Halva ...and say good bye...

Last Thursday, June 22 2016 - we lost my father in law in age of 95, after long suffer from Parkinson disease - from the story I heard from my husband, is look like our dad already knew when the time is coming for him  .  God bless you, dad .. I know you are in the better place now.  Inna'lillahi Wa Inna'ilahi Rojiun - surely we belong to Allah and to HIM shall we return

I contacted some of my husband close friend, and from him .. all the news was spread among friends.  On sunday, we had small gather to celebrate his life. I asked several friends what should I do, what DO and DON'T list for that moment ?  and one of the custom is making Halva !!  

Halva, either you love or hate it, this is part of custom .  In Iran, halva is usually made during religious holidays or funeral.  Halva most serve with bitter tea, since Halva it self is so sweet.

At the evening, all our friends and family came and brought so many flowers (which most are white color) , cards, and also many kind of sweet dessert such persian halva, tachi, rice pudding, dates . According to Iranian, a grieving family need something sweet to give them more energy . I really appreciate what they done to us... that's what friend are for, they always there in a good time or bad time.

I would like to share the recipe with you, and I can tell that I love this type of Halva so much .. This is a delicious dessert, we should make this dessert anytime we like not always under such unfortunate circumstance, you know.

Thank you to Homa, who give me a link to her website to make a delicious dessert

TAR HALVA   

Slightly copy from: persianmama.com - for that evening event I double the recipe

INGREDIENTS :

FOR THE SYRUP

⅔ cup sugar

½ cup water

¼ tsp saffron powder

2 TBSP rose water

FOR THE TAR HALVA BASE

1 cup rice flour

2 ½ ounces sweet butter, cubed

½ tsp ground cardamom

Optional Garnish:

Slivered or chopped pistachios

Dried rose petals

INSTRUCTIONS : 

First make the syrup: Mix sugar and water over medium heat only until the sugar dissolves and comes to a low boil. Add saffron and stir. Remove from the heat. Add the rosewater and stir to combine. Set aside so it cools to lukewarm. Do not boil the syrup.

Now make the base: Add the flour to a nonstick 10-inch skillet and stir over medium heat with a wooden spoon for about 8-10 minutes, or until it becomes aromatic and smells nutty. The flour should not change color.

Add cold butter cubes and ground cardamom to the skillet. Stir over medium heat until all the flour becomes moist and paste like. Keep stirring until all the butter is completely cut into the flour and the mixture is nice and paste like but not greasy looking.

Add a small piece of the hot paste to the lukewarm syrup. If it sizzles the paste is hot enough to be mixed with the syrup.

Now add all the syrup in the skillet over the hot paste. Keep stirring over medium heat with wooden spoon until well blended.

Keep stirring until once again the mixture sticks together and forms a paste.

Turn off the heat and keep stirring until the Tar Halva starts pulling away from the sides and bottom of the skillet.

Add the Tar Halva to a bowl and cool at room temperature for about 15 minutes.

Transfer the Tar Halva to a shallow serving platter. Smooth the top with the back of a spoon, then use the tip of the spoon to make designs on top.Garnish with some slivered or chopped pistachios and dried rose petals. 

Hello June ..

J

June is here .. the weather is perfect one day. pouring rain one day, breezy in the morning, high humidity in the afternoon .. keep on going like that for almost 2 weeks.  Kids still enjoying the afternoon swimming, ice cone , they laughing, playing non stop ..  oh this kids grows big together too fast .. hope they will always be a best friend ..

I picked some fresh herbs a couple days ago, try to add more 'green' on our kitchen window .  Its smell good , thou .. I might pick some more next time I pass the Home Depot :) yep, that my favorite store for now beside fabric store hahaha ..  Right, I don't have much of sewing this day  since I have kid who has a summer break, it's hard to find a free time to do what I like to do but still excuse myself to picked some fabrics for summer clothes, its really sloooow progress from cutting to finish .. 

Baking ? well. still do but its really simple one .. like tea cake style like this one, blueberry cake I've been tag for a week from Patricia Scarpin blog - she always have a simple cake recipe which suit for me very well .. 

Cream cheese and blueberry cake

Adapted from Patricia Scarpin 

Blueberry compote:

1 cup (140g) blueberries – frozen blueberry works well too

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Cake:

1 ½ cups (210g) all purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1/8 teaspoon table salt

½ cup (100g) granulated sugar

finely grated zest of 1 large orange

½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

180g cream cheese, softened

2 large eggs

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ teaspoons Cointreau (optional) 

Start by making the compote: place the blueberries and sugar in a small saucepan and warm until the berries soften and the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes – stir occasionally. Squash the berries with the back of a spoon as you stir. Cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 5 ½ cup-capacity loaf pan, line it with baking paper and butter the paper as well.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until sugar is fragrant. Add the butter and cream cheese and cream until light and fluffy – scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and the Cointreau (if using). On low speed, add the flour mixture mixing only until incorporated – do not overmix.

Pour the cake into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Top with the blueberries, keeping most of the juice (so the cake don’t get soggy). Swirl the berries through the cake with a butter knife. Smooth out the top without mixing too much.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Serves 8

Home Made Yogurt

We consume so much yogurt in our house hold, I cook with yogurt, we drink yogurt juice, we add yogurt into our breakfast item . So many times I've been thinking about to make my own yogurt, looking and searching in the internet how to make it, and again always I scare if I failed, so again I just buy yogurt from store, quite easy haaah ....  until one day, friend of mine say 'why don't you make your own yogurt, I will teach you'  - ok, seem easy to me, but time passed she never has a chance to teach me, and make me feel itch .. 

 

And , after read David Lebovitz website, I challenge myself :) in my mind say, that just a milk, if I failed I just lost small amount of money LOL  - Luckily the recipe work well to me than I never buy store yogurt anymore unless I need small amount of yogurt as a starter

Homemade Yogurt
Recipe slightly adapted from : David Lebovitz

Require :
A heavy, heat-proof jar, and sterilize it by pouring boiling water into it and letting it stand, then draining it well before adding the yogurt mixture.

A heavy bottom sauce pan

A candy thermometer, some said you can tested with dip your finger into the yogurt but I don't want burn myself *chicken :p

Ingredients :

• 1 quart (1 l) whole milk
• 1/4 cup (60 g) plain whole milk yogurt

1. Clean a 1 quart (1 l) jar by pouring boiling water in it and letting it stand 5 minutes. Drain the water (carefully, as the water and the jar will be hot), and let the jar dry.

2. Heat the milk in a saucepan fitted with a thermometer until the milk reaches 180ºF (82ºC). Remove from heat.

3. When the temperature drops to 115ºF (45ºC), stir in the 1/4 cup of yogurt, then pour the mixture into the jar and cover it.

4. Put the yogurt in a slightly warm place, and leave it undisturbed for 10 to 12 hours. The longer fermentation will yield a more tart yogurt.  - I  pre-heat the oven  for awhile and turn off after feel warm, and put all the bottles inside the oven after , than cover all the yogurt bottles with towel *hey, they are pretty warm inside the oven


5. Chill the yogurt thoroughly, at least three hours. The yogurt will thicken up once cool.