A renowned chef in Damascus, Imad Alarnab fled Syria when it was torn apart by civil war. Now settled in London his cookbook shares family recipes from his beloved homeland.
BAKLAWA
This recipe won’t work with English filo pastry, as it’s too thick; you need to get the proper filo for baklawa that you’ll find in Middle Eastern shops. The trick to good baklawa is to be quick and careful. Get everything ready around you before you start, including a large, clean tea towel to keep the filo from drying out while you’re making it. This is a pistachio and walnut version, but you can use any nuts you like. I like to use a mix. This makes 24 – 40 pieces, depending on preferred size.
Ingredients
150g shelled pistachios
150g walnuts
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon orange blossom water
1 teaspoon water
100g good-quality ghee
470–500g Turkish, extra-thin filo pastry
Method
Preheat the oven to 170°C/fan 150°C/gas 3½. Start by toasting the nuts in a large baking tin in a single layer in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove and allow to cool. Add the sugar, orange blossom water and water, then crush the nuts either using a pestle and mortar or a blender. Be careful if using a blender, you want a very chunky texture not a fine crumb. The water and sugar should make your nuts delicious and sticky.
Melt the ghee in a pan over a low heat and set aside to stay warm. Brush a baking tin (with sides), 35 x 25cm, with a little ghee.
Unroll the filo it so it’s flat on the work surface, then lay the prepared baking tin on top of the filo and cut around the edge, so your filo is the exact same size. Remove the excess edges (use in another recipe), then place the cut filo in a clean tea towel to keep it from drying out (you should have at 24 layers of filo).
Place half the filo layers in the greased tin, then sprinkle with all the nuts. Spread them out into an even layer and pat them down a little. Now top with the other half of the filo layers, and, with the back of a spoon, tuck in the edges of the filo, so that they curl in neatly down the sides of the tin. Working quickly so the filo doesn’t dry out, slice your baklawa into diamonds. I prefer them small, and make 40, but you can choose any size you like here.
If your ghee has cooled, reheat it again to melt, pour it over everything, then bake in the oven for 35–40 minutes until golden on top.
DUKKAH SALAD
Make this in summer when tomatoes are at their best. The better the tomato, the better this will taste, so splash out and get the good ones.
Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a side dish
Ingredients
1 fennel bulb
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon za’atar*
300g assorted heritage tomatoes, cut into chunks
2 tablespoons good-quality extra virgin olive oil
Grated zest and juice of ½ lemon
2 tablespoons dukkah
150g soft goat’s cheese
Small handful of fresh tarragon leaves
Salt
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/gas 6. Cut the fennel bulb into 6–8 wedges, depending on how large your fennel is. Toss in the olive oil, za’atar and salt to taste, place on an oven tray and roast for 25–30 minutes until soft, slightly crisp and golden. Set aside to cool slightly. Toss the tomatoes in a little salt and the extra virgin olive oil, lemon zest and juice and dukkah. Roughly crumble the cheese and place on a large serving plate, followed by the roasted fennel and then the tomatoes. Finish with the tarragon leaves.
* Za’tar is a Middle Eastern spice mix that of toasted sesame seeds, cumin, oregano and sumac and can be found on the spice aisle
DUKKAH
Every family has their own recipe for dukka (literally ‘smashed’ in Arabic), so feel free to create your own version. I haven’t added any nuts and seeds as I like to add them at the end when I’m ready to use it. The reason is that as spices are drier than the nuts, they absorb the oil and moisture from the nuts so don’t stay as crunchy and fresh. This makes 115g.
Ingredients
50g cumin seeds
25g coriander seeds
10g pink peppercorns
20g Urfa chilli flakes
10g Aleppo chilli flakes
Method: Toast the cumin and coriander seeds in a dry pan over a high heat, stirring them around, until a little bit of smoke comes off. Take off the heat and add the pink peppercorns to toast in the residual heat for 30 seconds. While still hot, use a pestle and mortar to grind them, then tip into a small bowl. Stir in the Urfa and Aleppo chilli flakes and, when cool, transfer to a jar and store for up to a month. When you want to use the dukkah, toast any nuts and seeds you have to hand until golden (I like cashews and white sesame seeds), then crush with a pestle and mortar and add to the spice mix.
All recipes taken from Imad’s Syrian Kitchen: A Love Letter from Damascus to London by Imad Alarnab published by HQ at £26
Imad’s Love Letter from Damascus to London
Imad’s Syrian Kitchen is the first cookbook from Imad Alarnab, a renowned chef from Damascus, who fled war-torn Syria, arriving in the UK as a refugee in 2015. Imad now runs his acclaimed restaurant, which the book is named after, in London’s Carnaby Street. Imad’s Syrian Kitchen is a vibrant tour through 90 traditional and adapted Syrian dishes showcasing the flavours and techniques of the Syrian kitchen. Alongside, Imad shares the remarkable story of how he, and eventually his young family, came to London to start a new life. ‘I made the journey from Syria to the UK you’ve all heard about – on foot, on trains, with false ID, crammed in the back of cars, sleeping outside afraid for my life... We fled our homes that we loved because we were no longer safe.’ This book is a celebration of how food has the power to bring people together. imadssyriankitchen.co.uk
