One hundred and one mezze: 32. Arayes

Sainsbury's has introduced a new(ish) flat bread couple of months ago and it is fantastic! Miles better than any pitta bread you can buy from a high street supermarket. The bread is a folded softer version of pitta bread (higher fat content, judging by the paper packaging). Its two layers are too thin to be opened as a pitta pocket. You need to to fold the bread over the sandwich stuffing. 

I usually fill the bread with pastrami, cheese and American mustard and toast it in a frying pan with some butter on the outside to make a perfect toastie. Alternatively, stick it in a toaster until crisp and use it for dips and hummus.

However may absolute favourite way to use this bread is to stuff it with kebab meat (or kafta for the Lebanese inclined!)and stick it in the oven. This dish was my favourite part of an Arabic barbecue dinner as a kid and is still my number one choice for a solo dinners (since my wife finds mince lamb too fatty). I often make a big patch of kebab meat and stick it in the freezer in small bags. Perfect emergency dinner!.

This dish is eaten all over the Middle East. It is called Arayes in Lebanon and Hwawshi bread in Egypt.While in Aleppo the add some white cheese and call it Toshka. In Damascus I don't think we have a specific name for this dish and it doesn't usually feature on restaurant menus. It is just bread stuffed with kebab meat.

Arayes

400g minced lamb (or half beef half lamb)

50g chopped parsley

One small onion

Salt

Pepper 

1/2 tsp Allspice 

Chilli flakes (optional)

Butter (optional)

Sainsbury's flat bread (or any pitta bread)

Heat the oven to 200c. (Or use a panini press or for ultimate taste cook on the barbecue )

Start by chopping the onion as small a humanly possible. Salt generously in a deep bowl and leave to soften for half an hour. It is worth taking your time at this step as there is nothing worse than a mouthful of chunky uncooked onions.

Add the meat, parsley, allspice, salt, pepper and chilli flakes to taste. Cook a small bit .of the meat in a frying pan and taste to check the seasoning.

Stuff the bread with the meat mixture to your liking. I prefer a thick layer of meat to keep it pink in the middle.

Butter the bread on the outside and cook on a wire rack in the middle of the oven for 10-20 minutes depending how you like your meat.

Serve as part of mezze spread or with a bowl of salad for a nice supper

Sochi, a dark legacy

Up to and including the infamous Olympic rings incident, the Sochi games have been a complete PR disaster for Russia (On some level I am disappointed things didn't go spectacularly wrong in Sochi. Nothing would have made me happier than seeing Putin’s Russia the laughing stock of the world). While most of the column inches where directed at the discriminatory homophobic laws, another dark secret of the place failed to grab the world attention. The Ethnic Cleansing of Circassians from their motherland and its historic capital Sochi hardly made it to the press.

Being ethnically half Chechen I have always been interested in the North Caucasus. Despite never visiting, knowing the language and cultural differences I feel strong connection to the region mostly because of my great admiration of my late grandfather. Like the Circassians, Chechens and other East Caucasus people have suffered a great deal at the hands of Russians.

After defeat to Russia in the Caucasian War in 1864  Circassians were expelled en mass from their homeland. Hundreds of thousands of people were dragged from their villages to ports on the Black Sea to be transported to the Ottoman Empire. Unknown number of people perished of diseases or killed at the hands of the victorious Russians. Most of those deported settled in Turkey or moved further south towards Syria and Jordan. Their descendants today make a community of a hundred thousand or so in each country.

In Syria most Circassian settled in The Golan Heights. They were the majority ethnic group of the region up to the 1976 war. Most Circassians along with other Caucusian people and Arabs fled the Israeli occupation and resettled in and around Damascus or immigrated to Europe and the US. In the late Nineteen Seventies few hundred Circassians returned to Beer Ajam and Breeqa, two Villages closed to the seize fire line that lay abandoned for over ten years.

Beer Ajam is one of my favourite places on Earth. The nature of the place is breathtaking. The hills covered in green all year round mixed with black basalt volcanic stone makes a wonderful back drop to the beautiful villas built in a traditional Golan black stone style. I always thought to myself that one day I willI will buy a small plot of land in the village and build myself a nice summer villa. Needless to say this dream is further away than it ever was.

Although increasingly assimilated in the Arabic population, Circassians have preserved their identity and culture. Some still speak the Adyghe language and traditional music, dance and costumes are present in weddings and social occasions till this day.  

Circassian cuisine, similar to the rest of the North Caucases , is a simple hearty affair. The cuisine is heavy on meat, dairy, grain and flour influenced by the availability, or lack of, ingredients high in the Caucasus Mountains. Cheese and meat stuffed dumplings and various other pastries are the heart of the cuisine.

Today’s recipe Chipse Basta (شبس باسطة) is a Circassian dish served in Weddings and special family occasions. The dish is a simple chicken and Bulgur pilaf served with a garlic and walnut flavoured sauce.  Chipse is the sauce and basta is the bulgur. The dish has special costume to serve and eat. Traditionally the dish was served in communal large tray where all the guests sit around. The meat is arranged in a special way where the breasts and wings of the bird is placed in front of the older person with legs and thighs arranged on the sides. The host or the older person will say few words then take a bite of the wing. He will split the breast in two and pass it to the guests to his left and right. Then everybody dig in. The elder at the top of the table will remain seated and eating until everyone is finished, so no guest feels embarrassed and leaves the table before completely full.

This is my take on Chipse Basta based on my distant child hood memories, my Mum recipe and my dear friend “Maysaloon” family recipe.

One chicken cut to quarters or four chicken legs

Chicken stock 700mls (use cold stock)

Bulgur wheat 300g (you can use 2/3 Bulgur and 1/3 short grain rice)

Walnut 100g

Garlic 5-6 cloves

Ghee purified butter 3 tbs

Flour 3 tbs

Olive oil 3 tbs

Coriander powder 1 tsp

Paprika 2 tsp

Season the chicken with salt and pepper, half the paprika, a spoon of olive oil and one crushed clove of garlic. Let marinade for an hour or so if you have time.

Wash the Bulgur and soak in cold water for 30 minutes.

Cook the chicken to your preferred method; grill or roast. I like to start the chicken skin side down on a hot griddle pan to mark the skin and give a nice BBQ flavour. Flip the chicken over then continue to cook in the oven for 30 – 45 minutes at 195C depending on the size of the pieces.

While the chicken is cooking drain the Bulgur and cook in 3 cups or so of water. Add salt to taste. The bulgur needs to be cooked properly, almost over cooked.

In a separate pot start by frying the flour in the clarified butter on medium heat until the mixtures turns light brown. Add the clod stock slowly to make a roux stirring continuously with a whisk to prevent the flour clumping. Once all the stock is incorporated bring to a boil then turn down the heat to medium and let the sauce thicken. Add Salt to taste, the rest of the crushed garlic and the coriander.  Crush the walnut in a pestle and mortar or a food processor and add at the end.

Stir the cooked Bulgur with a wooden spoon to mash it slightly. Press in a cookie ring on the serving plate. Alternatively press the cooked Bulgur with the wooden spoon in a roasting tray and cut to squares to serve. Arrange a piece of the Bulgur, a piece of chicken and small ramekin of the chipse. Just before serving heat the olive oil in a pan and add the paprika. Remove of the heat immediately. Spoon on top of the chipse sauce.

Paralysis Cheese and other dodgy translations

Syrians have an inherent inability to finish anything right (see Syrian Revolution). They start a wonderful piece of work or a nice project then they ruin it on the final details. Nowhere is that more apparent than restaurants menus. You can hardly see a restaurant menu around damascus without a bleeding obvious spelling mistake or dodgy translation.

The paralysis part of the name comes from the fact the spelling of the word  شلل could refer to a wool hank or paralysis. Needless to say the cheese is named after a wool hank it resembles not after paraplegia. 

To be fair the above picture was not in Syria but it is so funny I couldn't resist. However, Baked Aborigine (baked aubergine) and Jordanian Heater (Jordanian Musakhan) are true menu items in a couple of high end Damascus restaurants.

Harra' Esbao'o (Harra' Esba3o or حراق اصبعو), is possibly the most frequently mistranslated dish ever. It is not really a mistranslation but rather a very literal translation. Harra' mean burning hot and esba3o is his finger. However, no matter if you call it "Finger burner", "Burns his fingers" or any variation of these three words it still doesn't make any sense to the non Arabic speakers trying to order some lunch. In fact it doesn't make any sense even to an Arabic speaker who is not familiar with the dish.

Modern take on presentation. Picture by @Tammamo

Hara' Esba3o is my all time favourite vegetarian dish, hands down. In essence the dish is a simple lentil pasta stew. It is made special with all the extras; crunchy fried croutons, garlic and coriander topping, pomegranate molasses and lots of citrus juice. I am drooling just writing these words! The traditional recipe requires making dough, rolling it thin and cut it into half inch squares, a very time consuming process. Nowadays most people use pasta instead. In Damascus you can actually buy special Harra' Esba3o pasta. Alternatively, you can use shell pasta (Conchiglie), orecchiette, or even lasagne sheets broken into pieces. My favourite however is pappardelle broken into inch long pieces. 

Historically this dish was associated with all-women occasions. It was the brunch of choice to serve in Sobhiyeh (صبحية), a late morning gathering of women usually in the house of a high class house wife. In early twentieth century Damascus, Sobhiyeh would have been an elaborate occasion with with singing, entertainment and a lot of Hara' Esba3o. It was a way of showing wealth and affluent. In modern day Damascus these large Sobhiyehs are all but gone. The name now refers to housewives morning gossip sessions, Turkish coffee and reading fortunes in empty coffee cups. 

My more traditional presentation and iPhone picture!

Here is my version of Harra' Esba3o 

Dry green lentils 200 g

Pappardelle pasta 300 g

Olive oil

Garlic 5 large cloves

Coriander leaves 50 g

Arabic bread 2 medium loaves

Corn starch 1 tbs

Pomegranate molasses 2 tbs

Juice of one lemon

Vegetable oil for frying

One onion 

Pomegranate for decoration (optional)

In a large pot start by cooking the lentils in 4 cups of water until half cooked, roughly 10-15 minutes. Break the pasta into one inch pieces and add to the pot. Season with salt. Cook for further 10-12 minutes depending how al dente you like your pasta.  

While the pasta and lentils are cooking. Heat 4 table spoons of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Crush the garlic and chop the coriander. Add the garlic first then the coriander to the hot oil and remove from the heat immediately. You just want the leaves to wilt. Avoid burning the garlic.

While the pasta is cooking add half the garlic and coriander mixture, juice of a lemon and the pomegranate molasses. Check seasoning. You can change the lemon/molasses ratio according to taste. 

Just before the pasta is done, dissolve the cornstarch in a little cold water and add to the pot. Let the pot boil for few minutes to thicken the sauce. It needs to be fairly loose at this stage as it will get thicker as it cools down. Add more boiling water if necessary.

plate in a glass oven dish or individual shallow bowls and let cool down. The dish is best served luke warm or room temperature.

While cooling, Cut the bread using kitchen scissors into 2 cm squares.  Heat the vegetable oil in a pot and deep fry the croutons. Keep an eye as they burn very quickly. Drain on a kitchen towel.

 Slice the onion thinly and fry in the same oil after the bread until dark brown. Drain. Onion is almost always served as a topping however I am not a fan so I don't.

When ready to serve, spoon the rest of the garlic and coriander on top. Sprinkle with the onions, croutons and few pomegranate seeds. 

Lemon, Garlic and Olive Oil

If you have been following my blog for some time you must have noticed that Syrian cuisine, especially in Damascus, is very light on the spice side. In many many dishes salt and pepper, or allspice, is the only seasoning. We make up for this by using fresh strongly flavoured ingredients. We love lemon for example and we use it quite a lot in our food. Olive oil, fresh coriander and garlic all feature heavily in our cuisine.

These ingredients are often used in combinations. The most obvious example is green coriander and garlic. These are usually fried very gently in warm olive oil and used in an endless number of dishes.

Today's recipe uses one of these classic combination: lemon, garlic and olive oil. The three flavours matches perfectly together. They work very well with grilled chicken. You can use them as a marinade or to drizzle over your spatch-cooked barbecued chicken or even a dipping sauce.

Today's dish is one of my all time favourites and regular dish on my big family dinners. We always called this dish in our household Oven Potato with Lemon, Garlic and Oil. Although chicken is the main ingredient in this dish for some reason we always ignored its presence in the name. May be because the main flavour is not the chicken but the strongly flavoured potatoes. Anyway, if you don't like the name call it Lemon Chicken Roast or Oven Chicken and Potato or any other name you like.

You can use any cut of chicken you like. Thighs, legs, breasts, on or off the bone, with or without skin all works fine. I even used chicken wings only on occasions. Today I am using cubed chicken breast purely because this is what I had in the fridge. The only thing to keep in mind that you need to adjust cooking times depending on the cut and the size of chicken pieces you are using.

P.S. this dish is heavy on lemon , garlic and olive oil so if you don't like any of these ingredients this dish is not for you. Similarly if you are looking for a dish to cook for a romantic dinner and you are planning some bed-time activity then again this garlic infused dish is not for you.


Here is the recipe:

Chicken Breast 500g (or any chicken cut you like)
Potato 1kg
Garlic 8-10 cloves
Two lemons
Olive oil 100mls
Preserved chopped chillies (or Syrian red pepper paste) 2tbsp
Chilli powder (optional)
Salt 1tsp
Pepper 1tsp
Vegetable oil

Put the chicken in a freezer plastic bag. Add the crushed garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper, olive oil and the chillies. Mix well and let marinade in the fridge for few hours.

Heat the oven to 200C.

Peel the potatoes and slice into 5mm slices. Deep fry the potato and vegetable oil till almost done.
Drain and layer the potato in the roasting dish. Arrange the chicken on top of the potato. Add all the marinade juices to the roasting tin. Top with hot water up to the level of the potato.

Bake in the oven till the chicken is fully cooked. You will need 25-30 minutes for chicken breast. If you are using thighs or chicken breast whole on the bone you will need 45-60 minutes and you will need to turn the chicken for the skin to brown on both sides.

Serve with Arabic bread.

Halloween special: Tahini Pumpkin

Halloween is here and pumpkins are everywhere, in supermarkets, on TV, and all over the blogosphere!

I am one of the people who gets irritated by Halloween for some reason, I don't know. May be the commercial nature to Halloween celebrations. May be I feel Americans are ramming their Halloween down our throats. May be ... I don't know. It just irritates me!

So the last thing I expected myself to do is to post a Halloween special, but all these nice recipes (here, here and here) got me inspired. I haven't cooked pumpkin in years and I really fancied some. So I decided to cook Tahini Pumpkin (yaqteen bi thineh يقطين بطحينة in Arabic)

Pumpkin in Syria is traditionally cooked in tahini sauce. A nice hearty stew perfect for a cold winter night. The tahini in this dish is added towards the end and cooked with the meat and pumpkin. Although the flavours are great, tahini curdles in high temperature and the dish doesn't look that great. I prefer to make a loose tahini sauce and pour it on the dish just before serving. It looks much nicer!

A much lighter variation on this dish omit tahini all together and replace it with garlic yoghurt sauce. This is my favourite way to cook pumpkin and I will post the recipe soon.

Here is my Tahini Pumpkin recipe:

Lamb cubes 400g

Small pumpkin

Onion

Chicken stock 250mls (or a stock cube)

Walnut 75g

Tahini 5tbsp

Garlic one clove

Lemon

Salt

Pepper

Allspice 1/2tsp

Ghee clarified butter 1tbsp (alternatively use olive or vegetable oil)

In a heavy bottom pot, brown the meat in the Ghee butter and remove from the pot. Add the sliced onion and cook on medium heat till soft. Peel and de-seed the pumpkin and cut into chunky pieces. Add to the pot and fry for few minutes. Add the browned meat, allspice, chicken stock, salt and pepper to taste. Crush the walnuts in a pestle and mortar and add. Stir the ingredients and add hot water if necessary to cover. Bring to boil then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for one and half hour or till the meat is tender. Try not to stir during cooking to avoid breaking the pumpkin.

In a bowl, wisk the tahini, salt, juice of half a lemon and very little water. The mixture will become light in colour and very stiff. Add more water and wisk. Keep adding water till the mixture start to soften and you reach a nice smooth consistency. The sauce need to be runny but not too watery.

When the pumpkin stew is cooked transfer to a deep dish and pour the tahini sauce. Decorate with some walnuts.

Serve with vermicelli rice.

Dawood Basha

I couldn't find a credible story of the origin of the name of this dish but I can come up with story and I am sure I will not be that far from the truth. Dawood is Arabic for David and Basha is a Turkish Ottman class title equivalent to Lord (the actual word is Pasha but we don't have "P" in Arabic). This title was given to high ranking personnel in the Ottman political system like governors and army generals. From here on the story is a no-brainer. Dawood Basaha was a nobleman somewhere in the Levant and he either liked this dish or the dish was invented in his kitchen.

Of note, there was a Dawood Pasha governor of Lebanon in the late Nineteenth century but I could not find any source to relate this dish to him.

Dawood Basha (or Daoud Pasha, as it is spelled some times) is meatballs cooked in tomato sauce and served with rice or Bulgar wheat pilaf. Chickpeas is an optional ingredients some people in Damascus like to add. The dish is a simple comfort food. The flavours are as good as the tomatoes you have so if you don't have good tomatoes you can use good quality tin tomatoes.

Similar versions of the dish are eaten across the Levant and in Egypt.

Here is my Dawood Basha recipe:

Minced lamb 500g

For large ripe tomatoes

One large onion

Tomato paste 1tbsp (adjust to taste)

Chickpeas 1 can

A slice of white bread

Milk

Allspice 1tsp

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil

Chicken stock 2cups (water instead)

Start by making the meat balls. Soak the bread slice in milk and add to the meat. Add salt and allspice and mix well. Check the seasoning by frying a small amount of meat and taste. When happy, form the meat into one inch balls.

Peel your tomatoes. Cross the bottom of the tomato with a knife then drop in a boiling water for few second. The skin should come off easy. Check this video to see how. Finely chop the tomatoes or put them in a food processor.

In a heavy bottom pan heat some olive oil and fry the meat balls on all sides to brown. You don't need to cook them at this stage you just need to give them nice colour. To avoid breaking the meat balls, fry in small patches and turn around carefully. Remove the meat balls to a plate.

Thinly slice the onion and fry in the same pan on medium heat till the onions are soft. Add the tomatoes and cook for few minutes. Add the chicken stock, tomato paste, salt, pepper and some water if necessary. Cook for twenty minutes till the sauce thickens.

Add the meat balls and cook for another twenty minutes. Five minutes from the end drain and add the chickpeas.

Serve next to vermicelli rice or cooked Bulgar wheat.

Ramadan Special: Sambousek

Sambousek is one of these words that is very widely used but it doesn't have a specific meaning. In essence it is meat filled pies served as a starter, part of mezze spread or a side dish. Every one uses the word to refer to a different type of these pies, most commonly fried but could be baked. Other variations include different types of stuffing or even sweets. To make matters worse the exact same thing, meat or cheese filled pies, could be referred to as fatayer or Borak. The later is the most widely used name in Syrian restaurants although, to be fair, Borak is usually cheese filled rather than meat.

Sambousek is a very popular dish across the Middle East. There are Levantine, Egyptian and Saudi versions. Syrian and Iraqi Jews have their own recipes and even Sephardi Jews have a Sambousak version that is a distant relative of the Spanish empanada. The popularity of the dish goes all the way to India. You must have guessed that samosa is a variation of the name.

Now to my personal classification:

• Sambousek is the triangle shaped pies made from thin pastry leafs that you buy ready made.
• Borak is the turn-over semi circle pies made from freshly kneaded dough (Borek is the Turkish and most commonly used spelling).

Sambousek is closely associated and an essential on Ramadan Iftar table. They make a perfect starter accompanied with a bowl of soup. In my parents house we hardly ever cooked these outside this month.

Here is my recipe for three different variates:

Meat Sambousek:

Minced Lamb 300g

One Large onion

Salt

Pepper

Vegetable oil

Parsley two handfulls

Finely chop the onion and fry on medium heat till soft. Add the lamb mince and cook for 20 minutes till fully cooked. Season well. Add the parsley and remove of the heat. Let cool down fully before using. For alternative flavours replace parsley with pine nuts or walnuts.

Cheese Sambousak:

White cheese 200g (haloumi, nabulsi or baladi)

Parsley two handful

Black pepper

Grate or chop the cheese finely. Mix with parsley and good amount of black pepper.

Sausage Sambousak:

This not particularly Syrian. It is inspired by Turkish pastries. You can use any spicy sausage or salami for this recipe. Albanian sujuk is perfect. Chop the Sausage and mix with grated Cheddar cheese and some sliced green olives.

You need a packet of Sambousek pastry leafs. You can buy these from large Middle Eastern supermarket. I buy mine from Green Valley in Edgware road. Alternatively, use spring rolls pastry.

Spoon some of the stuffing on the pastry sheet and fold into a triangle shape. Wet the edges and stick it closed.

Deep fry in vegetable oil and enjoy.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 6. Baba Ghanoush

Don't confuse this with Mutabal. I invested hours of my life researching the two dishes and I hope I managed to clear the question as which is which.

Again I do apologise for repeating this recipe but as with Mutabal this is a very common question I get asked all the time. Regarding the spelling, the one I used seems to be the most widely used world wide. In Syria we pronounce it with "J" at the end, Baba Ghanouj, but for the benefit of non Arabic speaking readers I decided to use the spelling adopted by Wikipedia for all my posts. This will make it easier to google if needed.

Baba Ghanoush is an aubergine based mezze. Pomegranate Molasses gives it a nice sweet and sour fruity flavour. This dish is best served next to kibbeh. It works very well with grilled kibbeh as it offers a nice contrast to the fatty spicy stuffing of the kibbeh.

Here is my recipe:

Aubergine one medium sized

Pomegranate Molasses 1tbs

Walnuts chopped 2tbs

Parsley chopped 2tbs

Tomato one small

Salt

Start by placing the aubergine whole directly on open flame and cook it till it is charred on the outside and soft on the inside. Turn around every few minutes so it is charred all over. This method gives the dish its characteristic smokiness. No other way of cooking can give you that exact flavour. Grilling in the oven doesn't work but you can put your aubergine directly on electric or halogen hub. The cooking process should take 15-20 minutes.

After you cook the aubergine, cover with cling film for 20-30 minutes. Remove the charred skin, it should come off easily, then mash the aubergine with a fork.

Chop the tomato finely and add with the rest of the ingredients to the aubergine. Mix well and drizzle with olive oil.

You can adjust the quantities of the ingredients as desired.

One Hundred and One Mezze: 5. Mutabal

Mutabal and Baba Ghanoush are the two most common recipes I get asked about, so I decided to re-publish how to make Mutabal in a proper recipe post rather than my previous "scientific paper" post.

Along with Hummus, this is the most common Mezze dish. You will see it on every table in every Syrian restaurant. The dish basis is char grilled aubergine. This gives Mutabal its characteristic smokey flavour that works a treat with BBQ.

There are some variations to this dish. You can use deep fried aubergine instead of the grilled one. This is as delicious but could be a bit oily if the aubergines are the large variety you can buy in the UK supermarkets.

The other main ingredient in this dish is Tahini. For those who don't know it, it is sesame seed paste. You can buy it from middle Eastern shops as well as large supermarkets.

Here is my recipe:

Aubergine

Tahini

Yogurt

Garlic

Salt

Olive Oil

Start by placing the aubergine whole directly on open flame and cook it till it is charred on the outside and soft on the inside. Turn around every few minutes so it is charred all over. This method gives the dish its characteristic smokiness. No other way of cooking can give you that exact flavour. Grilling in the oven doesn't work but you can put your aubergine directly on electric or halogen hub. The cooking process should take 15-20 minutes.

After you cook the aubergine, cover with cling film for 20-30 minutes. Remove the charred skin, it should come off easily, then mash the aubergine with a fork.

Add the rest of the ingredients. There is no exact amounts, add more or less till you get the taste you like. I use equal amount of tahini and yogurt.

Drizzle with olive oil and serve.

Syrian Cheese Cake

Thia is my first crack on making sweets for the blog. I am not a desert kind of cook. And I am not a good baker even. This partly because I have some kind of mental illness preventing me from following recipes. I just can't help to change any recipe I am attempting I add stuff, change things around and I don't do measuring cups. This could be detrimental to some delicate dough recipes. But hey what can I do, it is an illness after all!!

So, if you come from such poor abilities like myself you would attempt something safe first. NO! Not me unfortunately. I decided to create something totally from my imagination. I wanted to make cheese cake but I wanted to make it as Syrian as I can which was a challenge.

To make it Syrian I looked for inspiration from our sweets. There is very few cheese based Syrian sweets: Kenafeh Nabulsiyeh (Cheese Kenafeh), Katyef Be Jebneh (Cheese stuffed pan cakes , fried and dipped in sugar syrup) and Halwet Jeben. The first two didn't offer me any ideas but the third gave me some hope.

Halawet Jeben is a specialty sweet of Hama, a small city in central Syria. It is a sweet dough made from sugar, cheese and semolina. This is stuffed with cream, rolled and cut into bite size pieces. The dough is stiffer than what you would expect is cheese cake but that can be adapted.

Biscuit base was my next challenge as I decided against using the traditional base. Instead I thought Filo pastry is the perfect replacement. It can't get more Syrian than that. Almost 90% of Syrian sweets are made of it.

Choosing cheese was not a problem. Akawi was the obvious and only option. This cheese is used for all the above mentioned sweets. Akawi is a white cheese with low salt content, melts very well and doesn't have a strong flavour which makes it ideal for sweets making. The nearest tasting cheese is the dry mozzarella that you use for pizza. Although Akawi has a low salt content it still need to be de-salted before use in sweets.

Finally for the dish to receive the Syrian seal of authenticity, I added a splash of orange blossom water (Ma' Zahher is Arabic).

Here is my recipe:

Milk 500ml

Double Cream 200ml

Sugar 175g

Semolina 150g

Orange Blossom Water 2tbs

Akawi Cheese 500g

Butter

Filo Pastry 6 large sheets

Icing sugar

If you are using frozen pastry make sure it is defrosted in advance.

Slice the cheese into 5mm thick slices. Put in a big bowl and under running water for 30 minutes to wash the salt away. Change the water completely every few minutes. The cheese should lose most of its saltiness. Drain.

Heat the oven to 160c.

In a pot add the milk, cream and sugar stir while heating till all the sugar has melted. Add the semolina and orange blossom water. Before boiling point add all the cheese and whisk till all the melted cheese is mixed in. Take of the heat and keep whisking for few minutes till it is smooth and well mixed.

Melt the butter and brush the base and edges of a 24cm (9inch) springform cake tin. Arrange your Filo pastry sheets so half of it is inside the tin and the rest out side to be fold on top. Make sure the pastry covers the whole tin(photo above right). You need to brush every layer with butter to stick in place.

Tip the cheese mixture. Wrap the Filo sheets on top in a random wrinkled pattern (photo). Again brush with butter.

Bake in the oven for one hour till nice and golden. Let cool down for few hours then put in the fridge over night.

Dust with icing sugar and enjoy.