Date Nut Bread كيكة التمر

This is one of my favorite  breads. The combination of dates and cardamom is delicious! This bread taste even better the next day.
Date Nut Bread

2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped dates
1 cup chopped walnuts
¼ cup chopped walnuts for topping
3/4 cup water
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Soak dates in 3/4 cup of water and microwave for 1 minute to soften it.
Beat the eggs and sugar in a bowl. Add butter, and water with dates and stir. Gradually add the flour, salt and spices as you stir the batter. Add the baking powder and baking soda and stir. Add walnuts and combine.
Line a bread pan with parchment paper. Pour the batter in the pan, and sprinkle ¼ cup of chopped walnuts on top. Place the pan in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 45 minutes.

Leave it to cool for 15 minutes. Flip the bread pan on a wire rack to cool well. You can wrap it in foil and refrigerate it or freeze it for later use

Yogurt Cucumber Salad سلاطة الخيار باللبن

1 large cucumber
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 clove of garlic crushed
1/3 cup parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon dried mint, or 2 tablespoons fresh chopped mint

Peel cucumber and cut lengthwise. Remove the seeds and chop the cucumber. Add salt, yogurt, crushed garlic, mint and chopped parsley. Stir and place in a bowl in the refrigerator for few hours for the flavors to blend.

Serve with rice, bulgur or with kabob.

Bulgur Wheat Pilaf البلغر المصلاوي

We usually add bulgur to cooked chicken or lamb and they both finish cooking together. With this method, the outcome of this pilaf is sticky. I found a better way to cook bulgur and that is to drop it in boiling water for a few minutes and strain it to discard the starches, then add to the sauce or vegetables you have prepared to finish cooking together. The outcome is fluffy.

1/2 cup onions, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
2 cups water
1 1/2 cup coarse bulgur
1 teaspoon Arabic Spice( mixture of 7 spices)

Saute onion in olive oil and add salt, spices and tomato sauce. Stir and simmer for 5 minutes.
In another saucepan, bring 2 cups of water to a boil and drop the bulgur and stir. Cook for 10 minutes. Pour in the bulgur in a colander to drain. Add bulgur to the onions mixture. Add 1/2 cup of water and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff. Serve with yogurt cucumber salad or pickles.
You can use 1/2 cup chicken stock instead of water.

Cardamom

Cardamom pods are used in chicken soups and meat stews to replace bay leaves. Ground cardamom can be used to replace vanila extract. Use it in cakes, rice pudding and baklava.
We also add this aromatic spice in the tea and ground coffee for a sweet flavor and aroma. It is cheaper to buy the pods from Middle Eastern, Indian and other Asian grocery store. I prefer to grind my own cardamom and keep it in a a tight jar.

Add ground cardamom to tea leaves or ground Turkish coffee and enjoy the flavor.

Arabian Spices البهار العراقي

This spice is also called Syrian Spice or Seven Spices. You can find it at the Middle Eastern markets
½ cup black pepper
1 cup cinnamon sticks (darseen)
1 cup allspice (cababa)
10 pods of cardamoms (hail)
10 cloves (qrinfel)
3 pieces ginger root (zangabeel)
½ cup dried rose petals( optional)
3 nutmegs (joze al taybe)


We used to go to a special bazaar Shourja Market in Baghdad that has many vendors selling spices. We would ask the shop owner to measure these spices and grind them for us. Shop owners do have the Arabian spice already ground, but Mother preferred to have her spices freshly ground. She kept the ground spices in a tight jar.

If you  have ground spices in you kitchen cabinet, you can just mix 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 teaspoons allspice and keep the mixture in a tight jar. These  are the three major ingredients that you can add to your meat and vegetable dishes.