Zarda ( Sweet Rice )

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم 

So I was at my mothers house when she decided she wanted to make Zarda for dessert

so I took this as a great opportunity to blog my mothers Zarda recipe from her home. :)

A simple yummy dessert.

Ingredients

2 cups Basmati Rice
1 and 3/4 cups of sugar
2 tbsn coconut shavings
2tbsn almonds
2tbsm pistachios
Tbsn raisins
5 cups water (for par boiling rice)
Pinch of salt
1/4 tspn Cardamom powder
125g Butter
Half cup of water

Half teaspoon food colouring

Method

1.Soak rice for half hour.
2. Boil almonds and pistachios then peel almond skin and leave to soak in cool water with pistachios and raisins. 

3. Heat water in another pot and when boiled Add food colouring then when comes to boil add the rice. Add pinch of salt and Cook on high.

4. After five minutes rice should be slightly undercooked, al dente, then drain. Set aside.

5. Now in same pan melt butter on low heat. When melted add sugar and half cup of water. Cook till sugar has dissolved. If you don't add some water the sugar will clump and not dissolve. Keep sitting to avoid burning. When frothing add the raisins almonds and pistachios, cook further.

6. When it reached sticky stringy consistently add rice and very gently combine in folding motion. Do not be too rough as it will break rice. Make sure the rice is evenly coated in sugar syrup.

7. Add few drops of Kewrah water, if you don't have this you can use rose water. Cook on medium heat for 2 mins then give stir folding with a fork ever so gently. 

8. Turn heat down low and cover and leave till until it dries up. 

9. Pop into pre heated oven at gas mark 4 or leave on top of cooker with diffuser underneath the pan, leave for another 5-8 mins so rice fluffs up. 

10. Serve and enjoy!

Bil-hana wa ash shifa'a.

Apple and Blackberry Turnovers

  بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

I love baking when it does spare of the moment, when you look in the fridge to find some puff pastry and blackberries and plenty of apple my wonderful father had bought for me. There was only one thing to do! Turnovers. Now I don't know about you but i love these delicious pastries! yummmmmy especially with a cup of tea. What I also love about this is that the filling can be used with french toast or to pour over porridge. My children loved these! Delicious I tell you! Hey but don't take my word for it, try it out yourself. :)

Ingredients

6 medium apples of your choice, peeled and cut into small pieces

1 punnet of Blackberries
Zest of Half of an Orange
Half a cup of Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp of Unsalted Butter
1 Tbsp of plain flour
1 tsp of Ground Cinnamon
2 packets of puff pastry

1 egg for egg wash.

1 tbsn milk
Brown or white sugar, for topping

Chocolate chip to melt and drizzle on top ( Optional )

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to gas mark 4. Melt butter and add the apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and orange zest. Cook for 10 minutes till apples soften.

2. Then add the Blackberries and cook together. Blackberries will release their juices. Then ad flour and combine. Sauce will thicken. Set aside and allow to cool.

3. Next roll out pastry into square and cut four smaller squares, place some of the filling in each one as shown in pic below.

4. Then fold over into triangles. In bowl mix egg and milk and wash the pastries with this egg wash. Sprinkle some brown or white sugar on top. Place in oven and cook for about 20 mins or until pastries are golden brown.

5. This part is totally optional, however a most delicious touch! For chocolate drizzle simply melt place in pan and place over pan of hot water and allow to melt. The drizzle over pastries using a piping bag or with a spoon.

6. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm with a lovely cup of tea. 

Enjoy!!

Bil-hana wa ash shifa'a

Sooji ka Halwa

  بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 Dedicated to my Beloved Master, Sultan ul Awliya Sheikh Muhammad Nazim Al Haqqani (Q.S) of the most Distinguished Naqshbandi Sufi Order. 

(1922-2014)

Sultan Ul Awliya Maulana Sheikh Nazim Q.S 

I remember back in 2010 I visited my beloved Sufi Master Maulana Sheikh Nazim Q.S in Lefke, Cyprus and he mentioned to me and a few other ladies how much he liked Pakistani Halva. I remember His beautiful face smiling as he was telling us. He is the one who made and still makes everything in my life look, feel and taste beautiful, He is the epitome of beauty itself. I live my life in eternal gratitude that I was granted the gift of Love through him, my passion, my morning sun and evening moon, the coolness of my eyes and the light of my heart, the tranquillity of my soul and the wealth of a thousand generations, I dedicate this to You my beloved Murshid.

There are many different types of Halva's, but the one that is most common in Pakistani cuisine is Sooji ka Halwa, which is halva made from semolina. The recipe I shall share with you was taught to me by my mother, I tweaked it here and there slightly. However I must warn you, this recipe is not for the calorie counters out there!

I do hope you will give this a try.

Sooji ka Halva

Ingredients

250g Butter
2 Cups of Semolina (I used fine grain)
2 Cups of sugar
8 Cups of water
Handful of blanched Almonds
Half cup of dried fruit of choice ( I used Whitworths sultana and cinnamon apple)


Method

1. In a saucepan heat a cup of water and add almonds, bring to boil until, drain and cool with cold water, then carefully remove the skin of the almonds and slice, set aside.

2. In another pan add 8 cups of water along with sugar. and bring to boil till sugar dissolves, in meantime melt the butter in a cooking pan, when melted ad the semolina and cook on high, be careful here not to burn the semolina so continuously stir until golden beige in colour. This should take between 15-20 minutes.

3. On one side on hob you should have water and sugar simmering away on low and sugar should have dissolved. Now add the dried fruit of your choice to the halva and stir well for a few minutes
( Usually raisins are used but use any that tickles your fancy :) )

4. Now take the pan of water with dissolved sugar and very very carefully pour into semolina, please be careful at this point as semolina splatters a lot, maybe better to ask someone to pour water while you stir.

5. Stir for a few more minutes till it thickens.

6. Sprinkle with desiccated coconut and decorate as desired. Serve warm with a lovely cup of tea.

Bil-hana wa ash shifa! :)

Layali Lubnan (Lebanese Nights)

بسم الله الرحمن الرحي

Layali Lubnan is a classic dessert of Lebanon. It is a Semolina pudding topped with delicious Astha and whipped cream, served with Atter, a simple sugar syrup. Ashta is a cream used in many other Middle Eastern sweet dishes, it can be eaten alone served with fruit or used to layer like in Layali Lubnan. This decadent sweet creamy pudding is Infused with the beautiful flavours and scents of Rose water and Orange Blossom water. It definitely is a perfect dessert to serve at dinner parties, just decorate as you wish, using nuts and fruit of your choice. Your time to get creative!

Ingredients

1/2 cup of fine Semolina
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
2tbsn cornflour mixed with 1/2 cup of water
2 Tbsn Rose Water
2 Tbsn Orange Blossom water
3 Cups of milk
Strawberries and Kiwis
Pistachios
300ml of whipped cream

For Ashta 

4 Cups of milk
1 cup of double cream
2 tbsn of sugar ( if you prefer sweeter you can add more sugar)
1/2 cup of cornflour mixed with 1/2 cup of water
6 pieces of White bread with crusts taken off
1 tbsn Rose water
1 tbsn Orange blossom


For Atter (Syrup)

1.5 cups of sugar
1 cup of water
Juice of half a lemon
1 tbsn rose water
1 tbsn orange blossom

Method

1. In a pot add the milk and heat on medium till warm, then add the semolina and the sugar. Stir well for a few minutes until it begin to thicken.

2. The beat the egg and add, followed by the cornflour, cook again for about 5 minutes, keep stirring to avoid lumps.

3. When it has nicely thicken turn off heat and add the rose water and orange blossom.
4. Pour into a dish and leave to cool. ( You can if you wish pour into individual bowls)

5. Now to make the Ashta, in a pot add the milk, double cream, sugar and cornflour, stir well.
6. Take the bread and cut into small pieces.

7. Add the bread to the pot and stir.

8. Mix until it becomes thick. Turn off heat and add the Rose and orange blossom water. Set aside and allow to completely cool.

9. While that is cooling you can make the sugar syrup. Add water sugar and lemon juice to a pan and heat on medium heat for about 10 minutes. Then add the Rose and Orange blossom water.
10. To assemble take the dish with semolina and top with the Ashta and then whipping cream.

11. Now adorn as you wish with fruit and nuts of your choice.

12. Drizzle over the sugar syrup and sprinkle with Pistachio nuts.

Serve with more fruit and another drizzle of Syrup

Enjoy!
Bil-hana wa ash Shifa'a.

Kajoor ka Halwa (Date Halwa)

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Date Halwa

This delicious gooey dessert is a wonderful treat after any meal, it is simple to make and no sugar is added as the dates and honey provide the natural sugars needed, which kind of makes this dessert rather healthy. Sounds good to me! Khoya is used a lot in Indian and Pakistani sweet desserts to add a creaminess to the dish, it is difficult to find khoya here in UK but you can easily make your own, there are different ways to make it. My cousin simply cooks milk with a little oil till it thickens into clumps, I however find the ricotta chesse method easiest and quickest. You can make the Khoya in advance to save time, any left over can be stores in an airtight container for up to a week. I added cocoa powder to this halwa to give it an even richer colour.
You can double or triple the ingredients I have given, when I made this I didn't realise it would make such a small amount, having said that it is a rather rich dessert so I would suggest small servings.

Ingredients

200 grms dates (I used Majool dates as they are soft and sticky)
3 tbsn fine Semolina
3 tbsn Ghee (you may use butter if you wish)
2 tbsn Khoya
1 tbsn cocoa powder (Unsweetened)
2 cups of Milk
2 tbsn honey
Half tspn of cardamom powder 

For Khoya you will need:

250gms of Ricotta cheese
2tspn of oil

Method

1. To make the khoya add oil to wide non stick frying pan and heat up, then add the ricotta cheese and on low heat cook for 25-30 minutes until all the water in cheese has dried up and becomes clumpy. Set aside to cool.

Khoya

2. Put dates into saucepan and add one cup of water, bring to boil until dates are softened. Mash them up to a paste and set aside.
3. Heat ghee in pan and add semolina, cook until there is no raw smell of semolina and ghee separates shown in picture below.

You can see the ghee separating and coming to surface.

3. Now add the date paste and mix well on medium high heat.

4. Add the cardamom and one tablespoon of the khoya, mix well for about 3 minutes.
5. Then pour in the milk a little at a time and stir well. Add as much milk to reach desired consistency.  

6. Sprinkle some khoya and chopped pistachios and serve warm.

Bil-hana wa as-shifa'a! :)