17/06/2012

Sunday Recipe

Helou el-Qizha
(Flapjacks full of goodness)

Quantity: 15 people

Ingredients:

- 1 ounce ground Kalawanji (Nigella) seeds, known in Arabic as ‘seeds of blessing’
- 1 kilo flour
- 2½ cups Palestinian olive oil
- 1 cup sugar
- 1½ cups roasted sesame seeds
- 1 cup pine nuts (as desired)
- 1 cup water

Method:

- Put flour in deep saucepan and place on medium heat
- Stir until flour turns pink
- Mix sugar and Palestinian olive oil in a separate bowl and stir until sugar dissolves fully
- Put flour in a mixing bowl after it has cooled down
- Create a hole in the middle of flour and slowly pour the sugar and olive oil mix
- Add straightaway ground Kalawanji seeds and cup of water
- Mix flour and rest of ingredients thoroughly, and knead using fingertips to remove lumps (this may take a while)
- Continue kneading the pastry until it has a solid consistency
- Cover mixing bowl with a damp cloth and leave for one hour
- Add sesame seeds to the pastry, and knead well
- Pre-heat oven at gas mark 5
- Brush baking tray (35cm x 40cm) with a little oil and spread pastry evenly
- Garnish with pine nuts according to taste
- Bake in oven for 20 – 30 minutes (times vary depending on oven)
- Divide into equal squares whilst hot
- Allow to cool before serving.

Original recipe source: Kamal S. & Yassine S.O. Palestinian Cooking, Dar El Ilm Lilmalayin, Beirut, Lebanon, 2004