The Power up! - Desserts

I have been stuffing my face with so much Katayef that I'm honestly considering becoming one! Other than that I have come to be a fan of this new dessert or appetizer and decided to share it with you. Last year when my habibi introduce me to it I was not so into it but this year to my surprise I was craving it!

I do not know the name of this drink and habibi told me he does not know either so I am going to call it "The Power Up" Why? It is so full of sweetness and energy that honestly one drink and eat of that and you are off like a rocket!

Usually its use to break the fasting. Is very good on the stomach when you have not eaten or drank anything during the hole day and is very nutritious. One cup goes along way and believe me it gives you energy and everything about it is natural.

Here is the recipe and some pictures of the drink while I was making it the other day for Iftar. For those of you who don't know what Iftar means is basically the time for eating after fasting during Ramadan.

"The Power Up"
Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of milk
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup raisins
1 cup of nuts (it can be your favorite here walnuts, peanuts or almonds) I use peanuts
1/2 cup of almonds (optional) I like both!
1/3 cup of dry apricots
1 1/2 cups of dates
1/3 cups of dry prune

It's very simple really just take all the dry ingredients in a mix bowl and mixed them together. Honestly you can add more and less of each thing depending on what you like as well as take some ingredients out that you don't like. After all is mixed up you pour the milk. After that mixed everything again and cover up. Put in the fridge for at least two hours those ingredients need t come together and believe me the milk is going to taste good.

After that serve up in a glass with a spoon and enjoy! Here are the pictures with the steps. I hope you enjoy this Middle Eastern treat! Until next post thank you for reading and following me!

Food! ZALABIA TIME!!

As you might know I am very fond of food! Like I love the stuff too much. My latest discovery and obsession is a round and crispy sugary treat called Zalabia. This little donuts, as I called them before I learned to pronounce the name, are so yummy! They are crunchy, sugary and to be honest if done right they are super moist and soft on the inside.

They are sold all around Egypt and they are very famous in the Gulf Region. They are originally from India and then they were introduced in the Middle East. They used them to hold ice cream. That sounds like a good idea for me to try... anyhow continuing with the history is a very famous dessert and is super easy to make!

I found a recipe for those of you who want to give it a try and do something different. I found this recipe online and to be honest I have not tried it yet but if you search for it, is the same recipe the only difference is the syrup.

If you are in Egypt and want to buy it, try it from Zalabiano is a great place to buy them and they are clean and done right in front of you. Here is a picture of the ones my Habibi brought me last night! Ain't he the best? He just came home and said surprise! Me: OMG! ZALABIA!!!! YUMMY! I think he knows me pretty well. Enjoy the recipe and if you here please try them!

Thank you for reading and following me! Until the next post!

Zalabia recipe :

Sweet Syrup Ingredients:

- 3 cups sugar

- 1 ½ cups water

- Lemon juice

- Vanilla

Zalabia Ingredients:

- 1 cup flour

- 3/4 cup water

- 4 cups oil

- 1/16 tsp salt

- 1 piece (or powder is better) of yeast.

Sweet Syrup Directions:

1- Dissolve the sugar in water in a medium saucepan.

2- Add lemon juice and vanilla then bring to boil.

3- Reduce the heat and let it slowly boil for 8-10 minutes.

4- Remove from heat and put it aside.

Zalabia Directions:

1- Mix the yeast in the 2/3 cup of water.

2- Add flour and mix until it is dough.

3- Cover it and leave the dough in a warm area for about 2 hours.

4- Heat the oil and with a small scoop, take from the dough and fry until it is gold.

5- Add the hot fried Zalabia in the cold syrup.

6- Now it is ready to be served.

Try our Zalabia recipe and have a terrific Zalabia dish from Egyptianrecipes.net. Please feel free to let us know if you have any comments/questions on this Zlabia recipe.

Desserts!

Well one thing I enjoyed during Ramadan were the amount of yummy desserts they had. One of my favorites is Katayef. One thing me and habibi did while fasting was making this dessert, it was quite a little disconcerting because we were hungry and thirsty and we were making this heavenly dessert I swear I was tempted to just eat it and break the fasting!

So the Katayef is like little pancakes I do not know how to make it but I do know how to do the rest of the stuff which of course am going to walk you thru it. First of all here is a picture of what the Katayef is, you can eat it like that but to be honest is not that good.

The little pancake as I call it is sticky in the edges and the more sticky it is the better, it means is fresh. You can fill these with raisins, coconut, peanuts, prunes, dates and any other thing you can think of. We made a special  blend with shredded coconut, peanuts, prunes and raisings. (picture below) My mother in law made some Saudi Katayef and basically she cooked some dates with butter and cinnamon and then filled the Katayef with it. It was super delicious but a little bit heavy, dates are quit heavy for me. 

After you fill them you stick the edges together making little "empanadas" be careful not to fill them too much because they will break. It will look like this. 

After that you will fry them in very hot oil until golden brown. 

After that you immediately  pour some glaze which is made of 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water to that you squeeze 2 lemons (small ones) and for a yummier taste add cinnamon. Is important that you put them in the glaze after taking them out of the oil. Do not put them in paper to get the excess oil out they will get soggy and the important thing about eating katayef is that they are crunchy. 

Here is the final product! Very yummy and crunchy on the outside and so sweet on the inside this little things will make you addicted!! It sure make me crazy to eat them! So if you are in Egypt during Ramadan go ask in any bakery for Katayef and go home and make them they are the best!

Thank you for reading and following me! 

Feast!

Well now that Ramadan is over here in Egypt we three days of holiday! They called them Eid vacation. On this three days Egyptians eat what they called Kha and Biscuits which are very yummy cookies!! Also on this days parents buy their kids new clothes and new presents.

On these three days the most important thing to Egyptians is to visit the family. The first day of the vacation they have a prayer at 5am in the morning usually everyone goes to a specific location and you can see the amount of people praying and dressed in their galabeyas. After that everyone goes to visit family and of course enjoy eating food now that the fasting is over.

At first my habibi told me oh we are going to order some Kha and biscuits for us you will like it. Inside I was so happy to know I was going to have delicious cookies in my house!! Then my mother in law comes in my house carrying buckets of Kha and a huge bag of biscuits!!! LOL  Needless to say i still have a LOT! To my horror they are so good I just want them gone before I start getting bigger by my terrible need to just eat the delicious things! :)

My favorite is the biscuits!! You can eat them like in the picture plain and they are super delicious! Or you can put some white powder sugar on them, my trick I eat them with everything! I even made an ice cream sandwich with two of them ha! it was super yummy! and of course one of my favorites way to eat them is with strawberry jam.

Now here is the Kha, the taste is different they are not as crunchy as the biscuits and they are very soft inside. Egyptians love this little cookie and of course is my habibi's favorite. You can eat it plain like in the picture and some people coated with white powder sugar. 

Here is a picture of a box we bought too with some heart shaped cookies with sprinkles!! 

Well thank you for reading and following me! Next is how to make a very yummy dessert!!