Eish al saraya from Qatar (palace's bread)

 Eish al saraya is a dessert from the Middle East , made from bread and syrup with orange blossom water and rose water.

Eish al Saraya means Palace's bread, the name describes the freshness, softness and spectacular taste of this dessert. This is extra easy to prepare and there is no room for errors.

This is a typical dessert from Egypt, Lebanon or Qatar. I have seen several versions of the dessert, some of them use whipped cream for the white layer but the good version uses a unique custard cream.   

Eish al saraya from Qatar (palace's bread)

Ingredients:

- 3 Slices of bread.

- 115 g sugar.

- 90 g corn startch.

- 6oo ml milk.

- 250 ml cream.

- 1 teaspoon rosewater.

- 1 teaspoon orange blossom water.

- 100 g de pistachios.

Ingredientes Syrup:

- 200 ml water.

- 200 g sugar.

- 1 teaspoon rosewater.

- 1 teaspoon orange blossom water.

- A squeeze of lemon.

Method:

1- Roast the bread slices in a pan without oil.

2- Take a casserole and put all the ingredients for the syrup inside, heat until the sugar is dissolved, then add the squeeze of lemon and let cool.

3- Put the slices of bread on the base of a cakes mould, fill also the gaps with bread pieces.

4- Pour the syrop over the bread.

5- Take othe casserole , put inside the milk, cream and sugar, heat until the sugar is well dissolved.

6 - Take a bowl and mix the corn startch with some milk, once it is well dissolved add it to the mixture of milk and sugar.

7- Add rosewater and orange blossom water.

8- Put on a low heat and stirr until you see that the mixture thickens as you see in the picture.

9- Pour the cream over the bread and add some ground pistachio on top. Let get cool in the fridge at least for 2 hours. You should eat it cold.

Receta en Español

You can also watch the recipe at my Youtube Channel:

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  Favourite cooking tools

Qatar

Zarda Pulao (Sweet Rice)

                                                                                Receta en Español

This is a popular dessert in Bangladesh, eaten at big parties such as weddings.

It is sweet rice cooked in fruit juice, decorated with dried fruits, it has butter and a taste that reminds the gastronomy of Middle East.
This dessert can also be found in India.

Ingredients (8 people):


-  2 cups basmati rice.
-  1 cup sugar.
-  1/2 cup ghee or butter.
-  2 tablespoons ground cinnamon.
-  4 green cardamon seeds..
-  3 cloves.

-  2 cups and a half orange juice.

-  2 cups of water

-  Some saffron threads.

-  Some ground pistachios.
-  Some dried peaches.

Method:

1- Heat one cup of water (you can use microwave), once it reaches the boiling point, put some saffron threads inside. Let infuse at least 15 minutes.

2- Put 2 cups of orange juice in a casserole, add 1 cup of water and the cup of water with the saffron.
Put it on a high heat until it reaches the boiling point. Then add the rice.

Cook at low heat for 10 minutes.

3- Take other casserole , put 1/2 cup of orange juice, add the sugar, cinnamon, cardamon seeds, cloves and butter or ghee, stir until sugar is dissolved.
To see how you can make ghee, you can read the step number 3 at Cheese Kadaif.

4- Add the mixture to the casserole where you have the rice, cook at low heat until there is no liquid left.

5- You should serve it warm, sprinkle some ground pistachio and some dried peaches over the rice. 
This dessert can also be made using pineapple and pineapple juice, adding raisins and almonds.

My Comments to the Recipe

This is a tasty sweet, the following day tastes even better. Orange Juice provides a sweet and sour taste.

Bangladesh

Pistachio Stuffed dates

                                                                              Receta en Español

Dates are typical from Saudi Arabia, they are cooked stuffed with nuts,coconut or chocolate, today I show you how to cook Pistachio Stuffed dates.

Ingredients:

• 22 Dates.
• 70 grams natural husked Pistachios.
• 2 dessert spoons of orange blossom water.

Method:

1. Grind pistachios.

2. Mix ground pistachios with blossom water.
3. Mix well until you obtain a paste.

4. Cut dates along side , get rid of the seed.
5. Put the mixture of pistachios with blossom water inside  the dates.

My comments to the Recipe:

They are very easy to make and extremely delicious, pistachios and dates make a perfect match. You should try them!.



Saudi Arabia

Butter Cookies from afghanistan (Kulche birinjee)

                                                                               Receta en Español

As in almost every middle east country , cookies with nuts are very typical in Afghanistan.

Ingredients:

• 175 grams butter soften at room temperature.
• 175 grams sugar.
• 2  eggs.
• 500 grams white rice flour.
• ½ teaspoon ground  cardamom.
• 30 grams sliced pistachios.
• 20 grams whole pistachios without shell.

Method:

1. Preheat oven at 350 ºC.
2. whisk butter and sugar until the mixture is creamy.
3. Add egg whites and mix well.
4. Add flour step by step. Add flour until the mixture is not sticky.
5. Add cardamon and sliced pistachios.
6. Mix well.
7. Take an oven proof tray and line it with parchment paper. Take a little dough with a spoon and put it on the tray , use your hand to mold it like a cookie. Do the same with the rest of the dough.
8. With the help of a fork make marks on the dough, draw a grid on the dough. If the fork sticks to the dough dip it in cold water from time to time. 
9. Put a pistachio in the middle of the cookie.
10. Place the cookies over parchment paper , leave a distance of 3.5 cm between them.

               11. Cook in oven for 12-14 minutes.

               12. Let cool before eating.

My comments to the Recipe:

If you add enough flour to prevent dough being sticky , cookies will not crumble. These cookies are delicious due to the taste of butter mixed with pistachios.

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Afghanistan

Bahraini Halwa

                                                                                                                       Receta en español

Halwa is an Arabic word that means sweet.

It is a dessert wide spreaded throughout the Middle East, Central Asia, India and even European countries like Greece, Bulgaria, Bosnia...,so far I've avoided to make this recipe because I thaught it would have a chewy texture.

In Bahrain Halwa is the staple dessert ,besides, they have their own halwa recipe. I should try this time making the halwa recipe.
It has been a nice surprise, it is not chewy, it is gelly like, very tasty and easy to eat.

Most Halwa are made from semolina flour , but Bahrain's recipe differs in that it is cooked with corn starch and canola oil.

Bahraini Halwa  is a variation of the halwa made in Oman, most Bahraini shops where this sweet  is sold ,are run by the Showaiter dynasty, so the recipe that I bring you today is called in Bahrain "Halwa Showaiter" but in other countries it is called  Bahraini Halwa.
It is usually taken with coffee and is widely consumed during the three days of Eid after Ramadan.

In the following link you can see how they make this sweet in Bahrain: Halwa Showaiter.

Ingredients (for a 24 cm diameter recipent):

•   800 grams sugar.
•   1200ml water.
•   4 teaspoos lemon juice.
•   60 grams butter.
•   2 tablespoons grounded cardamon.
•   1 tablespoon nutmeg.
•   10 saffron threads.
•   120 grams corn starch.
•   1 dose food coloring, this is optional, I didn't use it.
•   330 ml canola oil.
•   2 tablespoos Rosewater.
•   150 grams raw pistachios.
•   130 grams raw almonds.
•   100 grams nuts.
•   3 tablespoons raw sesame seeds.

Method:

1-   Infuse saffron in a cup with 240 ml of boiling water: I use the microwave to quickly boil water, put the saffron into the boiling water and let stand for one hour. 

2-   Toast almonds and pistachios in a saucepan without oil, we toast them during 5 minutes at low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon.

Before toasting:

Toasted:

Add nuts:

3-   Put the sugar in a large pot with 960 ml water, saffron infusion and lemon juice , boil over medium heat , when it reaches boiling point, reduce heat to low, stir and cover the pot, cook for 5 minutes.

4-   Add Little by Little canola oil and stir well,  cover and cook for 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.

5-   While the previous mix is cooking, prepare Brown butter : Put the butter in a pot and heat over medium heat during 2-3 minutes, until butter is melted.

6- Still over low heat add cardamom and nutmeg into the pot with butter:

7- Add rose water , coloring liquid (optional) and 240 ml water. Add corn starch little by little, quickly stirring with a wooden spoon to avoid lumps.

8- After the 30 minutes cooking of point 4 are finished, add litle by little the mix obtained at point 6 into the pot of point number 4,stir in circles and cook during 15 minutes over low heat.
There will be big bubbles, be careful not to burn, we see that the mix thickens becoming a gelly, when it reaches that point , put aside and remove with a spoon the excess of oil that you can see at the surface.

9- Put again the pot over low heat and add the dried fruits (except the sesame), stir well and cook during 5 more minutes.

After that pour the mix in the recipent where you want to present the dessert.
Sprinkle over the Surface sesame seeds.

It can be eaten cold or warm, both ways it is delicious!.

My Comments to the Recipe

As I said before, I was astonished by its gelly texture . It may be too much sweet, because of this you should eat it by little portions, despite of that it is tasty with a special flavour given by the spices.

Where to buy the ingredients in Madrid

Sesame seeds can be found at herbalist's shops.
The rest of the ingredients you can see where to buy them following the links.

Rose water
Canola oil

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools



Bahrain