I love the traditional food, the food made on certain occasions - like Good Friday "peasant food". Mum makes a Vegetarian loaf full of pumpkin, sweet potato, chick peas, spinach, and crushed wheat... and a wheat-ball soup with lemon and spinach. It's a traditional Good Friday food because of it's simplicity and the basic vegetarian ingredients... and there is history and tradition behind it. Most Christians eat seafood on Good Friday because you aren't meant to eat meat, but we go that one step further and I just love it!
Another traditional food is the "Snayneeyeh" (which actually translates to "teeth" in English) It's a dessert that is made by a mother when her baby gets his/her first tooth! My son got his first tooth last week, and I finally got around to making the Snayneeyeh last night. This dish took almost as long as it took for my son's actual tooth to appear..... FOUR HOURS of boiling the wheat.... but it was worth the effort!
So I went to the Lebanese Grocer and stocked up on some ingredients....
I boiled two cups of wheat in 2 litres of water for four hours, topping up with water every 20 minutes or so. Meanwhile, I soaked 3/4 cup of walnuts, 3/4 cup of sliced and peeled almonds, and 3/4 cups of pistachios in water.
Once that was done, I stirred in about 3/4 cup of Orange Blossom Water, 1 tablespoon of Pomegranate Grenadine Molasses, and about 3/4 cup of icing sugar.
I served about two tablespoons of the mixture into individual martini glasses (and some into plastic bowls to give away to family and friends), topped with the nuts, shredded coconut, and some baby marshmallows!!!!!!!!
Voila!!!
And traditionally we are meant to deliver these desserts to our close family and friends!!
Congratulations darling boy on your first tooth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
xx
Looks yummy Bek!
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