of greed, we slowed down and did one of those clandestine drug deal-type swaps. Except that it was just money for custard.

Luckily the car park was just the next block away. If not I don’t know how we’d be fighting over it and driving (DC though, not me) at the same time. I only just managed to snap this shot in the dimly lit car park before we wolfed it all down. The custard was just the right sweetness and was smooth and silky, studded with soft little beads of sugee (semolina). Having had poor renditions of raisin and almond in the past, this version restored my faith in the combination.

Exactly how good was it? After our visit to the dive shop, DC promptly dragged me back across the road and bought two more tubs for his parents. Now that Ramadan is over, I hope for your sake that they’re still selling it.

New Victory Restaurant
No. 701 & 703 North Bridge Road (Opp. to Sultan Mosque)
Singapore 198677
Tel: 62986955 / 62983502

[edit: DC confirmed that it's indeed New Victory!]

so so so yummy I had this for breakfast this morning and I’m contemplating having it for dessert too.

almost bring to the boil 1 cup of rice milk and 1/4 cup of water.
whisk in 1/4 cup semolina
when thickened add spices of preference. I added cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and vanilla.
and 2 tsp of brown sugar.
divine……

you could serve this as a dessert too.

All photos © J.Lowe 2009

I rarely think to use pomegranates in my cooking and I need to address this
shortcoming. Why overlook such a health giving, versatile ingredient that has been in
this world for about 5000 years?  The brilliant ruby seeds provide glinting eye candy in
desserts, salads and aromatic stews. The blood red juice turns jellies, cocktails, syrups
and glazes a stunning, tantalizing colour and provides a bitter sweet taste.

There is something darkly sensual about this fruit. Itʼs curiously exotic, pregnant with
seeds, unashamedly bloody and an alluringly luscious deep glossy red, like the mouth
of a harlot. To handle the pomegranate, to extract the seeds and feel the slippery arils, to suck them in and taste the sharp sweetness is really rather erotic.  It’s no wonder there is mention that the tree in the garden of Eden was actually a pomegranate tree.  Who wouldnʼt be tempted by such a provocative fruit?

When shopping for pomegranates, choose heavy smooth fruits and at the same time
pick up a bottle of pure pomegranate juice to augment your recipe if necessary. Itʼs a
great pantry staple. Use it in making salad dressings or marinades, add a splash to a
vodka martini or a glass of champagne, thicken it by reduction and the addition of sugar
to glaze ribs, pour over ice cream, just drink it or use to dye your knickers pink!

Before I continue with a recipe (which is not something I commonly do in my blog posts, preferring to simply write and let the idea of the dish capture interest rather than provide a presciption to my readers) you should know that the instigation for this post came from foodiefights.com

I signed up as a potential contestant for their 12th food challenge and was picked to
compete alongside the following fine bloggers:

Bake-Off Flunkie
Bite Me New England
Felice in the Kitchen
NomNomNom Blog
Om-nom-nomnivore (Lazy Sumo)

The challenge is to cook something showcasing two ingredients chosen by the
foodiefight hosts from suggestions sent in.  Since pomegranates are now in season and
I rarely use them I thought it would be an interesting suggestion for an ingredient.

It ended up being chosen, along with semolina flour.  I found and adapted a recipe from tesco.com called

Yogurt Cake with Pomegranate Syrup.

So, read on, enjoy and check out foodiefights.com to see how we all performed in this
challenge.

Ingredients:
3 cardamon pods
4 oz semolina flour
4 oz all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

6 oz superfine sugar

5 oz low fat natural yogurt
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
10 fl oz pomegranate juice
1 pomegranate (but buy a few in case some are light on seed count)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Crush cardamon pods, remove the seeds (discard the husk) and grind them in a pestle
and mortar. Place in large mixing bowl.

Add to the bowl the semolina flour, all purpose flour, baking powder and 4 oz of the
caster sugar. Mix together well.

Beat the yogurt, eggs and vanilla essence together (I used an electric hand mixer)
and add to the flour mixture, blending until smooth. Pour into a well greased 9” cake pan
and bake for 30 minutes or until a wooden stick inserted into the middle of the cake
comes out clean.

While the cake is cooking, put pomegranate juice into a saucepan and heat to boiling,
turn down to a slow boil and reduce by half. The recipe says to add the rest of the
sugar at the end and just dissolve it but I wanted the syrup thick and sticky so I added
the 2 oz of caster sugar while the liquid was boiling and reducing. This way I got a
lovely syrupy mixture.

Remove the seeds from the pomegranate(s) and add to the syrup. When the cake
comes out of the oven, allow it to cool, turn out onto desired plate and pour the syrupy
sticky goodness all over the top.

In addition to the Tesco recipe, I also made a yogurt cream to serve with the cake.
1 cup low fat natural yogurt
1/2 cup plain low fat cream cheese
juice and zest of one orange

Mix all the above ingredients together and serve in a bowl alongside the cake. The
bright, citrus note of the orange melds wonderfully with the deep sweet syrup and the
dense vanilla and smoky cardamon cake.

(It did occur to me to put the cardamon seeds in with the syrup. Perhaps the next time I
cook venison or lamb Iʼll try that as a glaze for the meat)

The resulting cake is dense, moist and fragrant, not overly sweet. It would be good
served plain as a breakfast cake with coffee but by adding the syrup, the resulting
dessert is a veritable crown of jewels.

As a special request from my sister Besma, (who is yet to try it!) here below is kanafa bil smeed with ricotta cheese…

I quite liked the contrast between the creamy texture of the ricotta cheese and the grainy texture of the semolina crust. And was quite yummy.

For the original posted recipe please click here.

my first attempt at kanafa bil smeed

Ever since I tried kanfa bil smeed (Kanafa with semolina) this summer in Lebanon, I made it my mission to experiment with it once I got home. But of course, being the procrastinator that I am, I didn’t, until yesterday.

After some research online and from what I recall, I decided on a recipe and bought the necessary ingredients; Akawi cheese ( جبن عكاوي) and semolina (سميد).  As akawi cheese is quite salty, you need to slice the cheese and soak it in water for at least 4 hours, changing the water every hour. What I did was soak it overnight and when I got back home from work, I changed the water a few times. After the last soak, place the cheese in a tea towel and let it dry for at least an hour. That method was not too successful with me as there was still some water left. I suggest you get yourself proper cheese cloth.

2 blocks of akawi cheese sliced and soaked in water

Recipe:

ingredients for semolina dough

Semolina dough

3 cups coarse semolina (سميد)

2 sticks butter melted (200 grams)

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water (or as much needed)

2 tablespoons orange blossom water (ماء زهر)

Mix all ingredients

Add 1/4 cup water or as much needed to form a dough

Form the dough into a ball and place in a dish in the oven for 10 minutes at 175 C

Remove the dough from the oven and leave it to cool to room temperature, then put it in a food processor and pulse until you get a smooth, creamy texture.

Next, butter an oven-proof pan

Then, press semolina dough in the pan

Add akawi cheese*

*you might be wondering why the cheese looks crumbled, well that’s because I squeezed the hell out of it!

Preheat the oven to 175 C

Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese melts completely.

Remove from oven and leave to rest for 15 minutes

Then, flip the pan onto a serving plate

Meanwhile, prepare the sugar syrup.

Sugar Syrup

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

1 tablespoon orange blossom water (ماء زهر)

In a small saucepan on medium heat, mix sugar, water and orange blossom water until boiling. Boil for a few minutes until it’s syrupy then remove from heat.

To decorate:

Pour the sugar syrup on the kanafa and sprinkle some chopped pistachio.

And there it is! Kanfa bil smeed

It was quite the hit at my grandmother’s last night. I will definitely be making more of this.

Enjoy!