Ramadaan Mubaarak and Ma'amoul

Firstly, Ramadaan Mubarak to all Muslims around the world! May Allah make this month a blessing for us all, that we drawer closer to Him, seeking His Forgiveness and His Pleasure.

Today I have a rather quick recipe post, since I decided to make Ma'amoul ( for the first time) this morning. I don't yet know if it turned out any good. We fast for 20 hour here in Scotland, so I've still got another 9 hours to go before I can try them ;)
This is also usually made with semolina, which I did not have, hooray for using what is available to hand.


Ingredients
8oz Plain Flour
4oz Butter
3tbsp Water
2tsp Rose Water
7oz Date Paste

Optionals
Spices and/or nuts to add to the date paste (I used cinnamon, though cardamom as well as pistachios are often used)
Icing Sugar for dusting.

Add butter and flour to a bowl, rub together until it resembles bread crumbs

Add water and rose water and using a knife, mix until combined and a dough is formed.
If it become too sticky add more flour.
Cover and leave to rest for 30min.

In another bowl, sprinkle on your cinnamon if using

Squeeze paste together with fingers to ensure even distribution of cinnamon
*if you are not using any spices or nuts in your filling then you can just use the date paste straight from the packet, save on washing up, you know ;) 

Take a bit of dough (however big or small depending on  the size you want them) and roll into a ball

Flatten dough by pressing you palms together and add some date paste.
Fold the sides up and press together, gently roll back into a ball shape.

Now if you are cool, you'll have one of these nifty ma'amoul cookie presses and life will be incredibly easy for you people.
If you are no so cool, like myself, continue to spend the next hour of so hand pressing your desired design with a knife.

Place on a lightly greased tray and over loosely with foil
Bake in a preheated oven, (180C) for about 20-25min, removing foil half-way through cooking

Allow to cool completely, then dust with icing sugar if you so wish.
Enjoy! (Or fight with the temptation to try one for 9 hours ;) )

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Chicken Filled Savoury Croissants

This recipe caught my eye some months ago, on a facebook page called Fauzia's Fun Kitchen. I have adapted her recipe to my preference and for a first time  recipe it turned out pretty good! I did learn that I absolutely suck a rolling croissants though, but practice can make for near perfection :)

The overall ingredients list is as follows
For the Dough (makes about 8 croissants)

2cups of plain flour
1tsp of salt
1tsp of sugar
1tbsp of dried active yeast*
quarter tsp of baking powder
3tbsp of softened butter
2tbsp of oil
SOMETHIGN OF WATER
*with this recipe I just followed the instructions on the back of my yeast package. I advise you adapt the recipe according to the instructions of your yeast for the best results.

For the Filling (fills about 8 croissants)

1 large boneless chicken breast, chopping in to very small pieces
1 whole bell pepper (or two halves, on red and one green), grated
half a small onion, grated
1 green chilli, chopped
1tbsp of sweetcorn
half tsp of garlic paste
half tsp of ground cumin
half tsp of garam masala
half a tsp of paprika
some chopped coriander, to taste
juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper, to taste
oil, for frying

Sieve the flour, salt and baking powder in to a large mixing bowl

Add 2tbsp of the butter and rub in until you get a fine crumb like consistency

Dissolve the sugar in a jug with 2 parts cold water, 1 part boiling water.
Add the yeast then whisk well

Leave in a warm place for about 15min until the top is covered in a froth. Whisk again.

Gradually add the yeast mixture to the flour mix, mixing with a spoon to begin with until is starts to combine

Once it starts to combine , use you hands to work the dough, keep adding more of the yeast mix until you get a slightly sticky dough.
If you find you use all your yeast mix and the dough is still not sticky enough, then keep adding some warmed milk until it it.

Rub some oil all over the dough, cover with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place to rise for about 40min - 1hour.

Make your filling while you wait!

Ingredients

For the Filling (fills about 8 croissants)

1 large boneless chicken breast, chopping in to very small pieces
1 whole bell pepper (or two halves, on red and one green), grated
half a small onion, grated
1 green chilli, chopped
1tbsp of sweetcorn
half tsp of garlic paste
half tsp of ground cumin
half tsp of garam masala
half a tsp of paprika
some chopped coriander, to taste
juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper, to taste
oil, for frying
 

Fry your grated  bell peppers and onion in oil for around 5min

Add you chicken and brown

Add the sweetcorn, chilli, garlic paste and spices (garam masala, cumin, paprika salt and pepper). Cook until chicken is completely cooked

Add in you chopped coriander,  stir for another 1-2min until it becomes fragrant. Turn off the heat and squeeze over the juice of half a lemon and mix well.

Now you are read to make you croissants! I was rushed for time at this point, so I didn't manage to take pictures of each step. However, Fauzia has a wonderful step by step on her facebook page which you should just follow exactly! :) Just hit the next button for each step.                

Pop in the oven at about 175C for 12-15min and you are done!
You can also sprinkle these with different types of seeds, I went for sesame, for you pop them in the oven ;)
Enjoy!

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British take on Ma'asoob (معصوب)

So this is no proper 'traditional' recipe, but just a British variant because I can't find any decent Middle Eastern bread to use for it. Alas, the bog standard loaf of wholemeal bread that was laying around would have to do! And I think it worked quite well, if I do say so myself.

EDIT: So I just found out from a friend that the bread usually used to make this is called 'fateerah' (فطيرة) and that it is actually the same as South Asian 'Parathas'. So if you can find either, use that! :)

Ingredients

2 Bananas
3 Slices of bread (wholemeal if you wanna be healthy)
Optionals:
Dates
Some extra thick spooning cream (Not single or double)
Runny Honey

In a Large bowl, mash up your banana

Add your chopped dates if using

Toast you bread until lightly golden brown, do not burn!

Crumble the toast into the bowl by squeezing and rubbing it in your hands

Mash it all up some more with the help of a potato masher

Add a large spoonful of cream if using

Mix it all up

Place in a microwavable dish and heat until hot, drizzle with honey (optional) and serve.
And do not be fooled by what looks like a very modest portion size, there is 3 slices of bread, 2 whole banana, 4 dates, cream and honey in the dish! ;)

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Arabic/Sugar Wax

Quite a few friends have been asking how I make this, so I figured a a blog post would suffice.

Sugar wax has been used by Arab women for centuries if I remember right. I can across a recipe for it while looking for a cheaper alternative to store bought stuff. And what could be cheaper than using just three things that a probably already in your kitchen?

Another great thing about this wax it that it is completely natural with no weird added chemicals and can be used on sensitive skin. It's safe enough to be used on any area of the body including sensitive areas such as  the face*, underarms and bikini area.

I'm going to state this now and very clearly: Waxing WILL hurt. You can't get around it. Many people claim sugar waxing does not hurt at all. They lie. Though the pain will be somewhat less than store bought wax. The reason for that is store wax stick to both your hair and your skin. So when you pull it off, you are pulling those hairs, but you are also pulling of the top few layers of dead skin. Which can be a good thing if you don't exfoliate much. But in short: ripping out hairs and the top layers of skin will hurt!

With sugar wax, you only pull out the hairs as it barely sticks to your skin, therefore less pain, but still expect pain!

And the more you wax, the more you get used to the pain and the less it bothers you :) Another benefit of waxing is that your hair stays away longer, grows back slower, lighter and thinner in comparison to shaving.

*Men, please do not wax your facial hair. I don't just say this because I am biased, and prefer men with some facial hair and brothers to uphold the sunnah of keeping a beard. But biologically the hair on a man face was designed to stay where it is! If you must remove the hair on your face then shave it instead of waxing.

WARNING: Hot sugar is extremely, well.. hot. Do not touch the mixture at all with bare skin until it has cooled unless you want a real nasty burn!

Ingredients

2 cups of white sugar

Quarter cup of lemon juice

Quarter cup of hot water.

Add your 2 cups of sugar to a medium sized cooking pan

Add you lemon juice and hot water

Bring to a steady boil at medium-high heat

Keep boiling, you'll notice the colour soon change

Once you have a rich golden brown colour you are done.
Pour into a heat resistant container (I use glass jar) and leave to cool down before using.
If it cools to the point of being hard, just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften :)

And I have no final picture for you because I got distracted by a phone call and ended up letting it cook to long. I did manage to salvage it, but it was not pretty!

Happy and safe waxing! 

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Spinach Smoothie

I've fallen in love with this recently. Though admittedly, I was quite disgusted when I first heard about it, spinach smoothie? Who would want to drink that?!

But after having read about how great it is for the body, and not to mention how packed spinach is with vitamins and minerals (Pop-eye was certainly on to something, guys!) I decided trying it can't hurt.

So I did, and I've been hooked ever since! Here's the recipe I use for my spinach smoothie, though sometimes I mix it up a bit (today I added pomegranate afterwards, just because I have half a pomegranate to use :p). Feel free to adapt this to suit you own taste.

Oh and for those wondering, this tastes completely of banana, yum yum!

Ingredients

2 cups of baby spinach leaves
1 cup of milk (any type you prefer, soya, almond, coconut, cows etc)
1 banana*
*it's optional to freeze your banana before making this if you want it all nice and icy cold. If you are going to do this, PEEL IT BEFORE YOU FREEZE IT. You have be warned :p

Throw all ingredients into you blender/smoothie maker.
I'm just using one of those hand blenders that come with a beaker thing.

Whizz whizz whizz until smooth. And serve. Enjoy :)

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Heart-centred Cupcakes.

I bought a cupcake from a store a few weeks ago. On biting into it I had the great surprise of finding a pink heart inside it! This is just my attempt the replicate it. Next time I think I need to either use a small heart cookie-cutter or more cake batter as I had difficulty covering the hearts. Nothing a heck load of piped icing couldn't solve, but I am kind of a perfectionist when it comes to food. :)

Ingredients.

3/4 cup of butter

1.5 cup of sugar

3 eggs

2.5 cups of self rising flour

1 and a third cup of milk

Red food colouring.

Mix butter and sugar together until combined

Add your eggs one at a time, whisking well between each addition

Once all three eggs are added you should be left with something like this

Add the milk and flour a little at a time, whisking between each addition until you have add them both.

Put about one third of the mixture into a smaller bowel. Cover the remaining mixture and put aside.

Add some red food colouring until you get your desired colour, I went for a bright pinkish shade,
Cook in the oven at 180C for about 20min until I starts to go brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely

Once cooled cup out some heart shapes with a heart shaped cookie cutter

This is the best way to get the most hearts out of you sponge!

Add a spoonful of white cake batter into you cake cases.
Ad a heart, point down, and cover with some more white batter.
NOTE: Make sure you hearts all face the same way, if the batter covers them completely you'll need to figure out what way the heart shape sits in order to see it when you cut or bit into them!!

Cook at 180C for about 20min until the are golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely
(As I mentioned before, I didn't have enough cake batter to cover them completely so I am still able to see which way the heart shape sits. However I am now going to need to ice them to hide that mess on top :p)

Serve or cover with icing which I will be doing later. Enjoy!

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