HELBEH, FENUGREEK CAKE

Six or seven years ago I discovered, by chance, what later became my favorite cookbook ever and a big source of inspiration: Ottolenghi. It was because of this book that I learnt to know a whole different style of cooking, so new to me and yet so familiar. Their creators:  Yotam Ottolenghi and  Sami Tamimi are both original from Jerusalem and their cuisine is strongly Middle Eastern style with a mix of Mediterranean. Not long after I got the book, and having done every single recipe of it,  (all of them wonderful and mouthwatering) I moved to London. During those years, I visited ALL of their Ottolenghi cafe's quite often, even their restaurant Nopi. They never ceased to amaze me. Every time I went in I just couldnt help myself.  Every lunch was perfect, every pastry was oh so good, and the whole ambiance so inspiring. I must admit that my last years of cuisine have been deeply influenced by them and for that I am very grateful. Ok, I think Im blushing now!

Later on, Yotam Ottolenghi released a vegetarian book called Plenty, fabulous too. And last year, while in London, on the day of the release, my husband gave me as a surprise their latest book:  Jerusalem. 

Middle Eastern 100%, yeah! Going through the pages you can feel the flavors and smell the  vibrant city of Jerusalem, fresh pittas, herbs, black figs, chopped cucumbers, sheep roaming the hills, syrupy cakes,mmm. 

Today I will share the recipe of a fenugreek cake called Helbeh. Fenugreek, an aromatic bittersweet spice, has quite a strong flavor. It's a small seed, that is actually a legume that grows in India and in some places of the  mediterranean. Mostly dry roasted and used in currys, dals and pickles. This little seed contains proteins, fibre and Vitamin C, niacin, potassium, iron and alkaloids. Among some of their benefits are : it increases milk production among nursing mothers, helps reduce symptoms of PMS, reduce cholesterol, increases the libido,  reduces heartburn, you can loose weight by reducing the appetite,  and cure skin inflammations. Wow!

Fenugreek has a strong savory association, reminding as of curries, etc; but I invite you to give it a try as this cake is absolutely amazing and full of exoticism.

I've adapted the recipe from Jerusalem, just slightly. Always make helbeh at least a day before you want to serve it, as the flavors need time to come together.

HELBEH (FENUGREEK CAKE)

Serves 10/12

Ingredients:

500g fine semolina

75g whole wheat flour

70g pine nuts, blitzed into large crumbs

80ml olive oil

80ml sunflower oil

40g melted ghee

1 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds

1 1/2 tsp fast action dried yeast

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

25g  whole almonds, blanched and peeled

Syrup:

300g cane sugar

100ml water

2 tbps lemon juice

1 1/ tbsp orange blossom water

Directions:

Mix the semolina, flour and pine nuts in a large bowl. Add the oils and the melted ghee and mix well. Set aside.

Put the fenugreek seeds and 500 ml of water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, then simmer on a low heat for about 25 minutes. Drain the seeds, reserving the cooking water, and add them to the semolina mix. Add the yeast, baking poweder and salt, then gradually stir in 180ml of the hot fenugreek water; if you dont have enough liquid make it up with water. Knead the dough on a clean surface until is completely smooth.

Grease a 24 cm round cake tin with butter and line it with baking paper so that the paper comes three quarters up the sides of the tin. Pour in the semolina mixture and press it down with your hand si its levelled and smooth. Use a sharp knife to score the surface of the cake with parallel lines 5 cm apart, followed by another set of lines at a 45-degree angle, creating a diamond pattern. Place one almond in the center of each diamond. Cover the cake tin with a towel and set aside somewhere warm for about 1 hour. Towards the end of the resting time, preheat oven to 220* C degrees, allowing plenty of time for your oven to heat fully.

Put the cake on the lower shelf of the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 200*C degrees and bake for further 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Prepare the syrup while the cake is in the oven. Place sugar and water in a small saucepan and mix well. Heat up and once it boils add the lemon juice and simmer for 4 more minutes. Take the syrup off the heat, allow it to cool down just a little and then add the orange blossom water.

Once the cake is cooked, remove it from the oven and immediately drizzle the syrup all over it. Let the cake cool completely before covering it well with foil. Serve the next day.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend. See you next time,

Cheers!

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FIG JAM WITH LEMONS

As a kid I remember when my father used to buy figs for a special occasion, both my mom and him would go crazy about them. I couldn't understand why, the texture, the flavor, it just wasn't right for me. After many moons, I moved to Ibiza and I discovered the fig trees and our love affair begun: Clara & Mr. Fig, yes! Over there, the fig trees grow wild, everywhere you go you'll find one, standing next to a carob and an almond tree. My favorite part of the day was to go for a walk in the afternoons with an empty basket and fill up with fresh figs directly from the trees and enjoy the refreshing air of the countryside. Oh Ibiza! It has something special, Im sure whoever has been there knows what Im talking about, its somehow magical and mysterious.

Going back to figs, I discovered that not only there where black figs but green figs, and what a discovery!  I liked them so much more. I don't live in Ibiza anymore but Im still in Spain, and very close to where I live its full of figs, carob, pomegranates, grapes, avocados, lemons, oranges, etc, can't complaint right? So a couple of days ago we went for a nice walk and picked up like 3 kg of figs! And when I came back  I remembered that the last time I went back home, a good friend of mine gave me, as a gift, a jar of fig jam. It was absolutely delicious so I decided to give it a try. Thank you May!

This recipe though, calls for much less sugar than traditional recipes. I used jaggery instead of white sugar and reduced its amount for less than half of it. The result was amazing but mind you that because the sugar acts as a preservative it will not last as long. So I just keep my jars in the fridge.

You can reduce the recipe by half easily.

I highly recommend you make this, It's perfect to welcome the autumn and enjoy it with  a good slice of toasted bread  and a cup of tea.

FIG JAM WITH LEMONS

Ingredients:

2 kg. fresh figs

500 grs. jaggery

2 lemons, zest and juice

pinch of salt

Directions:

Remove hard stems from figs, wipe the dirt off and chop them into small pieces leaving the skins on.

Put the jaggery and 1/2 cup of filtered water into a heavy pot. Cook on a medium heat until the jaggery is dissolved. Add the chopped figs with the lemon zest and lemon juice. Simmer until the jam is thickened and the pieces are broken down ( it will depend on the water content of the fruit).  I cooked mine for 2 hours, mixing every 10 minutes. When ready, I decided to liquidize it as I like jams quite thin, but its totally up to you.

Pour jam into sterilized jars and keep refrigerated.

Chopped figs

After 15 minutes

After 1 hour

Ready!

I will embrace the arrival of the autumn and have a nice mate with a piece of toast and fig jam. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
See you next week!

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FRESH BORLOTTI BEANS AND PURPLE POTATO SALAD

It's been a very busy summer, so busy that I can't believe autumn is round the corner, yet again. Where did it go? So fast?  Why can't we live in an endless summer all year round? I guess each season has its own charm, I do love the idea of sitting by the fire on a cold and dark day and enjoy a sweet nice treat...mmm. But we are still not there, so enough of winning Clara! Im lucky enough to live in Andalusia where the weather is still warm and sunny.

As I said before, I've been cooking for the past 7 weeks like a mad women. The good thing is that I've created wonderful, vegetarian mouthwatering food and most important of all, we had an amazing group of people to work with. Too bad some of them are off to aussie-land and who knows when we'll see them again. Thank you Marney & Emlily, you rock! 

While in Ibiza, I decided that from now on I would write my blog in english and spanish. Why?  I've been asked several times, from different people. To be honest I wasn't sure, as english is not my mother tongue, but  I've decided to give it a try and see how it goes. So please be patient with me, as this is a challenge and Im sure my writing will improve with time. I will translate the rest of the recipes during the next weeks.

I've been thinking about my next recipe for a while. I wasn't sure what to do. Finally I decided to share with you one of the biggest success of the summer but this time I've decided to use ingredients with the same color palette: purple! It's a warm salad, super simple and so tasty (and I received a lot of compliments every time I did it).  I picked almost all of the ingredients  from the vegetable garden:  aubergines, borlotti beans, red onion, blue beans, purple potatoes and purple basil. Everything packed with antioxidants, yeah! As you know, the purple pigment shows the presence of anthocyanins, a type of antioxidant that prevents a number of diseases. 

The borlotti beans have a nutty, earthy and creamy flavor. They have a low  glycemic index, which makes them suitable for diabetic patients. They are rich in iron, potassium, magnesium and contain B1 vitamins among others. They have dark magenta streaks, but when cooked, they go slightly brown or purplish. The blue beans look SO pretty when raw, after cooked they turn dark green. The potatoes are beautiful, either way.

  

I've done this recipe with normal potatoes, canned beans and green beans, and it tasted just as well so don't be put off by the ingredients or don't make a special trip to the market just for these. Although they do look and taste fabulous. You can substitute the borlotti for cannelini, pinto or navy beans.

FRESH BORLOTTI BEANS AND PURPLE POTATO SALAD
Serves 2 (very hungry people)

2 tbsp olive oil
2 small shallots, thinly sliced
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic, thinly sliced
150 grs. purple potatoes, thinly sliced
2 smal aubergines, cut into 2 cm cubes (the ones I used where really small)
170 grs. cooked fresh borlotti beans  or 1/2 can of any white bean, rinsed and drained
10/15 blue beans or green beans, slightly blanched
Avocado,coriander, basil and spring onions to garnish

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Place a baking sheet on a tray and add the sliced potatoes and the aubergines. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and add 1 tbsp of olive oil. Mix well and let cook in the oven for 25 minutes or until cooked.

Meanwhile add the rest of the olive oil on a medium skillet over a medium heat. Add the shallots and the red onion. Cook for 5 minutes. Then add the cooked borlotti beans and let them cook in a single layer until they brown a bit,  then scrape and toss again. Stir in  the cooked aubergines and the potatoes and cook for another minute. Stir in the blue beans and add some chopped  coriander, purple basil and chopped spring onions. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve with avocado  and squeeze some fresh lemon juice. It's delicious either hot or cold.

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