Sa7lab (Sahlab pudding)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tablespoons Sahlab powder or 2 tablespoons cornstarch
4 cups milk
3 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
2 teaspoons rose or orange-blossom water (optional)
2 tablespoons finely chopped pistachios
Ground cinnamon

Preparation:

Mix the Sahlab powder or cornstarch with a few tablespoons of milk. Bring the remaining milk to a boil. Pour in the starch mixture, stirring vigorously, so that lumps do not form. Cook over very low heat, stirring continuously, until the milk thickens (about 10 minutes). Then stir in the sugar and the rose water or orange blossom water, if you so desire.

Serve in cups with the chopped pistachios and cinnamon as garnish. You may also sprinkle grated coconut on top.

Riz Bi 7aleeb (rice pudding)

Ingredients:

1 qt milk
3/4 cup rice
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp rose water
1/2 tsp orange blossom essence
1/4 tsp powdered gum (miskeh)
1 cup cold water

Preparation:

Wash rice well in several waters to remove loose starch. Add cold water and rice to milk which has been brought to the boil. Boil for half an hour over a medium flame. Stir well and gradually turn up the cooking flame. When pudding has thickened add the sugar, rose water and orange blossom essence. Continue boiling until bubbles break through the pudding.

Pour into individual serving dishes. Decorate in the traditional manner with a design of blanched almonds, pistachio nuts or pine nuts.

Nammoura

Ingredients:

cream of wheat, 14 ounces
butter, 1/4 pound melted
vanilla, 1 1/2 teaspoons
baking powder, 1 teaspoon
baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoon
milk, 1 1/2 cups whole
sugar, 3/4 cup
almonds, 16 whole raw shelled
atter recipe, 3 cups cold

Preparation:

Mix well all ingredients except almonds. Pour into pan 9 x 13. Top with almonds (1 per serving, on center). Bake @ 350 20-30 minutes until golden. Pour atter syrup over namoura immediately. Note: It is important to keep namoura covered to prevent dryness.

Mshabbak

A soft plastic bottle with a small hole in the tip is used. A ketchup or mustard bottle may be used. Syrup may be divided into 2 or 3 parts and desired food coloring may be added to each.

Ingredients:

3 cups warm water
1 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. yeast
2 1/4 cups flour
sprinkle of salt
1/2 cup cornstarch
oil for deep frying
sugar syrup
food coloring

Preparation:

Make sugar syrup and set aside. Place water in large mixing bowl. Stir in sugar and dissolve. Add yeast and leave to rise for 5 minutes.

Using an eggbeater on low speed, gradually beat in flour, salt, and cornstarch. Beat until smooth (approximately 3 minutes). Cover and leave to rise for 30-40 minutes. Fill plastic bottle with batter. Heat oil in heavy skillet for deep frying. Squeeze batter into oil, forming a round ring 2-3 iches in diameter, and filling the inside of the ring with the batter, forming a lacey rossette.

4-5 rossettes may be made at a time. Fry until golden brown turning once. Remove from oil with a slotted spoon and drop into cool syrup. Remove and place on platter.

Variation: Food coloring is not necessary, but is usually used in the syrup…

Moghli

Ingredients:

1 1/1 cups pounded rice
8 cups water
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbsp caraway seed
1 tbsp anise seed
1/4 tsp powdered ginger

Preparation:

Pound rice in a mortar until fine and powdery. Pound spices separately. Mix rice with two cups water. Add sugar, caraway and anise. Add it to the remaining six cups of water, which should be boiling. Add ginger. Boil, stirring occasionally, until mixture coats the spoon. About an hour of cooking, at least, is required.

Pour into individual serving dishes. Decorate with blanched almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, pistachios and coconut.

Maraba Tamer (Date Jam)

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups water
2 cups sugar
10 whole cloves
2 cups finely chopped dates
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup blanched almonds, finely chopped
1/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped

Preparation:

Bring the water to a boil over medium heat. Add the sugar and cloves and, stirring all the time, bring the water to a boil again. Stir in the dates and turn the heat to low; then cook for about 10 minutes or until a paste is formed. Add the lemon juice, almonds and walnuts; then cook for a few more minutes. Remove and allow to cool; then store in a glass jar.

Mafroukeh

Ingredients:

4 cups of Fark Al Knefeh (very difficult to make at home, available at Lebanese grocery stores)
1 cup samneh
2 cups powder sugar
1/4 cup pealed and fried almond
1/4 cup pealed and fried pistachio
1/4 cup pealed and fried pine nuts
1/2 cup sugar syrup
2 tbsp. rose water
1 tbsp. orange blossom water

Preparation:

Mix “Fark Al Knefeh” with the samneh over low heat until the mix turns yellow, then turn the heat up to medium until it gets brown. Add the sugar powder, and continue to stir for 10 minutes. Now add the sugar syrup, rose water and orange blossom water. Leave on medium heat for 5 minutes or until the mix turns dark brown.

To serve, put in plate, cover with kashta and the fried nuts.

Maamool bi tamer (Date Cookies)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 # semolina
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 # pound butter
boiling water
2 # fresh dates, pitted and pureed

Preparation:

Combine the semolina and the sugar in a large bowl, mix thoroughly. Melt 1# pound of the butter and let it come to a boil . Gradually add the butter to the semolina mixture. Knead well. Set aside in a sealed airtight container at least one hour before using.

When you are ready to use the dough add small amounts of boiling water to make the dough soft and pliable. Wear rubber gloves to protect hands from the boiling water. Combine the dates with the 1/4 # pound of butter (it is better to let this soften first). Knead together until they are well blended. Mold the pastry in small ball about 2 inches in diameter. Hollow out the center of the ball using your finger. Form a shell about 1/4 inch thick.

Fill the hollow with the date mixture. Seal the top by pressing the dough together. Flatten lightly between your palms to form a pie shape. Use the tines of a fork to make a design around the top.

Place on a baking sheet. Cook in a pre heated oven 450 degrees F or 230 degrees C for 20 minutes or until light golden brown. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Store in sealed airtight containers.

Maamool (holiday cookies)

Ingredients:

2 cups smeed (semolina)
1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups samneh (or other shortening)
1 tsp. ma’ez zahr (orange blossom essence)
1 tsp. rose water
3/4 cup fine sugar
1 1/4 cup crushed walnuts

Preparation:

Make dough of smeed, samneh and boiling water. Knead well together. Cover tightly and leave overnight. On the second day knead again thoroughly and form into small balls. Hollow out their centers. Fill the hollow with mixture of sugar, nuts and flavorings. Press the dough back over the filling. Press each cookie onto a buttered baking pan and flatten and decorate with the tines of a fork. Or, shape the dough in the carved molds made in Lebanon especially for this purpose. Bake in moderate oven until lightly browned. Dust liberally with powdered sugar while hot.

Knefeh

Ingredients:

1 package of shredded fillo dough
1/2 pound of butter melted
2 lbs ricotta cheese
1/2 cup pine nuts
3 cups sugar
1 tsp lemon juice

Preparation:

First step is to defrost the Fillo dough. Do this by shredding the fillo in a bowl continuously till completelly defrosted.

Once this occurs, you start adding the butter while continuously shredding the dough. When this process is complete and the dough is shredded thoroughly, seperate the dough into two equal portions.

In a well buttered pan, spread out the dough thoroughly, but do not compress. Once the dough is spread evenly, start preparing the ricotta cheese. Lay the cheese patties onto the prepared dough in the pan. Once the layer of ricotta cheese is completely covering the dough, lay the second half of the dough unto the cheese so that it is evenly distrubuted.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, then place the pan in the middle for approxiametly 45 minutes. What you need to look for, is that the dough browns. Once achieved, you will need a larger pan in which you will flip the Knefeh so the the bottom is on top and vice versa. Bake again till the browning occurs on the adjacent side. Once browned on both sides, the Knafe is finished.

The last step is to top the Knefeh with the pine nuts and the sweet syrup.