BEAUTY CAKE!

Alright ladies (and gentlemen!), clear out your beauty shelves, set your skin cream jars & tubes aside, and make some space for this beauty cake! Yes, that’s right: beauty and cake are two words that can be written side by side. And I’m not talking about a “beautiful looking cake” (because clearly, this cake I’m posting about doesn’t score much points in terms of good-lookingness), I am talking about a cake that can make your skin look more beautiful.

So why is it that I’ve given this cake the name of a “beauty cake”? Of course, it all has to do with the ingredients. Take a closer look at this wonderfully scented cake with a melt-in-your-mouth texture which miraculously enough might also be beneficial for your skin.

In general, my cooking rules is try to make everything as healthy as possible without compromising on taste. I am a firm believer in this, and having grown up on a Mediterranean diet, you can imagine that our household consumes an above-average amount of good-for-you ingredients such as olive oil, almonds & Co.

This cake is in line with my culinary beliefs, as it contains no butter (and no, I have not substituted butter with apple sauce or gelatin or what not), no egg yolks, and no sugar (and no, the sugar hasn’t been replaced by aspartame!).
What it contains is this: egg whites, high quality honey, almonds, dried figs (with no sugar added), and sunflower oil (yes, you can bake cakes with sunflower oil).

Now being the research freak that I am (always googling stuff up!), all the ingredients of my beauty cake recipe have been documented about to be skin-friendly (and good for cardiovascular health too! )

Let’s start with the obvious ones: almonds is super packed with Vitamin E- and we all know that Vitamin E is your skin’s best friend. Vitamin E is actually an ingredient that helps keep your skin smooth & supple, that’s why it is so common to find in skincare products (did you ever notice the sheer amount of skin creams that contain vitamin E?) (and these are words coming from someone (me) who has worked on skincare products!)

Sunflower oil has been known for years to help skin retain moisture and is also, like almonds, rich with Vitamin E. Many beauty products actually contain sunflower oil for the softening factor, and some people apply sunflower oil directly on their skin.

Honey has been repeatedly studied to contain antioxidants. Now take a minute and think about what most anti ageing skin creams read… yes indeed, they all stress on the importance of anti oxidants to keep fine lines at bay!

Now interestingly enough, egg whites have been used in home-made masks to treat wrinkles! So egg white goodness does not just stop on it’s protein loaded and virtually fat free content (which makes it a fave for celebs who diet all year long i.e: Victoria Beckham hehe).

Finally, dried figs are packed with beauty nutrients such as potassium, iron, calcium & magnesium which are great for healthy skin and hair.


They say there are always exceptions in life, and this might just be one.

Doesn’t it feel good for once to enjoy a slice of cake without the guilt factor?
Recipe for the Beauty Cake:

4 egg whites
120gr good quality honey
50gr sunflower oil
20gr whole grain flour
100gr ground almonds + some chopped almonds to add in the batter
6-8 dried figs, diced

Preheat oven to 180C/350F/th4. In a bowl, whisk the egg whites until they become fluffy. Then add in the honey and mix. Add the vegetable oil, mix. Follow with the flour & ground almonds, mix well but gently. Finally, add some chopped almonds and the diced figs, mix gently with a wooden spoon or spatula. Transfer batter to mould, bake for 30 mins, check with a knife to see if cake is baked. If not, extend cooking by sequences of 10 mins, checking with a sharp knife after each sequence. Remove cake from oven and let cool.

RAINBOW OF SPICES

Oh my goodness, I have been away from my blog for way too long and I have definately missed writing about my culinary experimentations and discovering those of fellow bloggers too! It feels very good to be back on here!

So here I am with a savoury spicy note and a recipe for easy to make delightfully tender chicken breasts that have been marinated in a collection of spices mixed with yoghurt in the same way some Indian recipes are done, and served with a fragrant brown rice mixed with onions, fresh chopped coriander and toasted almonds. Just the perfect meal that adds some heat to this seemingly never ending winter season...Roasted mango & coconut ice cream was then a perfect refreshing way to cool down our flaming tastebuds and keep us on an exotic note for the rest of the day...
Recipe for Indian inspired spicy chicken:

For 2 chicken breasts:

100ml yoghurt

Mixture of spices (cumin, coriander, cardamom, chilli powder, anise, ginger, turmeric)

1/2-1 teaspoon garlic paste

For the rice:
Brown rice

Chicken stock

Handful of chopped fresh coriander leaves

1 onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

Toasted sliced almonds

Other:

Vegetable oil (or butter)

Salt

Mix the yoghurt & spice mixture & garlic. Coat chicken breasts with this mixture and set aside (keep cool in fridge).

Cook the brown rice in chicken stock. In the meantime, sauté onions in a pan with oil and cardamom. When rice is ready, mix in the onions, chopped coriander & toasted almonds. Set aside, but keep warm. Add salt if necessary.

Heat a deep pan with some vegetable oil. Place chicken breasts and cook at high heat for the first few minutes. Turn down heat, cover and let cook well for about 15 minutes. Turn heat up again for the last few minutes before serving with rice.

SYRIA & LEBANON (savoury side)

And here is my savoury continuation to my recent trip in Syria & Lebanon... recollections amongst bakeries, souks or restaurants, the least I can say is that literally everything I ate was absolutely delicious, and as mentionned in a previous post, maybe what I enjoyed most was how the fruits and vegetables tasted like... seasonal and in their proper untouched non genetically modified state... sigh...

So where do I start?

Maybe a passage in the morning to a bakery would be a good idea. Undeniably, you can only appreciate how all goods are pretty much made around the clock, at almost anytime of the day, whatever you buy has likely just popped out of the oven! You pass by almost any bakery, and you will see someone rolling out the dough, the other working on the garnishes, and someone else transferring items to a flaming oven...until it finally lands in your own very hands waiting to be devoured.

Above: the smell of local bakeries immediately captures your senses in every street leading you to freshly made "mana'ish" (such as a za'atar variation above- by the way, there is a local belief that eating za'atar improves your memory and makes you more intelligent!) or "saj bread" (above, sprinkled with nigella and sesame seeds) baked on a heated cushion type utensil (you have to see it to visualize exactly what I mean by a "heated cushion"). This is likely to be your first stop of the day as a preparation for a delicious breakfast typically enjoyed with a black cup of tea, olives, and cheese.

Then taking a trip to the souk will amaze you with hills and colours of nuts & spices...

Above: an array of every imagineable spice bought at the fraction of the price that it is usually sold at in Western countries... and lovely green & brown za'atar in image just above.

And during our stroll at the souk, we spotted at one of the numerous spice/tea/herb shops this container with what seemed to be dead dried lizards...! We asked the shop owner what on earth these could possibly be used for, and he whispered back to us "it's like Viagra- for both men & women- if you want best results, then slip it into a lentil soup". Anyone want to try that out and let me know if it works?
You can also admire beautiful coffee pots that you might want to bring back home as a souvenir to reproduce the particuliar taste and aroma of Arabic coffee "ahwé" (or better known as "Turkish coffee"). Coffee is considered sacred in the Middle East, and is enjoyed all throughout the day- in the morning, before lunch, after lunch, before dinner, after dinner, etc etc... If you have the chance to bump into a fortune teller, they can also read your future in your coffee cup after you have sipped it away... What happens is that after drinking the coffee, you have to leave a tiny quantity at the end, turn over your cup and leave it for a few minutes. The patterns that the remaining coffee traces on the insides of the cup form images and symbols that fortune tellers can read and thus allowing them to predict your future... Entertaining, the least I can say!

Then you can break for a charming culinary escapade at one of the many traditional Arabic restaurants where your eyes & tastebuds will be thrilled with beautiful interiour décor and most tasty dishes... The best ones are located in the old quarters...

It would be criminal to skip the typical gigantic mezzé served at the beginning of a meal and relish on salads such as fattoush (below, with the pieces of bread), the infamous taboulé (below) made with tons of super healthy chopped parsley, or a refreshing eggplant, tomato, pepper and mint salad (my personal fave)...

Taboulé has to be "the" most famous salad in these countries, just watch out you don't leave the table with pieces of parsley stuck in between your teeth!Of course you must order some glorious "hummus" (and for a recipe you can try out one I blogged about- it's a family secret recipe!). We ordered a most amazing hummus EVER served with crushed walnuts and chickpeas... and I highly recommend you try out "mouhammara" (below) if you havent tried it yet. Your tastebuds will be whisked away by this mixture of red bell peppers, walnuts, pomegrenate mollasses and other secret ingredients...

It is common to order a "barak bil jibné" as part of a mezzé- these are basically cheese pies that can come in different forms. Some are fluffy and airy like a pillow, they are my favourite!

And please, let us not forget enjoying vine leaves in such countries! Below is "yalanji" (similar to dolmades in Turkey & Greece). As part of a mezzé, you will often encouter the cold lemony variety. As a main course, it is typical to savour it as a hot main course served with meat, as blogged and wonderfully explained by Tony from Olive Juice.
If you're in the mood for a popular chicken based staple dish, then please do order tender & tasty shish taouk (above).

Or try more local dishes, such as okra called "bamyé" in Arabic- convenient for vegeterians if you ask for no meat to be served with it.

Or even better- "kibbé". Kibbé is a beloved dish in the Middle East, and can come fried, baked, served with a yoghurt based sauce (below, "kibbé labaniyé") and in certain occasions, it is grilled "kibbé mishwiyé" which is -for me- the kings of all kibbés! It is traditionally enjoyed with a glass of "arak" (known as Ouzo in Greece for instance).

Meals that last for hours, catered by most friendly waiters, cooked by chefs that know their stuff, and ending with an apple, cherry, watermelon (amongst the endless list of options) flavoured arguile... With that, you have really had a taste of an example of a genuine Middle Eastern meal.
Of course, there are tons and tons of other savoury dishes to enjoy...which tempt me to take a flight back and take more photos...In the meantime, you can always check out my travel photos on my Flickr stream.

SYRIA & LEBANON (sweet side)

As promised, I have more to tell you about my trip to Syria & Lebanon- this post however will be particularly sweet full of syrupy and nutty goodness! (Next time I'll share savoury specialties with you!). Because both countries share so many desserts (sometimes it's just the name that's different, or one country would use rose water instead of orange blossom water), I've compiled everything together as ultimately pretty much all the below is found in both Lebanon and Syria. If the images also ring a bell to any Greek or Turkish pastries- then do not be surprised as all these countries share a lot of similar staple ingredients in their desserts, amongst which phyllo, syrup and a variety of nuts.

First off, you have to know that when entering a Middle Eastern pastry shop, it is very rare to see people buy just 1 or 2 pieces of a dessert, unlike here in France- instead, the minimum quantity tends to be half a kilo as they usually buy for entire families for casual sugar cravings or to impress at festive events. I once entered a shop and asked for just a piece of baklava and in return I got an odd look like I was the first person to ever ask for such a small quantity! Sometimes if you ask for just one piece, they will give it to you for free- and before I forget, when you're inside a shop trying to decide what to buy, be ready to taste a lot because the seller will often generously make you taste something (or many things) that just came out of the oven while you make your decision as to what to buy. This all reflects the warmth of the people in these regions.

Secondly, most people tell me as much as they find Middle Eastern desserts to be delicious, they also notice that they tend to be overly sweet. This I believe is very much subjective- it is indeed true that they are sweeter then your average cake or tartlet, but I personally do not find them to be nauseatically sugary. It is a question of personal taste.

Thirdly, do not be surprised to repeatedly see the usage of certain ingredients, such as a variety of nuts tucked into layers of phyllo or semolina. Nuts are quite abundant in the Middle Eastern region and are one of the key ingredients to many desserts. Another sacred ingredient is the syrup- almost every dessert is drenched into a silky sinfully sweet syrup, because very little or no sugar is used in a recipe, the syrup makes up for the lack of sweetness in the finished product. One other common ingredient is "ishta" which is a kind of cream similar to ricotta. I personally love pastries that contain ishta, it gives them an amazingly smooth touch contrasting wonderfully to crunchy textures.

Below for instance you can see the "ishta" in a dessert called "knafeh bil ishta" composed of golden layers of crunchy phyllo, crumbles of pistachio and of course... the sacred syrup!

When entering a pastry shop, you can spot fridges that contain "halawet el jibné" (below). Despite their simple appearance, I have to tell you these taste amazing (and are probably my favourite). It is made from a semolina based dough with ishta stuffed inside, and is served with crushed pistachios, sometimes some glacé cherries to add some colour and of course... syrup!

In Arabic, "ish el bilbol" translates to "bird nests" (below) due to the ressemblance between these kataif based pastries to a bird's nest. These are famousingly crunchy and garnished with a variety of nuts.

Everything is served in gigantic trays- with diametres of at least 1 metre!
Here we see "ishta" being used again in "warbat il ishta" (above). These are delicious, and should be consumed the day they are made.

Harrissé (above) is also a very popular dessert in the Middle East, mainly made of semolina. It has a smooth melt-in-your-mouth texture and once you start it is difficult to stop!
These brioche like breads (above) stuffed with dates called "aras ajwé" are common in bazaars or street corners.

And this cotton candy of the Middle East "ghazl el banat" (above) (translates to little girl hair locks) is my absolute favourite. I've blogged about it a couple of times and explained how much I adore using this as a topping to ice cream. It has a lovely silky texture and a nutty taste.
At the infamous Souk el Hamadiyé (Damascus) we tried these giant coconut macaroons (above) which were absolutely delicious! (I know I am overusing the word "delicious" here, but I dont know how else to describe all this goodness!)
While walking towards the Souk, we spotted a shop that was in the middle of making "asabee el sit" (lady fingers, above) , an absolutely delicious fried pastry drenched in a dramatic amount of syrup! Keep note that fried pastries are always best consumed within the hours that they are made...or the next day they feel like a sugar soaked sponge in mouth!

These orange candies and rolls are made of apricot, a fruit that Syria produces a ton of. Known as "amardeen" (above), this is particular to the country of Syria.
A crowd at a famous patisserie called "Al Wissam".
Finally, "katayef"(above) are a sort of pancake stuffed with walnuts, fried, and swimming in syrup. This is also one of those other desserts that need to be consumed the day they are made. Katayef can also come unfried with "ishta" and pistachios, drizzled with syrup.

More soon, and in the meantime you can check out my travel photos here.