#FOODANDLIT March
Syria
Here’s my library stack I’m working through for the month.
Syria it has, according to UNESCO, an adult literacy rate of 80.84%. While the male literacy rate is 87.76%, for females is 73.63%, showing a gap between the sexes. In contrast with other neighbouring states is number 90º in the ranking of literacy rate. The literacy rate,has dropped in recent years.
Rights of women and girls hang in the balance as conflict passes 12-year mark and earthquakes deepen suffering.. 7.7 million women and girls in Syria in need of humanitarian assistance, having lived through 12 years of unrelenting violence, displacement, economic fiascos, epidemics including Cholera, and repeated assaults on their human rights. As in all humanitarian crises, women and girls are the worst off.
Syrian coffee is similar to Turkish and Greek coffee in this respect; the water is boiled, the finely ground coffee is added to the pot and returned to the boil, and at this point flavouring like cardamom or sugar may be added. The pot can be the small little pot known as a cezve or ibrik, or just a regular little pot.
2 handfuls of pine nuts
1 T cinnamon
1/4 of a package of raw spaghetti noodles broken in half
1 stick of butter
4 chicken bullion cubes
2 c rice
4 1/2 c water
Instructions
melt butter in a large pot over med heat
add broken spaghetti noodles, pine nuts and cinnamon
allow to saute until golden brown to dark brown (but not burnt)
break up chicken bullion cubes into the butter mixture and toss to coat
add rice and mix
pour in water and bring to boil
once boiling turn down to low and simmer with the lid on for 20 to 30 minutes or until liquid has been absorbed
1/4 cup warm water (100-110F)
1 Tbs. sugar or honey
2 tsp. active dry yeast (not rapid rise)
1 cup warm buttermilk (same temp as the water) (you can also use regular milk – 2% or whole)
1 1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 Tbs. olive oil
about 3 cups of all-purpose flour (this can be a mix of white and whole wheat flour, if you’d like)
In a mixing bowl, stir together the water, sugar and yeast and let sit for 5-10 minutes. At this point the yeast should be foamy. (If it’s not it means your yeast died, which could be because your water was too hot, or your yeast is old. Or it could potentially be that your water was a little too cool and the yeast is just taking longer to activate.) Once the yeast is all foamy, stir in the buttermilk, salt and olive oil.
Add about 2 1/2 cups of flour and stir well with a wooden spoon. This should form a a loose shaggy dough mass that pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it, using the remaining 1/2 cup flour (plus a little bit more at a time, if needed, to keep the dough from sticking to your counter), for about 10 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic. If you have a kitchen aid with a dough hook, you can just make the dough in there, adding all the flour and mixing it with the hook on low speed for 5-10 minutes.
Coat a large, deep bowl with a thin layer of olive oil, put your dough into the bowl, turn the dough over to get it all coated with oil, then cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel (or plastic wrap, but I prefer the towel method) and leave it somewhere that is fairly warm to rise for about an hour and a half, or until doubled in size.
Once the dough has risen, take a pizza stone or a baking sheet, put it in your oven and turn on your oven to 500F.
Take your dough, cut it into 8 equal(ish) pieces and shape these into balls. Set the dough balls on the counter or on a board, cover them with the damp towel and let them sit for 20-25 minutes to relax (the oven with the baking sheet/stone should be preheating this whole time. Just as a side note, I always have to deactivate my smoke detector when I have my oven at 500F because the alarm always goes off, even if there’s no smoke. It’s just testy like that.)
After 20 minutes, take a couple of dough pieces and, on a lightly floured surface, roll or stretch them into circles that are about 1/4 inch thick – I kind of started by stretching them by hand, then finished getting them thin enough by using a rolling pin. Brush them with a little bit of water to get them just a bit moist (this helps them puff in the oven).
Put as many of your rolled dough rounds as you can fit onto the baking sheet/stone in the oven and let them cook for 4-5 minutes, until they’re just starting to get golden spots on top. Remove from the oven and stack them in a kitchen towel to keep them warm while you repeat the process and cook the rest of your rounds.
Serve warm and fresh from the oven. They also keep fairly well and reheat nicely in the oven or toaster oven.
