[Sca-cooks] Holiday Sweets

[Naquiba Katira al-Maghrebiyya]

I just took this to a feast.  I first made it back in
1997 for my first try at a cooking competition (Mists
Silver Spoon).  The catetory was "snack foods" and was
tasted with the brewing competition.  I looked for a
salty snack type of recipe but found this and it
really was fine with beer (I did a taste test).  I
find that using old bread to make the crumbs (not bone
dry) and the moist kind of dates (forget the name), I
get a mixture that holds together well and is more
like a sweet than a travel food (Cariadoc's version is
so dry it is almost impossible to shape according to a
helper at a feast he was doing, though it was still
quite tasty).  I also tried the sesame oil in my first
version and felt it overpowered all the other flavors.
 I also found it was quite an oily mixture. Ugh.  The
butter is perfect for my taste.

Here is my version:
2 cups bread crumbs (not bone dry)
1 lb of moist pitted dates
1/3 C almonds, then ground
1/3 C pistachios, then ground
5 T melted butter
superfine sugar (I find this is better than regular
sugar)

I grind the nuts and bread then grind the dates in
batches with some of the nut/crumb mixture then mix it
all with the butter.

The ground nuts measure out to a little more than 1/3
C after grinding.

I shape them into 'date' shapes and get between 50 and
50 from one recipe.

FYI, I won the Silver Spoon.  My entry was presented
on an ornate tray (very Alhambra) with whole almonds
and pistachios. 

Katira al-Maghrebiyya
West Kingdom


--- "Pat \"Mordonna\" Griffin" <mordonna22 at yahoo.com>
wrote:
> Since no one has come up with anything yet, how
> about this from Cariadoc's "Miscellany"?
>  
> Hais
> al-Baghdadi p. 214/14 (GOOD) 
> Take fine dry bread, or biscuit, and grind up well.
> Take a ratl of this, and three quarters of a ratl of
> fresh or preserved dates with the stones removed,
> together with three uqiya of ground almonds and
> pistachios. Knead all together very well with the
> hands. Refine two uqiya of sesame-oil, and pour
> over, working with the hand until it is mixed in.
> Make into cabobs, and dust with fine-ground sugar.
> If desired, instead of sesame-oil use butter. This
> is excellent for travellers. 
> 2 2/3 c bread crumbs
> 2 c (about one lb) pitted dates
> 1/3 c ground almonds
> 1/3 c ground pistachios
> 7 T melted butter or sesame oil
> enough sugar 
> We usually mix dates, bread crumbs, and nuts in a
> food processor or blender. For "cabobs," roll into
> one inch balls. Good as caravan food (or for taking
> to wars). They last forever if you do not eat them,
> but you do so they don't.
> Mordonna


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