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  UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

  A few years ago, I filmed a TV series in the United Arab Emirates called Al Chef Yaktachef (meaning “the chef discovers”) where I was taken around the Emirates by a delightful poet named Tarek Al-Mehyass to learn about local delicacies, after which I would try to re-create them in the show’s open-air kitchen. I am still in touch with many of those I met or worked with on the series, including Tarek and a wonderful woman caterer, Mariam Al-Subousi, also known as Umm Saeed, in whose kitchen I learned how to prepare many Emirati dishes including the pancakes below. Jbab are served for breakfast or as a sweet finish to a meal, drizzled with date syrup. And it was in Mariam’s kitchen that I finally got to have my first taste of camel hump (see “Roasting a Camel Hump”).

  MAKES EIGHT 6-INCH (15 CM) PANCAKES

  1⅔ cups (200 g) unbleached all-purpose flour

  ¾ tablespoon whole milk powder

  ¼ teaspoon instant (fast-acting) yeast

  ¼ teaspoon baking powder

  Pinch of salt

  1 organic egg

  ¼ cup (50 g) raw cane sugar

  Pinch of saffron threads

  Unsalted butter, melted, for the skillet

  ½ cup (65 g) sesame seeds

  Date syrup or maple syrup, for serving

  1. Mix the flour, milk powder, yeast, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and make a well in the center.

  2. Whisk together the egg, sugar, saffron, and 1¼ cups (310 ml) warm water in a bowl until the sugar is dissolved.

  3. Add the sweet egg mixture to the flour mixture and gradually whisk it in until you have a batter that is thicker than crepe batter but thinner than pancake batter. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for about 45 minutes to let the batter ferment.

  4. Brush a large nonstick skillet with a little melted butter and place over medium heat. When the pan is hot, scoop out a ladleful of the batter and pour into the pan, tilting the pan to spread the batter evenly. Sprinkle with some sesame seeds and cook for 2 minutes, or until the bottom is golden. Flip the jbab and cook the other side for 2 minutes, or until it is the same color. You may want to slip a knob of butter underneath the jbab after you flip it. Sprinkle the top with some more sesame seeds.

  5. Cook the remaining jbab the same way, and serve hot or warm drizzled with date or maple syrup.

  Yemeni Bread

  BINT EL-SAHN

  YEMEN

  This slightly sweet bread when made as one large loaf is known as bint el-sahn, which in Arabic means “the daughter of the plate.” If made into individual squares, it’s known as m’lawwah (see Variation). The recipe here is for the large version and the bread is baked in a round dish. Cut into wedges and serve with hard-boiled eggs and z’houg (Yemeni Cilantro Chutney) for a savory snack, or with honey or jam for a sweet snack or breakfast.

  SERVES 8

  3 cups (360 g) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading and rolling out

  ½ teaspoon instant (fast-acting) yeast

  ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt

  2 organic eggs

  6 tablespoons (90 g) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the pan

  Egg wash: 1 egg yolk whisked with 1 teaspoon water

  1 tablespoon nigella seeds

  1. Mix the flour, yeast, and salt in a bowl and make a well in the center. Add the eggs and 2 tablespoons (30 g) of the melted butter to the well and with your fingers mix them before gradually adding ¼ cup (60 ml) water and bringing in the flour to mix with the liquid until you have a rough dough.

  2. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead for 3 minutes. Shape into a ball, invert the bowl over the dough, and let rest for 15 minutes. Knead for 3 more minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Divide into 8 equal portions and roll each into a ball. Line the balls up on a floured sheet or a floured work surface. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rest for 30 minutes.

  3. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Brush a nonstick round baking dish about 13 inches (33 cm) in diameter with a little melted butter. Keep the remaining 4 tablespoons (60 g) melted butter at hand for when you start rolling out the dough.

  4. Place one ball of dough on a lightly floured work surface. Sprinkle with a little flour and roll out as thinly as you can into a round about 11 inches (28 cm) in diameter, turning the round of dough over, lightly sprinkling it with flour if it is sticking. Lay the round of dough smoothly onto the buttered baking dish and gently brush the dough with a little melted butter. Roll out the remaining balls of dough, stacking the rounds of dough and brushing each with melted butter except for the top one. Brush the top round of dough with the egg wash and sprinkle with the nigella seeds.

  5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until slightly risen and golden brown on top.

  M’LAWWAH: To make individual breads, roll out a ball of dough into a large circle about ¼ inch (0.5 cm) thick, brush it with melted butter, then fold into a long rectangle before folding into a square to make 9 layers. Flatten the square with your hand, brush both sides of the dough with melted butter, and cook in a hot skillet over medium heat, 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until golden all over.

  Arabian Date Bread

  KEIKAT AL-TAMR

  ARABIAN GULF

  A rather luxurious sweet bread flavored with saffron, cardamom, and rose water and sweetened with dates. It provides a subtle, sweet note when eaten with savory food, but it is also lovely on its own, spread with good butter or labneh.

  MAKES 10 ROUND BREADS ABOUT 6 INCHES (15 CM) IN DIAMETER

  1 cup (150 g) pitted dates

  1¼ cups (310 ml) boiling water

  2 tablespoons rose water

  Good pinch of saffron threads

  5 cups (600 g) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading

  1½ teaspoons instant (fast-acting) yeast

  ¼ cup (50 g) raw cane sugar plus 1 tablespoon

  2 teaspoons ground cardamom

  1 organic egg, beaten

  ⅓ cup (80 ml) date syrup

  2 tablespoons (30 g) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the bowl

  Vegetable oil, for the work surface and rolling pin

  FOR THE TOPPING

  2 tablespoons vegetable oil

  ¼ cup (50 g) raw cane sugar

  ¼ cup (30 g) sesame seeds

  1½ tablespoons coarsely ground cardamom

  1. Soak the pitted dates in the boiling water. Put the rose water in a small bowl and add the saffron threads. Let steep for 15 minutes.

  2. Whizz the dates with their soaking water in a blender.

  3. Mix the flour, yeast, ¼ cup sugar, and cardamom in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Add the date puree, saffron rose water, egg, date syrup, and melted butter. Mix the ingredients in the well as much as you can before bringing in the flour to make a rough ball of dough.

  4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 3 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball, invert the bowl over the dough, and let rest for 15 minutes. Knead for 3 more minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.

  5. Scrape the bowl clean and brush it with a little melted butter. Place the ball of dough into the bowl, turning it over to coat all over with the butter. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.

  6. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).

  7. Remove the risen dough to your work surface and divide into 10 portions. Roll each into a ball. Line up on a lightly floured work surface and cover with a damp kitchen towel.

  8. Grease your work surface and rolling pin with a little oil. Dissolve the 1 tablespoon sugar in ¼ cup (60 ml) water and keep it at hand.

  9. Take a ball of dough and roll it into a round about 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter and ¼ inch (0.5 cm) thick. Dip your hand in the sugar water and smooth the flattened dough with your wet hand, pressing in the center to make a dip and push the gas bubbles to the edges.

  10. Transfer the round of dough to a
nonstick baking sheet. Brush the dough with vegetable oil, and sprinkle with a little sugar, sesame seeds, and cardamom. Shape and top the remaining balls of dough in the same way.

  11. Bake for 12 minutes, or until golden and puffed up. Serve hot or warm.

  Paratha

  INDIA | PAKISTAN

  The classic technique for forming paratha (see “Multilayered Breads”) results in the most layers, but it is not so easy to master, so I use a much simpler method of folding the dough into squares, although it produces fewer layers. If you’d prefer to make your parathas round (see photographs below), flatten the dough the same way as directed in the recipe, but roll the round a little thinner. Fold the round into thin strips or roll it into a thin cylinder, taking care to brush the dough with the fat of your choice in between each step. (If you use tahini as the fat of choice, you will be making the Turkish tahinli katmer but with whole wheat flour.) Coil the folded strip into a small disk. Let it rest for 10 minutes, then flatten it out and cook the same way as for the square paratha.

  Paratha are either baked in a tannur oven or cooked on a large hot plate or in a tawa, a very shallow skillet used in India and Pakistan. If you don’t have a tawa, just use a regular skillet. I use a nonstick one. Serve the parathas hot with curry or cheese or instead of bread with your meal.

  MAKES 8 INDIVIDUAL PARATHAS

  2 cups (225 g) whole wheat flour, plus all-purpose flour for kneading and shaping

  ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

  2 teaspoons vegetable oil

  FAT (CHOOSE ONE)

  Unsalted butter, melted

  Vegetable oil

  Ghee

  1. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl and make a well in the center. Add the oil and ¾ cup (180 ml) water to the well and gradually bring in the flour until you have a rough dough.

  2. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead for 3 minutes. Shape into a ball, invert the bowl over the dough, and let rest for 15 minutes. Knead for 3 more minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rest for 30 minutes.

  3. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball and set the balls of dough to the side on a floured surface, covered with a damp towel. Place one ball on a lightly floured work surface and roll out to a round about ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick. Brush the round with the fat of your choice—the last ones I had in Pakistan were brushed with buffalo ghee and they were amazing—then fold one-third of the round over, then the other third over the folded side. Brush again with fat and fold one-third of the rectangle over, then fold in the other third to make a square. Flatten the dough to make a 6-inch (15 cm) square. Continue to make 3 more parathas.

  4. Place a tawa or large skillet over medium heat and when the pan is hot, slip a paratha into the pan. Slip a little fat of choice under the paratha and cook until the dough starts bubbling, about 3 minutes. Flip the paratha over and cook until golden all over, another 3 minutes, slipping a little more of the fat of choice underneath it. Remove to a plate. Repeat with the remaining 3 parathas. Keep this first batch warm while you layer and cook the remaining 4 parathas.

  SHEERMAL: Turn your paratha into sheermal, a northern Indian bread colored red with saffron water (although nowadays most bakers use turmeric water or, worse, colored water). Sheermal is usually round and I first had it at a nihari place in Hyderabad where, like most street-food stalls in India and Pakistan, they had a baker making breads to order. I got started talking with my neighbor and ordered sheermal so that I could try it. It was amazing, mainly because the bright-red color of the crust made a stunning contrast with the white insides. To turn paratha into sheermal, soak a couple of good pinches of saffron in ½ cup (125 ml) water for about 30 minutes. Shape the dough as directed and once it’s in the pan, brush the top with the saffron water to color it a reddish yellow.

  MULTILAYERED BREADS

  * * *

  The specific technique used to produce a multilayered bread varies according to the type of bread and the country in which it’s made, but the principle is the same for all: You first have to flatten the dough, grease and/or flour it, and use one of several rolling or folding methods to create layers. In one method, the dough is rolled into a cylinder and then the cylinder is twisted as you flatten the dough again to create the layers. In another method, after flattening the dough you fold it into a rectangle and then into a square, or sometimes into a square or a triangle. There are also variations on the cylinder method, but the one I find most fascinating is that used in India to make paratha: The dough is rolled into a round, folded in half, and then rolled into a cone shape with the tip end folded inside the cone. The cone is then stood up on its fat end and twisted down before being flattened to produce the multilayered paratha, and all the time it is greased so that the layers separate as the paratha bakes.

  Naan

  INDIA | PAKISTAN

  From the Persian word for bread, naan is found throughout South Asia, and further afield in Central Asian countries. Naan is baked in a tannur oven, but because I doubt many home cooks have access to that, I suggest baking it on a pizza stone or preheated baking sheet in the oven or in a pan on top of the stove, then sliding it under a hot broiler to get the charred effect on the bubbling bits of the bread that you would get in a tannur. The most interesting and most delicious naan I have ever had was from a baker in Hyderabad, India, who made his naans square. They were thicker than normal, and flakier, perhaps because he made his dough with both milk and yogurt. I give his version of the dough in the recipe for keema naan but am keeping it simple for the plain naan below. I suggest a round bread here, but you can easily make yours square by dividing the dough in half, then flattening each piece into a long rectangle, which you then cut into three medium-size squares before baking. Serve hot with the curry or kebabs of your choice.

  MAKES 6 INDIVIDUAL NAANS

  3½ cups (420 g) unbleached all-purpose flour

  1½ teaspoons fine sea salt

  1 packet (7g/2¼ teaspoons) instant (fast-acting) yeast

  Scant ½ cup (120 ml) organic whole milk, at room temperature

  Vegetable oil, for the bowl

  2 to 4 tablespoons (30 g to 60 g) unsalted butter or ghee, melted

  1. Mix the flour, salt, and yeast in a bowl and make a well in the center. Add the milk along with ¾ cup (180 ml) water and gradually bring in the flour to create a rough dough.

  2. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead for 3 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball, invert the bowl over it, and let sit for 15 minutes. Knead for 3 more minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Shape the dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 1 hour, or until well risen.

  3. Divide the dough into 6 equal portions and shape each portion into a ball. Brush the balls of dough with the melted butter and let rest for 20 minutes while you preheat the oven.

  4. Preheat the oven to 475°F (250°C). If you have a pizza stone, place it on the bottom rack of the oven to preheat. Failing that, preheat a sturdy baking sheet. It is best to bake the naans directly on a hot surface.

  5. Flatten one ball of dough into a round 6 to 7 inches (15 to 17.5 cm) in diameter, or you can flatten and stretch it in length to make an oblong naan, 8 to 9 inches (20 to 22.5 cm) long and 4 inches (10 cm) wide at its widest. Quickly transfer to the hot pizza stone or baking sheet and bake for 4 to 5 minutes, until it has bubbled up in parts and has gone golden brown where it has puffed up. Take out of the oven and brush with butter or ghee. Repeat with the other balls of dough until you have made all 6 naans.

  STOVETOP NAAN: You can also “bake” the naan in a tawa or a broilerproof skillet. Heat the tawa or pan over medium heat and heat your broiler to the maximum. Transfer the flattened dough to the tawa or pan. Cook on one side for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the naan has puffed up in parts and is golden on the bottom. Slide the pan under the broiler for a minute or so to
color the top. Transfer to a rack and brush with butter or ghee. Repeat for all the dough.

  Zanzibari Savory Doughnut

  MANDAZI

  ZANZIBAR

  Mandazi is a delicious sweet-savory doughnut with a heady flavor of cardamom. It reminds me of Tunisian fricassee (a fried bread used to make sandwiches). Mandazi is eaten on its own for breakfast or as a street snack. The classic shape is a triangle, but you can make mandazi square or even round. If you opt for the round shape, use a pastry cutter, otherwise a sharp knife or dough scraper is all you need to shape the triangles or squares. I have had them in Zanzibar, both very fluffy with a strong cardamom flavor and rather dense with hardly any flavor at all. The quality depends on the vendor’s skill at spicing and at making the dough with just the right amount of hydration for the texture of the doughnuts to be light.

  MAKES 12 MANDAZI

  2 cups (240 g) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for shaping

  ½ teaspoon fine sea salt

  1 packet (7g/2¼ teaspoons) instant (fast-acting) yeast

  5 tablespoons (65 g) raw cane sugar

  Seeds from a few green cardamom pods, cracked open, the seeds extracted and ground to yield 1 teaspoon

  ¾ cup (190 ml) coconut cream

  Olive oil, for deep-frying

  1. Put the flour, salt, yeast, sugar, and cardamom in a bowl and mix well. Make a well in the center and add the coconut cream. Gradually bring in the flour until you have a rough dough.

  2. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead for 3 minutes. Shape into a ball, invert the bowl over the dough, and let rest for 15 minutes. Knead the dough for 3 more minutes. Divide into 3 equal portions and shape each portion into a ball. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let sit for 30 minutes.

  3. Sprinkle your work surface with a little flour and place one ball of dough on it. Roll out the dough to a circle about ¼ inch (0.5 cm) thick and cut with a sharp knife into 4 quarters. To shape these into squares instead, roll out the dough into a rectangle. Place on a lightly floured board and cover with a damp towel. Roll out and cut the other 2 balls of dough and let rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.