Kunafa/Kunafe

The secret of success in life is eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.-Mark Twain

A call of celebration rings in the air.Yes, Droolsss is back with our first post for the month of June but its a special one to us as this is our 100th post.

 We were wondering and pondering on what should we post as our century hit. Celebrations always are welcomed with a punch of sweetness. An enormous list of sweet delicacies ranging from cakes, puddings, cookies,cheesecakes to our very traditional Indian ladoos flashed through our minds. In the glimpse of a moment it struck to us....why not we try the famous Arab sweet, Kunafa, which is most beautifully captioned the queen of Arab sweets. This caption very well suits this beautiful sweet with its richness of butter, cream, cheese and beauty of the orange kunafa dough saturated with the sweetness of sugar and rose water syrup. Its indeed a heavenly sweet .This will be a sure hit in your homes as it was/is in our home. All in our family say a big yes, to this sweet whenever we plan to buy this. At home it was a first try and lol it was a grand success.Once in a while we can have such rich sweets at least when you are in a mood for celebration, as we are today. For those of you who tend to linger with a guilty feel of heavy fat consumption take an extra one hour workout tomorrow 

So here goes our 100th recipe.

Ingredients
500 grams frozen kunafe pastry(thawed one hour prior to cooking)
500 grams ricotta cheese
400 grams mozarella cheese
1 cup unsalted butter, melted and hot
4 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons rose water
4-8 drops orange food colour
1/2 cup ground pistachio, to garnish
For the syrup
3 cups sugar
21/2 cups cold water
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons rose water
Method
Make the syrup first and allow it to cool.For making the syrup, dissolve the sugar in the measured amount of  water and bring it to a boil on a medium low flame. Once it starts to boil add the lemon juice and allow to boil for 12 minutes. Add the rose water and vanilla extract and heat for 30 seconds more. Off the flame and allow to cool.
Mix the food colour in 4 tablespoons of melted butter and grease a 12 inch round baking pan with this coloured butter.
Chop the kunafe pastry(the kunafe pastry comes shredded resembling vermicelli) in a food processor in batches of four until you get  coarsely shredded kunafe pastry.

Pour melted butter little by little into the shredded pastry and mix with your fingers so that the butter coats the pastry strands well but it should not be soggy(The entire quantity of butter mentioned will be required or else the pastry will stick to the pan while cooking).
In another bowl mix the cheeses well. Sprinkle the sugar and rose water and mix well.
Layer half of the shredded pastry on the prepared baking pan and press into the pan well.

Spread the cheese on top of this and press well.

Finish off the top layering with the remaining shredded pastry and press well again.
Bake this in a preheated oven(180 degree celsius) for 30- 35 minutes or until the top attains a slight golden colour.
Remove from the oven. Give the pan a gentle shake so that the pastry separates from the sides. Now invert the hot kunafe into a serving platter.
Pour the prepared sugar syrup all over the kunafe and garnish with coarsely ground pistachio.
Cut into your desired shapes and serve.

Manakesh Zaatar

Our very first attempt from the Arab cuisine. Manakesh, an all time favourite of all of us here at home especially the kids. Inspite of being living in the Middle East since quite a long time, I had never bothered to try out any of the Arab delicacies though we used to relish most of them from the Arab restaurants here.

This Arab bread was finally baked in my kitchen the other day. I should thank my cousin Rekha for this. She asked me if I could do a guest post in her blog Food0licious Pictured. She runs a beautiful blog with many delicious recipes. I wanted to give her something different, and what more could I give her staying in an Arab country other than an Arab delight. You can find us in her blog here.

For all those of you, who are not much aware of Zaatar and Manakish,  “Zaatar” in Arabic is a traditional Middle Eastern herb mixture popularly eaten in countries such as Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey. It is traditionally eaten as part of a healthy breakfast with flat bread and olive oil or yogurt cheese. It is also used to spice chicken, meat and vegetables and can be mixed with olive oil and vinegar to make a salad dressing.

It is a mixture that is made out of mostly dried thyme, oregano, sesame seeds and sumac….there are many variations to it that consists of cumin, coriander, fennel seeds etc.

Here in UAE, it is readily available in all the grocery stores. For all those of you who are not in the Middle East can either check it out at any Middle Eastern grocery store or you can even make it at home.

If you are going for the home made zaatar you will need

• 1/4 cup sumac
• 2 tablespoons thyme
• 1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons marjoram
• 2 tablespoons oregano
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt

 Coarsely grind the sesame seeds in a food processor or with mortar and pestle.  Add  remaining ingredients and mix well. That’s it, zaatar is ready!!!

This zaatar can be stored for a long period if kept in an airtight container in a cool and dark place.

Manakesh Zaatar

Manakesh, manakeesh or Manaeesh is an Arabic food consisting of a dough similar to a pizza dough, topped with zaatar, cheese(Akaawi cheese) or ground meat, but used widely in many Levantine countries such as Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine. Similar to a pizza, it can be sliced or folded, and it can either be served for breakfast or lunch.

A very tasty and healthy dish which should be had with a cup of sweet black tea.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup water, lukewarm

1 cup zaatar

1/2 cup olive oil

Method

• Mix the yeast in ¼ cup of lukewarm water and let it sit for 15 minutes.
• Mix the zaatar with the olive oil and keep aside.
• In a bowl mix the flour and salt. Add the yeast solution and knead well to form a soft dough by adding water little by little.
• Grease a bowl with a little oil and transfer the dough into this bowl. Cover the bowl with a moist kitchen towel and keep it in a warm place for 1- 2 hours. After 2 hours the dough will rise and double in size.
• Knead the risen dough on a floured surface for a few minutes. Now divide the dough into 8 equal parts and using a rolling pin, roll out each portion into your desired thickness and size(thickness depends on whether you want a crusty or soft base. For a crusty base roll out into thin rounds and for a soft base roll out into thick rounds.)
• Using a fork prick generously on the rolled out bases. Now smear one tablespoon of the zaatar and olive oil mixture on each base. Spread it all over the base.
• Bake these in a preheated oven at 350F for 12 – 15 minutes.
• Serve warm with a cup of extra sweet black tea.