Date & Walnut Loaf Cake

The holy month of Ramadan is only a few days away now, and as it was fitting, I thought it was about time I shared a more personal recipe closer to home. This is probably the first post where I am sharing a recipe which has been in the family for a pretty long time - across generations and continents, and for at least forty years.

What makes this date and walnut cake so special, is that as a young girl growing up it was only made on Eid. I have vivid memories of waking up on Eid morning's to a huge celebration breakfast prepared by my mum. This cake was always a welcome feature on the table and readily, one, two, three slices would be eaten quickly in succession! Apart from the two Eid days in the year, it was rare for my mum to make this cake on any other day.

Since it has been in the family for a long time I wanted to find out how the recipe came to be, and also why, as it definitely is not traditional or native to my Indian/East African heritage! So I naturally went about asking those who I knew had made the cake the most - my mum, paternal aunt, and paternal uncle. It was soon clear there was a little contention as to its origins -  it appears that though my great aunt (paternal grandfather's sister) was the first to start making the cake, it has since been adapted, tweaked and made to taste individually, as with any recipe which gets shared and passed down.

My uncle can clearly remember this cake being made when he went to stay with my great aunt in the late 1970's, in a small town called Mbeya on the mainland of Tanzania. She had tweaked the recipe from a little cookbook, and as dates were not readily available back then she would only bake it on Eid and special occasions. The dates were bought in the market, open in hessian sacks, where you would choose the amount you wanted to be weighed by the shopkeeper - markedly different from the variety of packaging and labelled dates we are used to buying now! Once bought the dates had to be cleaned, before being soaked ready for baking. On rare occasions you could buy little bars of good quality dates, packed in cellophane, which were cleaner but more expensive.

A few years later my uncle landed in the UK for boarding school, and happened to come across the same book in a sale at the school and bought it! As a result the book came to be shared with my mum on his visits home for the weekend, and thus the date walnut cake soon became a regular feature on our Eid breakfast table too. In the meantime my paternal aunt had also borrowed the recipe from my great aunt, and it similarly became a cake enjoyed in her own household. 

Still when I spoke to my mum, she maintained that at some point she had bought an Australian published baking book in the supermarket, when she became interested in baking cakes, also containing a recipe for a date walnut cake. It had less flour and more dates than the original older recipe, and its this method which my mum started to use instead, and which I came to know and love.

Unfortunately since moving to Dubai, my mums version has become misplaced and so its the original inspiration for the date and walnut cake which I have shared here, kindly given to me by my aunt. Its just as delicious and moreish though, making a perfectly loaf sized cake to share with the family! If preferred, it can be baked in a larger square tin, adapting the baking time as below. Don't over bake it though, as I clearly did in these images! Quantities less or more, I don't think you can ever go wrong with dates and walnuts in a cake! My aunts version also comes with a warm brown sugar sauce for pouring over the cake, which the sugar-craver in me loved! 

So there you have it, a cake born outside of tradition which has become tradition!

Special thanks has to go my aunt, uncle and mum for their insight, plus my great-aunt for bringing this cake into our family. To this day she is an amazing cook, and loved by all for her unique and interesting recipes.  

I might have broken the tradition by making this cake for the blog, but I know come Eid day I will definitely be keeping the tradition alive by making it again. As for my readers, whether you make it only for Eid, or for a rainy day, definitely do make it!

Date & Walnut Loaf Cake

250 ml boiling water

225g dates, chopped

1 tsp baking soda

75g butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla essence

210g soft brown sugar

275g self-raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

50g walnuts, chopped

For the topping:

75g soft brown sugar

2 tbsp. milk

25g butter

50g walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 180 C, and grease a tin loaf pan, or square pan.

2. Pour the boiling water onto the dates, and stir in the baking soda. Leave to stand.

3. Cream together the butter and sugar, then add the egg and vanilla and mix well.

4. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt a little at a time, until all incorporated. Add the chopped walnuts, and then finally the date mixture, mixing to form a cake batter

5. Pour into greased tin pan and bake for 50-55 minutes if using a loaf pan, or 35-40 minutes in a square pan. Check for doneness.

6. Leave to cool in the tin.

7. To make the topping, heat together the sugar, milk and butter in a small saucepan. Boil for three minutes until all the sugar has melted.

8. Take off the heat and leave to cool slightly before spreading on to the cake, and sprinkling with chopped walnuts.

N.B. For those who don't want the extra calories, the topping can be excluded. It is still just as yummy!

Dining Review: Mo's at the Citywalk Dubai

Having never done a restaurant review on the blog before, I have to admit I was a little tentative at first when I received the offer to come and dine at Mo’s. Do I want to go down this route on my blog? Am I upto the challenge of writing a review? And what if I don’t like the food?!

But simply put I swept my fears aside and told myself at the end of the day I had nothing really to lose by giving it a go. That and the tempting knowledge that the restaurant has an extensive dessert and milkshake selection! It is also part of the group that brings us Caramel in the DIFC – situated near my old work haunt, and a place known for attracting city workers.

Alas I am not a complete newbie having written a review for a magazine before, and thanks to being a part of Fooderati Arabia I felt I knew enough about what I was letting myself in for without completely throwing myself in at the deep end.

So about a week ago, off my husband and I went to Mo’s at the Citywalk Mall in Jumeirah, to sample what was to be an admittedly fantastic meal and enjoyable evening. Citywalk Mall itself is an outdoor lifestyle concept with various dining options and fashion brands, and is only about six months old. It boasts great cityscape views of the Burj Khalifa, and has a European piazza like feel about it, which makes it a great place for meeting with friends in the evening.

We chose to sit in a booth type setting by the wall, although the restaurant itself was spacious and very open in plan. I was expecting a stereotypical diner type décor concept, and was pleasantly surprised by how sleek and minimalist the interior actually was. There are no brash or kitsch colours here, and even the long milkshake bar didn’t stand out overbearingly.

Looking through their menu it was clear how highly extensive it is, ranging from a large breakfast menu, to starters, salads, burgers, sandwiches, mains, and a range of signature entrees too. And that’s not even mentioning the varied dessert menu.

Knowing that we wanted to leave enough space for dessert, we decided at first to order only one starter to share, and went with the queso fundido – a velveeta cheese dip with pieces of turkey chorizo, and served with crispy tortillas. I’m a sucker for munching on nachos and cheese whenever I’m at the movies, and dipping the perfectly crispy fresh tortillas into this dip was like dipping into the mother of all cheese dips!

However as a number of salads feature on their menu, we ended up giving in to our one starter rule, and were recommended to try their Chinese chicken salad. This was a crispy concoction of grilled chicken pieces, sprouts, cabbage, tangerines and an Asian peanut dressing. Give me a hearty, unleafy salad, and pair it with Asian flavours and I am in love. My taste-buds delighted in every mouthful, and my mind wanted to be able to recreate these flavours for myself. Even the husband, (who will avoid a salad at all costs) gave a great seal of approval.

Being the great burger lover that he is, it was only natural that the husband decided to go for a classic burger for his mains. And well, admittedly having overlooked the signature entrees and rather than ordering a sandwich, I went with a burger too, but was swayed by the veggie option. My edamame burger patty consisted of a mix of edamame, lentils, herbs and spices, and was served between a toasted whole wheat bun with tzatziki sauce. As far as veggie burgers go it was good – you could taste the quality, the bun was lovely and fresh. But as someone who would almost always choose anything over a burger, I did wonder if I should have ordered something different. Hubby’s classic burger came with a kobe beef patty, signature sauce, all the salad trimmings, and a toasted brioche bun. The quality here is also something he found worth remarking on, especially that of the meat. Both of our burgers came with delicious thin seasoned fries.

As if this wasn’t enough, we were soon guided towards the signature entrees and persuaded to try their TNT shrimp tacos – I loved how these were mini, and each taco could be eaten in three or four bites. Made up of battered shrimp, they reminded me of wasabi prawns, and were served with guacamole, slaw and chipotle mayo to slather on top. I enjoyed these much more than my burger, and made a mental note to come back with my seafood-loving mum for a lunch date.

We had milkshakes with our meals, only in true American style. Whilst my husband remarked that his vanilla milkshake was everything that it should be, I was a little disappointed with how under rich my Rocky Road was, but perhaps this at least meant I could consume my meal better!  

Stomachs near bursting we still knew we couldn’t leave without a slice of cake. We went for Jim’s carrot cake, a gigantic three tier cake slice which would be enough for even three or four to share. I’m not one to be disappointed easily by dessert, and found the cake to be perfect in its entirety, taste, texture, frosting and all.

Would I go back to Mo’s? Yes I would. I’m not a huge fan of eating breakfast out, but I would definitely go back to sample more of their lunch/dinner dishes, if not only to have that chicken salad and the shrimp tacos again. Portions were all very generous, the quality was fab, and their service was understandably impeccable and over-friendly, although I did notice attentiveness was met all round at other tables as well.  Having said that their business seemed a little slow, which we were assured was due to the area still being a grower. A dinner meal for two would probably set you back about 300-400 AED depending on the type of meals chosen. As an American casual dining concept, Mo’s is easily accessible to both families and couples, but doesn’t let you down in the way that the quality of most family restaurants do on food.

As far as a first review goes, my experience at Mo’s will be one I look back on fondly and I would only hope that their standards remain the same for all dining guests.  Fully replete, we left deciding to take a short amble around the Citywalk and with enough time to squeeze in a little shisha!

Musings: on Instagram & food photography

Stripy squid ink pasta with homemade pesto, grated beetroot & fresh basil

Its been a while since my last post, and I haven't truthfully been regularly posting on the blog for most of this year so far. Perhaps its the inevitable direction that most personal blogs take - you start your blog in the midst of bordeom/a quiet/unbusy period of your life, and then eventually you become busy again and life takes over. 

Busyness is definitely and obviously the reason here, but I've also found that I want to post more original recipes now, rather than how this blog started out in the beginning - recreating recipes from other blogs and cookbooks. Its still fun for me to try out the numerous recipes pinned on my Pinterest board, but I save these for practicing my photography skills on, and I'm glad to say I think it has its benefits. 

Breakfast  yoghurt bowl with papaya, assorted berries & almonds

I'm quite proud and happy with how my photography has developed over the past year and a half. I still have days where I feel like I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to setting up and shooting, but for the most part I have a good idea of how I want it to turn out. I am still definitely trying out different styles, but I enjoy the process of trying to create a 'professional' food photograph look. 

So although I haven't been posting much on the blog, I do like to post these 'practice shots' regularly on my Instagram account. In fact I would go as far as to say I have become pretty addicted to Instagram! In the absence of recipe posts, I thought it would be fun to show you what kind of things I've been sharing on my account (and yes, hopefully try and get you to follow!).

Rose cupcakes with rose buttercream frosting

Breakfast yogurt granola bowl

Roasted cauliflower & lemon relish salad

Baked banana oatmeal 

Orange blossom cake with Persian fairy floss

Avocado, yogurt, honey, mango & strawberry smoothie

Strawberry chocolate dipped cherries

2-Way Beef Mango Wraps with Hoisin Peanut Sauce

I promise I will get back to posting baking recipes soon, but for now there is something about the warmer weather that makes me want to make lots of healthy, colourful and nourishing food. Its also been a while since my last post as I've been working on a side project which I'm looking forward to revealing soon! 

I've always found I'm at my most productive in the kitchen during the afternoon whilst preparing lunch. With the sun streaming in through the kitchen window, and the whole afternoon still ahead of me, I busy myself with creating a vivid and satisfying lunch. And when there is company to share my lunch with its even better! This recipe for beef and mango wraps, prepared in two different ways, came about precisely on one of those afternoons. Since my first experiment with rice paper rolls was a bit more traditional, I decided to experiment a little more this time around. 

I love how versatile rice paper rolls can be - you can prepare them easily once you have prepped your ingredients, and the combination of fillings you can put in them are unlimited. In the same way, cabbage wraps are an easy way of making a filling healthy meal out of a variety of endless options. Saying that, they also make a lovely side or appetiser, and look great on the table at a barbeque. 

The ingredients in these wraps seem fairly simple at first glance, but they definitely taste anything but! Juicy sweet mango pieces pair so well with beef, and I am still obsessing over adding pomegranate to anything and everything I can. Don't leave them out here, they really add that amazing sweet crunch and tang, just as they do to anything you add them to. I find that the fruit makes these wraps utterly refreshing. 

You can leave out the vermicelli rice noodles from the rice paper rolls if preferred, but I recommend including them in the cabbage wraps to add a little more interest. The hoisin peanut sauce is literally the icing on the cake here, and if you love peanut butter its a heavenly pairing for both wraps. 

Whichever way you choose to make them, they are perfect for the coming summer months, and I'm definitely going to be doubling the quantities to make them for the entire family soon! 

To prepare the beef

200g beef (flank or sirloin work well), cut into thin strips  

1 tsp garlic, minced or finely chopped 

Half tsp ginger, minced or finely chopped

2 tsp soya sauce

2 tbsp vegetable or sesame oil

1. Mix the beef with the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, and leave to marinate for 1-2 hours, or at least half an hour. 

2. Heat a little oil in a frying wok, and add the beef. Stir fry for 5-10 minutes making sure the beef has cooked through, or is cooked to your liking. 

3. Keep aside.

Beef & Mango Rice Paper Rolls

Serves 2

Beef strips, cooked 

Half a medium mango (less than fully ripe is better), peeled and sliced thinly

6-8 whole lettuce leaves, Boston or Bibb

Vermicelli noodles, large handful, cooked

Half cup pomegranate arils

Lime, to taste

6-8 rice paper sheets

Hoisin peanut sauce (as below) 

1. Heat some water in a pan, and once slightly hot (not boiling) pour into a heat proof bowl, large enough to soak your rice paper sheets.

2. Keeping all your ingredients at hand, take a sheet of rice paper and soak in the warm water for 20-30 seconds or until soft.

3. Place on a surface and add a little of each ingredient along the centre of the roll, horizontally. Start with one lettuce leaf, then 2-3 beef strips in the centre of the leaf, a few mango slices, vermicelli noodles, and lastly a sprinkling of pomegranate arils. Squeeze a couple of drops of lime if desired. 

4. Fold the ends in if preferred, and/or carefully roll up the rice paper roll to enclose the filling.

5. Repeat again with the other rice paper rolls and filling. 

6. Serve with the hoisin sauce for dipping. 

Beef & Mango Cabbage Wraps

Serves 2

1. Repeat ingredients as above, minus the rice paper. 

2. Taking the lettuce leaves, fill each leaf with ingredients, layering as with the rice paper rolls. 

3. Drizzle a few teaspoons of hoisin peanut sauce over and serve immediately. Eat them rolled up or with a fork if preferred!

For the Hoisin Peanut Sauce 

4 tsp smooth peanut butter

2 tsp hoisin sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

Half cup water

1 tbsp brown sugar

Peanuts, crushed for garnish

1. Combine all the ingredients, except for the crushed peanuts, in a small pan over low heat.

2. Mix well for about two-three minutes until smooth and thickened.

3. Take off heat and serve straight away as a dip or over lettuce wraps.