Kammun

This post is a few days late but the winter hasn't even started properly and I am sure we will have many more cold days to come to enjoy this drink. For those outside the UK and don't know what I am talking about, we spent last week in knee-deep snow.

To many people, Syria is this Middle Eastern extremely hot place. While true at the height of summer winter is a complete different story. It comes sometimes as a great surprise when I tell people that we have snow in Syria, a fair bit of it on occasions. I think we get more snow in Damascus than we do in London. There is a difference though, we enjoy it a lot more back home.

Snow days in Damascus have their own great tradition. No sound minded child will go to school on a snow day. Children, teenagers and even university students will get their heavy jackets and gloves and head straight for snow fights. Syrian TV will stop its scheduled programs and broadcast live pictures from the city. Talj Talj (snow snow) song from Damascus favourite singer, Fairuz, playing repeatedly on TV to accompany pictures of snow covered streets and children posing with dodgy looking snowmen.



Winter season has of course its food tradition. In our household after a day of snow fight we always returned to hot warming bowel of Keshkeh. Other winter classics includes Tahini Pumpkin and Kebbeh Labnyeh. Few drinks do qualify for a winter drink category but Damascenes warm to one drink more than others, Kammun.

Kammun is the Arabic origin of the word cumin. It is the name of the spice and the name of the drink made with cumin. The drink is a favourite in a cold winter night. Although people make the drink at home it is most commonly consumed in cafes.

Here is hot to make a nice warm cup of Kammun:

Water 200mls
Ground Cumin 1tbsp
Salt 1/2 tsp (add more or less according to taste)
Lemon

In a pot, add the water, cumin and salt. Bring to boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for few minutes. Serve hot with a squeeze of lemon.

Lemon and Mint, Damascus favourite drink.

It is so bloody hot in London. I just came back from work on the underground. I swear the temperature in that train was in the high thirties, low forties. It is been like this for the last three days and it is getting too much for me. My functioning temperature is below twenty and if it gets any higher my brain starts to melt away. People are usually amazed how a person from the Middle East can not tolerate the milder heat on the English summer. My wife theory is that my hypothalamus (medical term for thermostat) is defunct.

To celebrate the early summer, and survive the weekend, I made my drink of choice when I am in Damascus. This is the single most requested recipe of all Syrian food on my blog. It seems this drink left its mark on every person who passed through Damascus. Many people have mentioned to me that they tried to look for a recipe since they came back without success. Others have attempted their own versions without much luck. I find that really surprising considering the simplicity of this drink. It is lemonade and mint leaves mixed together in a juicer, simple as that!

One last thing to mention, this drink is now called Polo! Yes, as in Polo the white round mints with a hole. I have no idea how this name came common knowledge but we in Syria have this annoying habit of giving things annoying unrepresentative silly names. Why do we do that I have no idea. When this drink first showed up on restaurant and cafe menus ten years ago everybody called it Lemon and Mint as it should be called. Now it is Polo!

I, as a person who refuses to use silly names, still call it Lemon and Mint. During my last Holiday I can't count the number of times a waiter corrected me after I ordered, insisting that this thing is called Polo. Every time I felt like shouting "It is not a bloody Polo. It has nothing to do with bloody Polo. Why give a great drink such a silly name". Instead I nod quietly with an awkward smile. I give up!

Her is my "POLO" recipe:

Water 1L
Juice of five lemons
Caster sugar 70g
Mint 50g
Orange blossom water 1tsp (optional)

Pick the mint leaves. Make sure you get rid of all the stalks otherwise you end up with loads of bits in your straw. In a juicer, add all the ingredients and buzz for few minutes.

Add a splash of Rum for a Syrian Mojito.

Ramadan special: Drinks

This year Ramadan started in the second half of August. Temperature in Damascus is in the high thirties and the day is really long, sunset is at 7:30. By the time the call to Maghreb prayer sounds fasting Muslims are desperate to get their hands on that glass of water or ice cold drink to kill their thirst.

Before I go on to Rmadan drinks let me quickly explain why Ramadan comes in winter some time and in the summer some other time. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic year. The Islamic year is a lunar year and almost 11 days shorter than calender year. Hence Ramadan comes 11 days earlier every year to complete a full cycle in 33 years.

Back to drinks ...

Drinks in Ramadan plays a star role on the Iftar table. Although this could be fresh fruit juice, the usual drinks are of the exotic variety (exotic for the Western reader, most Middle Easterners know and love these drinks).

The first of these drinks is Erk-Soos a black mildly sweet and slightly bitter drink made from liquorice root. The process of making it involves put the ground roots in a muslin cloth and drop water over it drop by drop all night long. As you can see it is complicated and time consuming so no body makes that at home. Instead people buy Erk-Soos from specialised shops or from street seller like the one in the top picture.

The second drink is Tamarind (Tamer Hindi in Arabic, literally translates to Indian dates) . I personally hate this one. It is sour and tastes of tamarind. not my cup of tea.

Finally the drink most associated with Ramadan, Kamruddin or A'amruddin as we pronounce it in Syria. Kamruddin is sun dried apricot paste made by squeezing hundreds of kilograms of apricot, mix it with glucose syrup and spread on giant trays to dry under the summer sun. The final product is a tangy apricot leather-like orange sheets. Syria produces tonnes of Kamruddin every year with 90% of the production exported to other Arabic countries. All of it to be consumed over the month of Ramadan.

In London you can buy Kamruddin in most Arabic supermarkets but almost exclusively in Ramadan.

My favourite way to enjoy kamruddin is simply rip some of the leathery apricot paste and eat it as a snack. Alternatively you can make a delicious drink from it. Here is how to make it:

Kamruddin paste 300g

Water 500mls

Sugar 2tbs (adjust to taste)

Orange Blossom water 1tbs

Cut the Kamruddin into an inch size pieces. Put in a bowl with the sugar and water and let soak for an hour. Stir occasionally and you will see the kamruddin starting to dissolve.

Put the whole lot in a mixer and mix for a minute or so till all the kamruddin dissolve. Add the orange blossom water. The drink consistency should be thick (similar to mango nectar).

Chill in the fridge and enjoy.