Imagine a pancake stuffed with sweet cheese. You may dream that the pancake’s filled with nuts, instead. Then imagine it was drizzled with perfumed syrup while still warm. Garnish it, in your dream, with pistachios and whipped cream. You’re dreaming of qatayef, the fabulous, fabled, Arabian dessert.

Qatayef – also spelled katayif or qatya’if – is traditionally eaten at Ramadan (get our Ramadan vegetarian ideas here), but it’s a treat anytime. In fact, it’s a treat that’s gone through history.

A recipe for qatayif appears in a tenth century Arabic cookbook by the writer Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq, who compiled recipes going back to the eighth and ninth centuries. People have been eating qatayif for a very long time.

The filled pancakes are still popular in the Middle East. All over the Levant, people buy qatayif from bakeries and pastry shops, or pick some up from street vendors. They can even buy them frozen and ready to fry at home. So can you; if not at a local Middle Eastern grocery store, then online.

But there’s nothing like home-made, although it does take some time and patience. Plan to cook qatayif on a free morning, or when you need to put your mind on something with gratifying results.

First, make the batter. Choose a nut stuffing or a sweet cheese one (recipes below). Or halve each recipe and have both kinds.

Eat, and drift off to qatayif heaven.

Photos by Laila Ibrahim via Serious Eats.

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Parlous: an old-fashioned word meaning “full of danger or precarious.” And it would be foolish to deny that these are parlous times. The best is to search for ways to stay calm. And for me, one of those ways is to make sure my family eats well, keeping comfort food at the top of the list.

What does comfort food mean to you? My imagination runs to carbs. But there’s little comfort in noshing on mass-produced snacks in cellophane bags that the great junk food manufacturers entice you to buy. Too often we go through a bag of chips, wash it down a soft drink, and afterwards feel shame, or self-disgust.

The solution: put in about half an hour of baking or cooking, and produce your own, hand-made, delicious snacks yourself. You control the sugar and salt in the dish. You adjust the recipe to your own preference. And you’ll congratulate yourself on choosing the smart – not to say economical – way.

I’m fond of old-fashioned food traditions, as well as of old-fashioned words. Here’s a happy word: tea-time. Some of my cookbooks feature old-timey foods like the date and nut bread above; perfect. Nice and carby, but not decadently unhealthy. It has little sugar relative to the rest of the ingredients, and still satisfies that craving for something sweet.

Date and Nut Bread is an easy, home-made baking powder loaf; perfect with a cup of tea or coffee. It takes minutes to whip up, and bakes 40 minutes in the oven while you’re doing something else.

Date/Nut Bread Recipe

Adapted from The Joy of Cooking 1995 edition
Yield: a 9×5” – 23×13 cm. loaf.

Preheat the oven to 350°F – 176°C
Have a medium and a large bowl ready.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter, neutral-flavored oil, or other solid fat of choice
1 egg
1 cup milk of choice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 cup white or brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup pitted, chopped dates or date paste
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1. In medium bowl:
If using a solid fat, melt it gently and let it cool. Pour it into the medium bowl.
Beat the egg into the melted fat or oil.
Beat the milk and vanilla into the egg mixture.
Stir in the melted fat or oil.

2. In large bowl:
Sift together all the dry ingredients.

3. Stir the egg/butter mixture into the dry mix. Beat well to blend thoroughly.

4. Fold in the dates and nuts, lifting the dough several times to distribute them evenly.

5. Bake in a greased or parchment-lined loaf pan for 40 minutes.

Eat it slowly, appreciating your delicious handiwork.

The post Date and Nut Bread: Comfort Food For Parlous Times appeared first on Green Prophet.

The first thing I did after arriving home yesterday evening was, naturally, to open the door of my fridge and peer inside.  I got nothing, I thought to myself.  But then I spotted a tub of Fage Greek yogurt in the corner of the bottom shelf.  I was able to locate a bottle of honey in the pantry, and I just knew I had it made.

Not too long after I started eating the yogurt with honey, I got an indescribable craving for figs.  The strength of this craving was really something – you’d think I was pregnant.  I figured my vision of eating figs, yogurt, and honey together was not unheard of – after all, each of the three is a sugary delight found all around the Mediterranean, especially in the Middle East. Here’s how I did it.

Well, the thing is, I didn’t have any figs.  But fat-free Fig Newtons served as a good enough substitute to satisfy my immense craving.  I broke the soft cookies into pieces and combined them with my yogurt-and-honey bowl.

The product was unbelievably good – and remember, that’s including processed, boxed fig cookies as opposed to the real fruit.  The Food Network website offers a recipe that’s the real thing plus some extra flavors:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup full-fat yogurt (although I would prefer Fage “Total 0%” Greek strained yogurt)
• 9 tablespoons honey (Go organic!)
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped mint
• dash orange blossom water or rosewater
• 12 fresh figs (bought in your favorite Arabic market, of course)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375° F.
2. Stir yogurt with honey, mint, and flower water, and chill.
3. Cut figs in half, and brush their flat sides with honey.  Place on a baking dish, and bake for 10 minutes or until warm.
4. Add to the yogurt and drizzle honey.
5. Serve warm.

I had a cold and fake version…but hey, it tasted great.  Mine was a light dinner, but this also seems like the perfect dessert.  For entertaining dinner guests or treating yourself after a day of school or work, try this simple but delectable recipe.

Image of fresh figs, yogurt, and honey from Shutterstock

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