Baklava is a dessert to be experienced. It has an amazing combination of textures that is sure to please. The paper-thin layers of filo pastry are flaky and crisp while the nut filling is sweet and chewy. Addictive.

We used our homemade filo pastry that makes the baklava taste infinitely better than those made with store-bought, frozen filo dough.

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You do need to be an experienced chef to prepare homemade, paper-thin filo (phyllo) sheets. You do not need to stretch, and stretch, and stretch the dough. Our easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions will give you guaranteed results.

Filo dough can be used to prepare different kinds of dishes. It is used for many types of sweets such as baklava and it is also used in savoury dishes such as spanakopita. We hope to post several recipes that use these homemade filo sheets.

Homemade filo sheets have several advantages over frozen ones. While frozen filo is convenient, it is more difficult to work with as it dries faster. Dishes made with fresh filo taste much better and you will be able to tell the difference. Another advantage is that homemade filo has no preservatives and you know all the ingredients that went into it.

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These pan-fried kingfish steaks make for a great weeknight dinner. You can have them ready on the dinner table in less than 15 minutes. It is one reason why we prepare this dish once a week, the other reason being that the fish is quite delicious.

We like to serve the fish with a tomato sauce, fried onions and mufo. All of them can be prepared ahead and the dish can be assembled in a very short time. Even though kingfish does not have too many small bones, you still need to be cautious when eating.

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Uncle Mursal Mohamed Abdulle just came back from Russia when he called me, my brother and a young uncle to the kitchen. I had just turned 12 and my brother was 13. He announced, “Today I will teach you how to cook been dallac.” Been dallac is a very basic tomato sauce that Somalis like to eat with anjero. The literal translation of been dallac is faux or pretend stir fry. In Somali, been means lie and for Somalis, a sauce with no meat is just a big lie. Many Somalis also know this tomato sauce as dallac bilaash and bilaash means having no worth. Yes, Somalis and their meat!

We were excited standing in the kitchen, just the boys, with no girls around. We were also excited because we were going to witness, for the first time, a male member of the family cooking. History was being made. Uncle Mursal knew everything and he was the one who would settle our arguments. It was at the height of the Cold War and when we wanted to know who would win if the Americans and Russians went to war, uncle Mursal knew the answer. Argument settled. It helped that he lived across the fence from the Chinese who, at the time, were building the National Theatre in Mogadishu. He befriended them and that also lent authority to whatever he said.

He prepared the sauce and it was the best, real, faux sauce we have ever had!

In this post, we prepared two tomato sauces, one basic and the other with additions. If you want to taste the tomatoes then the basic sauce should be your first choice. It is also easier and quicker to prepare. We decided not to remove the seeds because Somalis traditionally do not bother seeding their tomatoes. If you decide to remove the seeds, we suggest that you see our video on Peeling & Seeding Tomatoes. Try to extricate as much of the juices from the seeds.

The Tomato Sauce with Extras is more robust and is great as side dish or for cooking meat or fish in it. We used only one jalapeno pepper and seeded it. Adjust the heat according to your taste.

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Ramadan and the lead up to it have been the busiest time for us. We posted 10 recipes in June and this is the 9th recipe in July. That is four months’ worth of recipes based on the average number of recipes we post per month. Yet, we still believe we could have done more. We have so many recipes we would like to share with you, foods we feel guilty enjoying without sharing their recipes.

Maamoul and Eid are inseparable and, for many, Eid is not complete without it. For Christians in the Middle East, maamoul is a pastry that is associated with Easter. Our target was to post this recipe before Eid but we failed to do that. The video was ready but the rest of post was interrupted by family time and by the need to reset our sleep schedule that has been out of whack during the last few nights of Ramadan. Add to that the laziness that sets in when you know you already missed your deadline.

As we explained before in a previous post (Linzer Cookies), it is customary for us to bring cookies to our Eid gatherings. We shared the maamoul with family and friends and every feedback was that the pastries were just perfect.

Maamoul are traditionally made from semolina and are filled with dates or nuts, usually pistachios or walnuts. There is a special mold for each of those fillings which helps identify the type of maamoul. Walnut maamoul are semi-spherical and look like a decorated, pointed dome. Date maamoul are cylindrical in shape while pistachio maamoul look like an oval dome. There is nothing that prevents you from using any shape you prefer but you will confuse your guests if you do not follow that convention.

Having a mold is not a must to make these crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth pastries. You can shape the maamoul into smooth balls using the palms of your hands. Any imperfections will be covered when dusted with icing sugar after baking. You can also decorate the balls using a fork or special tweezers known as naggash.

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Yields 42 pieces

After our very successful recipe for basbousa, we received many request for a recipe for basbousa with cream. The video for the basbousa recipe got close to 3/4 of a million views on YouTube, with half a million of those views in the last 6 months. We are delighted with the numbers and the positive response we received.

Basbousa with cream is prepared in different ways. In one method, a layer of cream is gently spread on top of a layer of basbousa batter, then another layer of batter is placed on top of the cream. It is then baked in the oven. In another method, a layer of basbousa batter is baked, then a layer of cream and a layer of batter is placed on top of it. The whole thing is baked again in the oven. Some cooks fully bake the bottom layer while others bake it partially.

With this recipe, we decided to go a different route. Traditional basbousa has a dense consistency, and a layer of cream sitting between two dense layers was not appealing to us. Baking the basbousa twice was also something we did not prefer to do. We decided to bake a fluffier basbousa that would pair well with the layer of cream. Because of its less dense consistency and the fact that it is not baked with the cream, we decided to name it a Semolina Layer Cake. If you want it to be more basbousa-like, increase the quantity of semolina and reduce the quantity of flour in the recipe.

The cream we used in the cake is the white pastry cream recipe that we posted before. Since we are using a syrup, we added only 1 tablespoon of sugar to the cream. Make sure you add the orange blossom water or rose water for an authentic basbousa taste. We placed the cream on the cake right after blending it and while still warm.

We are very happy with the cake and we hope you will like it too. It is a Middle Eastern torte that is light and not too sweet. Serve with more syrup for those who prefer a sweeter cake.

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Serves 8

Spinach has a lot of health benefits and is considered by many to be a super food. It is nutrient-dense, providing more nutrients while at the same time being low in calories. Some studies have shown that cooking spinach increases its health benefits making its nutrients much easier to absorb. In short, spinach is good for most of us.

That however, is not the only reason we eat spinach. Cooked well, it is very tasty and brings depth to many dishes. In this recipe, we sauteed the spinach with olive oil, onions, fresh tomatoes, fresh parsley, and spices. That delicious combination became the filling and it was encased in a soft, tender dough. Click here for the recipe for our fatayer dough.

Another spinach dish that we regularly prepare is the Spinach, Carrots, & Potatoes recipe we posted before. We like using it as a side dish and it is the reason you will find it in our fridge most days. That spinach recipe will also work great as a filling for these fatayer. The spinach is less prominent in the filling which will make it more appealing to those who are not too fond of spinach.

We used baby spinach leaves because of their tender texture and mild, sweet taste. Mature spinach can taste bitter and requires blanching to reduce its bitterness. When buying fresh spinach, look for leaves that are crisp and have a dark-green colour.

You can also use frozen spinach in this recipe. With frozen spinach, you have two options. You can sautee it like we did the fresh spinach or you can thaw it, squeeze out all the liquid then add it, without cooking, to the sauteed vegetables.

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Yields 20 fatayer

Qatayef are a staple Ramadan dessert that rarely absent from iftar tables in the Middle East. These little treats have many variations and are made in different forms. Some are filled with cream and drizzled with a thick sugar syrup, others are filled with cheese or nuts and are deep-fried then served with syrup. Those are just a few examples of some of the fillings used for qatayef.

Qatayef are like mini pancakes but they very much remind us of anjero. In fact, when we want to make anjero quickly we use this batter but thin it out a little. The express anjero lacks the fermented taste of regular anjero but it does the job when time is an issue. Just like anjero, qatayef are cooked on one side only and just long enough until the batter dries up on the top of the qatayef. The top will be somewhat sticky and this is needed as it will make it easy to seal the edges when pressed together.

Apart from being delicious, what we also like qatayef is that they can be prepared well ahead and assembled very quickly. Fill them with cream, seal the edges two-thirds of the way, dip in ground pistachios then serve with a rose water-scented sugar syrup.

The baking powder creates the bubbles that make the qatayef porous and fluffy. It is these pores that let the scented syrup to gently seep into the cream-filled centre. If the syrup is not thick enough, the qatayef will quickly become soggy. We use the same thick syrup for qatayef, kunafa, and baklava.

Qatayef are traditionally filled with qishta which is a type of clotted cream. To fill the qatayef, you can use clotted cream, creme fraiche, canned cream or cooked white pastry cream. The cooked pastry cream is particularly useful in that it can be used in deep fried or baked qatayef.

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Yields 40 qatayef

In many traditional Middle Eastern sweets, a thick cream known as qishta is used. Qishta is a type of clotted cream and has a high fat content and it is prepared using a traditional heating and skimming process. Full-cream milk is simmered for a couple of hours after which it is cooled down. The cream is then skimmed off the surface.

Qishta is used for filling kunafa, qatayef, filo (phyllo) desserts, and it is served with honey and bread for breakfast. In Turkey, this type of cream is known as kaymak and is a popular breakfast dish. In some Arab countries, qishta is known as geymar or qaimar.

This recipe mimics qishta and it is for those who need a substitute either because they cannot find it locally or because they need a lower fat alternative. We tried the cream with katayef and it was wonderful. The butter in the recipe is optional but adds richness to the cream and we do recommend it.

We like this recipe because it also gives us a white pastry cream to use with desserts that look better with a white cream. We used it to fill Oreo tart shells and the colour contrast was very pleasing. To make the cream less thick, we blended the cream after refrigeration. We used vanillin sugar instead of the orange blossom water and since we were not going to use syrup, we cooked the cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar instead of the 1 tablespoon specified in the recipe.

The recipe uses fresh, soft ricotta cheese and the best ricotta is a homemade one. Ricotta cheese is easy to prepare and you can find the recipe here. We used homemade ricotta cheese for this recipe. We also made the cream with store-bought ricotta cheese but not all store-bought ricotta are created equal, some being dry and chalky.

You can use the pastry cream without blending it and some actually prefer it to have some texture. We, however, prefer smooth qishta.

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We are fatayer lovers and testament to that is the huge plate of assorted fatayer we showed you in the fatayer dough recipe. Fatayer are one of these recipe that we like to make year-round and not just on special occasions. Preparing the dough is a snap and you could use different types of fillings to make the fatayer always interesting.

These cheese fatayer are so tasty that they will appeal even to those that are addicted to meat. The combination of the salty cheese, fresh parsley, fresh mint, and nigella seeds makes the fatayer irresistible. We used feta cheese since it is more readily available but if you wish to make the fatayer more authentic, then use akkawi cheese.

We also tried a combination of ricotta and mozzarella cheese, using half of each, and we were pleased with the result. Experiment with different cheeses and see what you like best. Another reason we chose feta cheese over akkawi is because of our preference for the tart tanginess of feta. That makes the cheese fatayer taste more robust.

Shape the fatayer as soon as the dough finishes resting. To keep the fatayer from puffing up too much and losing their shape, it is important to bake them right away. We made the cheese fatayer into boat-like shapes, which is the way they are traditionally made, but you can use any shape you prefer, including making them into mini pizzas.

It is much more convenient to prepare a large batch of fatayer and partially bake them then freeze them. We usually bake them for 10 minutes, let them cool down then place them in freezer bags. When we need to serve them, we place the frozen fatayer in the oven (or toaster oven) and bake them until heated through and golden brown.

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Yields 24 fatayer