Healthy Dishes

Baklava, and how I came to know so much about it

by: admin

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We Famished in Arabia went to a Baklava factory on Friday morning, maybe not so early in the morning. It’s important not to confuse Baklava, a Middle Eastern confection loaded with nuts, with the monkey headgear Balaclava. Why must all the girls be sporting eager eyes and foolish smiles if there wasn’t something Charliesque about the situation? While I was doing my best to keep my saliva under control, the beast in the back of me head kept whispering, “hope they give gift bags.”

Baklava in the form of a cigar, courtesy of Al Samadi

Located adjacent to Galadhari Driving School, Al Samadi Baklava Plant in Qusais. However, the sign outside the factory reads “Cello,” and I’m not sure why. The staff was made up of smiling Indian and Lebanese folks who went out of their way to explain how commercial Baklava is created. Massive machineries, cold storage, enormous ovens, and smiling people transformed four simple materials into something fascinating:

I’d be a happy cook, too, if I were accompanied by such delicious aromas and delectable flavours, n’est-ce pas? Maamoul, a Middle Eastern biscuit packed with date or nut crumble, is also made in this Baklava facility. Molds are needed to produce maamoul. Dough is packed into the mould and then tapped on a work table by men with quick fingers to reveal intricate patterns. Once roasted to golden brown, these would be offered to the public, but I could eat half of a dozen like them right now.

There are cooks and bakers working from daybreak till approximately one o’clock in the afternoon making Arabic pastries, each one infused with earth essence of tangerine blossom or rose.

When it’s mid-morning, Al Samadi’s stores around Dubai are full and ready to convey their goods.

My artisan kitchen was ready for the challenge now that I’d seen it all. So, armed with Joumana’s essay on the 10-minute baklava, I set out to use the phyllo/filo that had been languishing in my freezer for far too long. Except for the fact that I was very lazy to skin & cut the pistachios by hand, I followed Joumana’s recipe to the letter.

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