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

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

I remember a time in my childhood when I would not eat my lunch if a banana was not served with it. My mother told me the same thing, how she used to boycott lunch if there were no bananas available. I outgrew that, but I still prefer to eat bananas with my lunch. Others have not and I have a brother, who to this day, brings his banana along when tackling rice for lunch.

Bananas were one of the main exports of Somalia and during the harvesting season, they were in abundance in the southern parts of Somalia. The markets overflowed with bananas and there were piles upon piles everywhere. Prices were low and they were much lower at the end of the day when the stalls at the markets had to be emptied and vacated. There were also warehouses that sold only bananas and since none of them were air-conditioned or had refrigerators, the bananas quickly deteriorated in the tropical heat.

We remember one such warehouse in Brava, Somalia that had so many bananas in various stages of deterioration. The bananas never went to waste and the Bravanese used to buy the very cheap bananas and dry the peeled bananas in the sun. Sun-dried bananas, known in Brava as mazalfoorno, were a favourite of ours and we used to snack on them whenever we could lay our hands on some. They were a healthy and nutritious snack.

The Bravanese also used those very ripe bananas to make banana halwa. It is a delicious dessert that goes well with traditional unsweetened Somali coffee. The Bravanese know banana halwa as halwa ya mazu. The halwa was not shaped into balls but was made into a big chunk and everyone would rip a piece off of it.

A chunk of banana halwa is not visually appealing which is why we decided to shape them into balls and coat them. The coating adds another flavour dimension which makes this delicious dessert taste even better.

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We wanted to post the recipe for apple fritters ever since our visit to the Savour Stratford Perth County Culinary Festival. The festival is held once a year in beautiful Stratford, Ontario, a city alive with art and culture. The culinary festival brings together food lovers, award-winning chefs, local artisan producers and farmers. There are food tastings, cooking classes, food stalls, and music concerts.

We saw a big line-up in front of one of the food stalls that was selling apple fritters and we got in line. After a long wait, the two of us ordered half a dozen fritters, thinking they were a lot and that we would bring some home with us. We were handed a small, brown paper bag that contained six tiny fritters. We ate them quickly and licked our fingers. They were unbelievably delicious! Without hesitation, we got back in the line, that was now longer, and after another long wait, we got two dozen fritters to eat and share with our family.

That was last September. We were looking forward to the festival this year but it was moved to July and unfortunately for us, it falls on Ramadan. That is why we decided to make our own fritters. Last week, we tested the recipe on family members and everyone liked them.

The apples in the fritters we had in Stratford were sliced but we decided to use finely diced apples since our fritters are bigger. This way, you will get pieces of apple every time you bite into the delicious fritters. Another change we made was to use glaze icing instead of sprinkling them with powdered sugar. The choice is yours. You can have them plain, with powdered sugar, or use the simple glaze icing.

We used Granny Smith apples but you can use any tangy, tart apples. The fritters can also be made with any tangy-tasting fruit such as peaches, pears, strawberries, rhubarbs, etc.

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Firni is not one of the foods we were familiar with growing up in Somalia. It was egg custard and tapioca pudding that we were accustomed to. Firni has a magic of its own. Even before digging in with your spoon and tasting its satiny-smooth texture, this dessert will excite your senses. The milky whiteness of firni and the bright green colour of the pistachio topping make it a very pretty-looking dessert. Then there is the scent of rose water. Tiltillating.

We used whole milk (3.25% milk fat) for this recipe. We believe it provides enough creaminess and does not compromise the dish. Those looking for a richer pudding can substitute a cup of table cream for that extra creaminess.

When pouring hot firni into the serving bowls, it will look very runny but will thicken as it cools down. Let the firni cool down before refrigerating. Firni is usually served cold but you can also serve it hot or at room temperature.

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We like samosas and we also like mahamri. They are two classic favourites for Somalis as well as East Africans in general. Somalis like to pair the two together, nestling their samosas in mahamri blankets and biting the two together. If your Somali friend taught you how to do that, then so far so good. Your initiation, however, is not complete if you do not soak that mouthful with a big sip of shaah caddeeys (Somali tea with milk). Delicious!

We usually prepare a large batch of samosas and freeze them. When we run out and there is not much time to prepare both samosas and mahamri for our afternoon tea, we make mahamosa (mahamri + samosa). We came up with that idea and we coined the word. The two-in-one was an instant favourite for all those who tried it. For those who cannot let go of the samosa’s crunch, no worries, we have a solution. We placed a tortilla chip on top of the meat filling before folding the mahamosa. It worked like magic. Only, this was not an illusion but very real.

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Yields 24 Mahamosas

The Mahamri Dough recipe requires 2 hours for the dough to rise, so it is best to start this recipe before the samosa beef filling.