Sahlab (سحلب) Recipe

Image from tasteofbeirut.com

Sahlab (سحلب) is a popular beverage found all over the Middle East.  It is believe to have originated in Turkey during the Ottoman Empire. Traditional sahlab flour is make by grinding the dried tubers of orchids into a fine power. It is then thickened with milk or water and sweetened with orange blossom or rose water.

Unfortunately the plants used to make traditional sahlab flour are endangered and hard to come by in markets. Instead we offer and alternative recipe using cornflour as the thickener, while still retaining a similar taste to that of traditional sahlab.

Servse: 2

Ingredients.

2  cups of milk (plus a small amount extra)
2 tbsp of cornflour
2 tbsp of sugar (or to taste)
1 tbsp of rose water

Crushed nuts and ground cinnamon (optional)

Measure out your 2 cups of milk and pour into a saucepan

Turn on the heat to medium-high. Bring milk to a light boil.

Add 2 tablespoons of corn flour into a small amount of milk and mix well ensuring there are no lumps.

Add your cornflour and milk mixture to the lightly boiling milk. Reduce heat to low and whisk regularly until thickened to avoid lumps.

Once thickened, add 2 tablespoon of sugar (or to preferred taste) and 1 tablespoon of rosewater.

Pour into desired cups or bowls and garnish with ground cinnamon, chopped nuts (optional) and enjoy!

Image from tasteofbeirut.com

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Baklava

Baklava is a Mediterranean sweet that I was introduced to by my Grandmother just a few years ago. Here in Britain it can be rather expensive to purchase and so I was driven to attempt to make my own. Rumour had it that Baklava was a complex dish to make but in reality I found it incredibly easy - easier than baking a cake my friend believes. Be low you will find the recipe we used in out first attempt to make baklava. It was by no means perfect (we went a bit over board with the nuts) but it did produce something very close to what we can purchase here in Britain. I hope you enjoy this just as much as we did!

Ingredients
24 sheets of ready-made filo/phyllo pastry
225g of crushed nuts (we used a mixture of pistachios, cashews and almonds as these tend to work best)
2tbsp of granulated sugar

Syrup
350g of granulated sguar
300ml of water
1tbsp of lemon juice
2tbsp of rose water


Preparation Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Grease the baking tin you will be using with butter.
3. Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan over low heat or in the microwave.
4. Grind your nuts together in a coffee grinder or food processor until crushed.
5. Add the 2tbsp of sugar to your nut mix.
6. Lay 14 sheets of pastry, one at a time, into the tray, brushing each sheet with butter before adding the next.
7. Spread you nut mix evenly over the pastry in the tray
8. Layer up the remaining sheets of pastry brushing each with butter as before.
9. Cut the baklava into equal squares or diamond shapes, only cutting through the top layers of pastry.
10. Place the baklava into the preheated over for about 20 minutes, then decrease over temperature to 150C/300F/Gas 2 and cook for another 20-40 minutes until pastry is slightly puffed and golden on top. Remove and allow to cool slightly.
11. In a sauce pan, heat the sugar, water, lemon juice and rose water together over a medium heat until the sugar has melted and a thicker syrup has formed (should take 20-30 minutes).
12. Pour the syrup into the slits in the baklava and leave to cool. Once cooled, cut along the slits and serve individual pieces.

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