ZayZafoon : A Middle Eastern culinary journey

Last week, we were invited to the grand opening of this brand new restaurant that goes by the name of ZayZafoon, and located at the Bawabat Al Sharq mall in Mafraq. The name was intriguing enough and we were more than curious already.

The ambience is very subtle and resonates an old-world traditional Arabic charm. The restaurant was suitably decorated for their opening and as we entered, we could already hear the strains of soft Arabic music; an orchestra setting up to play for us.

My husband and I both love Arabic food and since there are sufficient vegetarian varieties as well, we always eat to our heart's content. When eaten in moderation, Arabic food can be very light on the stomach because there is plenty of heart healthy olive oil that is used. Another advantage is that the vegetables are left in their raw form and some healthy ways of cooking are implemented such as steaming and grilling.

The appetizer course was already laid out on our table with warm and fluffy Arabic bread to accompany. Tabbouleh, Hummus, Fattoush, Moutabel, a dish with chickpeas and a delicious garlic dip - these were a few.

The food was very flavourful and extremely well presented, pleasing to the eye. There were a few more appetizers on offer, of which I had not clicked a picture. Kibbeh, cheese spring rolls, Arabic sambousek - these were tasty too though the spring roll was a tad dry and rubbery. They had main courses of fish and lamb, both of which we had to decline because as I said we are vegetarian and sadly they didn't have a vegetarian main course.

We were awaiting the desserts but even after 15 or 20 minutes of setting the plates, there was no sign of it. We noticed that people around us were starting to leave, or head towards the outdoor sheesha place; so we thought there would have been some logistical issues. We were quite looking forward to savouring some dessert though.

All in all, it was a nice experience and we do recommend that you hop on to this exclusive restaurant to taste a bit of Arabia and sink into the experience.

Bon appetit !

 

- Urmila -

 

Garlic Pull Apart Rolls

I think I have been looking longingly at this recipe for more than a year now, tempted to make it but somehow put off by the process and basically worried about how I would handle the yeast.

Yesterday I thought to myself that no more procrastinating, and unless I tried my hand at it how would I ever know, right? So I set off rightaway, armed with my ingredients! Firstly, it was much easier than I imagined. The dough behaved and even tastewise I was happy with the result :)

I will mention at the outset that I have referred to many recipes but ended up adapting it to my taste and preferences. So the below recipe, is really mine :D

Ingredients for the dough:

1.5 cups of flour (I used normal chapati atta, whole wheat)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1.5 tbsp of yeast (active dry yeast)
1 cup warm water (not hot, just warm)
1 tsp of baking powder ( this is only just in case you are worried the flour won't behave, as it's not self raising i.e maida)
Olive oil, as needed
4 tbsp of milk

Ingredients for the garlic filling:

4 cloves of garlic - finely crushed
Butter or mayo - as per preference
Finely chopped coriander leaves

Method:

Mix all dry ingredients together (yes, including the yeast). Now add warm water and knead into a soft dough. Add a touch of olive oil as and when needed but make sure the dough isn't too oily. Now cover with clingfilm and set aside in a warm environment for around 45 minutes so that the yeast can work its wonder and the dough will double in size.

Meanwhile, combine well all ingredients for the garlic filling together and set aside. Grease a small loaf pan and set aside too

After 45 minutes to an hour, take the dough and punch the air from inside by knocking it. Divide into two parts. Take one part and spread it on a floured surface and roll into a semi-thick rectangle. Now spread half the quantity of the garlic mixture thoroughly to cover the rectangle. Roll it from one end to another (via the length) and cut into four parts. Preheat your oven to 180C (Mine is a convection so I heated it to 200C).

Place the rolls with the cut size up, into a loaf pan. Brush the rolls lightly with milk. Repeat this procedure with the other half of the dough (rolling out, applying filling and rolling in again to cut up into parts).

Bake for around 35 minutes, until the top part of the rolls appear to brown and the rolls feel like bread. Serve with your choice of a side, I just sauteed some potatoes to add to the flavour ;) Enjoy!

Trifle Pudding (Part two)

Part one of the Trifle Pudding was shared here by me

http://m-n-mcook.blogspot.ae/2011/06/trifle-pudding.html

This time around, I added a few ingredients and that really altered the taste. Let me now share the new recipe with you guys :)

Ingredients:

Sponge cake and a few teaspoons of fruit juice to moisten it.
Milk chocolate bar (any brand - I used Cadbury)
Sliced bananas
Half a tin of Nestle condensed milk (1 tin is usually 390g)
Half a cup of vanilla custard
A few tablespoons of nutella
A small tin of nestle cream
Peach slices (fresh or canned) - I used the canned ones and they were really yum

Method:

I used a deep dish glass casserole dish to create the pudding in, because it is just perfect. So first, start off by slicing the sponge cake in 3 medium-thick layers. Moisten the layers of sponge with a few teaspoons of fruit juice.  On the bottom layer, melt small pieces of the milk chocolate and place gently at the bottom of your deep dish glass casserole. Now pour condensed milk thinly over this and arrange the banana slices over the condensed milk. Now spread Nutella on the other 2 layers of sponge cake. Place one layer over the banana slices and cover with vanilla custard. Place the other layer of nutella sponge (prepared in the step before) and cover with Nestle cream. Now arrange the peach slices over it to garnish the dessert.

                   

The most important part is this dessert needs to be prepared at least 24 hours in advance so that the layers can set together and that's what makes it really tasty :)

Butterless Eggless Chocolate Muffins

My first attempt at baking muffins and wow they do look yum..don't they?  Actually Samarth has been asking for chocolate muffins for the longest time ever. I have been promising him and procrastinating at the same time. Finally today I had some extra time in the kitchen so I thought I will get set and bake...only to realize that I have run out of butter. 

Here is a quick recipe for butterless and eggless muffins that are made from wholewheat chapati flour (which makes them healthier as compared to those made with all purpose flour).

You will need:

1.5 cups of flour (chapati aatta)

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of choc powder (I had nesquik lying around)

1 tbsp oil

1 tbsp vanilla powder

1 cup milk

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

A few pieces of milk chocolate

Get baking:

Sift the dry ingredients together and make a well in the middle and add the wet ingredients. Make sure you don't mix it too much. Add the pieces of chocolate and combine together.

Preheat the oven to 230C. Pour tthe mixture to only half of the silicon mould and bake for around 20 minutes. I have a small tray and only 7 moulds could  go in at a time. Plus mine is a convection oven so I had to adjust the baking time accordingly.

If you are a newbie like me...keep checking the muffins as they swell and settle. Poke with a skewer and if it comes out clean then the muffins are done.

Edited to add :  Tastewise.... very very moist and just the right degree of sweet!!! Am motivated to try more recipes now

Upside down mango cake

Ingredients
Sliced ripe mango- 2cups
Lemon juice- 1tbsp
Butter- 1tbsp
Brown sugar- ⅓ cup

For the cake:
Milk- 1 cup or 250ml
Granulated sugar- ¾ cup
All purpose flour- 1-1/2 cup
Custard powder- ½ cup
Baking powder- 2tsp
Baking soda- ¼tsp
Vanilla extract- 1tsp
Butter- ½ cup

Instructions:
Pour lemon juice over the mango slices and let them stand for 15min. Melt butter in an 8″ cake pan and add the brown sugar. Cover with mango slices and set aside.

For the cake, Sift the flour along with the baking powder and baking soda and keep aside. Heat milk in a pan and add the sugar. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved and set aside to cool. Once the milk has reached room temperature, add the custard powder and vanilla extract and mix. Stir in the butter and mix again. Pour the prepared milk mixture to the flour mixture and mix well until there are no lumps. Pour the batter over the mangoes and bake in a pre heated oven at 180C for 45min or till an inserted skewer comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 5min. Remove and turn it upside down on a plate. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

The simplest ever Eggless pancakes!

Samarth had been asking for some pancakes for the longest time ever! I decided to google for an easy recipe that would also be eggless (so in case I don't have eggs at home on a particular day, I could still make them). In fact I am always on the lookout for eggless recipes for the same reason. 

So here you go, easy peasy way to make yummy tasty, McDonald's style pancakes! 

You'll need:

1 cup of all purpose flour

1 cup of milk

1.5 tablespoons of sugar

1 tablespoon of baking powder

1 tablespoon of oil

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

Sift dry ingredients together and make a well. Add wet ingredients and whisk well. Set it aside for 10 minutes.

Grease a griddle pan with a little butter and pour a ladle of batter. Don't spread it. Bubbles will start to form on the surface. 

Flip it over after a bit, make sure it is a gentle brown colour.

Drizzle honey over it, fold and serve!

Microwave Oreo Nutella cake

I am the queen of microwave baking simply because it is so easy and most importantly economizes on time! I tried this easy and super yummy cake last month when my inlaws were here and everyone polished it off in no time. My parents also visited us and mom specifically requested me to bake it again so that she could take it back to India with her!!

Here are the ingredients you need to keep ready:

Cake flour - 1.5 cups (all purpose flour) + 1 tsp baking powder, sift together

1 cup of Sugar, powdered well

2 tbsps of Nutella

12 Oreos

200 gm of butter plus a little that is melted to make the base

1 Egg

Get started!

Melt a little butter, crush 4 Oreos into a coarse powder and mix together. Press firmly into the bottom of your pre-greased baking dish and set it in the fridge for about 10 minutes to chill well.

Melt the butter in a microwave safe dish and add the powdered sugar, mix well. Now break the egg into this and whisk well for at least 15 minutes by hand or using the electric beater. 

Add the flour-baking powder to this mixture and whisk well. Divide the mix into half. Spread the first half over the Oreo base you have prepared. Separate 3 oreo biscuits and arrange in the way as below, keeping one full oreo biscuit in the middle. 

In the second half of the mixture, add 2 tablespoons of nutella and mix well. Now spread it over the first layer which was prepared. Cover well.

Here's my cake all set to go into the oven. Upturn a tea saucer on the turntable in the microwave (This is to ensure the cake bakes evenly) before you set the dish over it. Bake on High for 6-7 minutes and keep an eye on it constantly. 

...There it's done!!