This week I visited North Africa twice, first with the Harira from Morocco and then with makroud from Algeria. Both dishes are eaten in both countries and are common in much of North Africa and makroud are also eaten in Malta. I'm not going to agonise over which country has ownership of the dish, but rather reflect on how food and culture can transcend national borders, and how nice it is that many countries share such a delicious looking dish. For me it means that whenever I visit any of these countries I might get to try this made authentically and I'm very excited about that, but more importantly in a time where right wing politicians are gathering strength and a global narrative of closed borders, walls to keep people out, and "immigrants are taking our jobs", food provides us with an interesting prism to look at this debate. Food creates emotional responses in a lot of people, from the nostalgia that a childhood dish can bring, to the deep pleasure of trying something new and delicious, to absolute disgust as we try something we hate; it evokes a unique reaction in many of us but it can be a shared experience as we share meals with others. These deep emotions that food creates can allow us to appreciate cultures for how they are different from our own rather than how they are the same to us; as we tuck into a delicious curry or pasta dish. Food can also show us how people are not so different from one and other and how we have developed different versions of similar things, through this appreciation we can see how culture transcends national borders which are simply political dividers but should not be cages used to keep people in or out.
When I first saw a photograph of the makroud my first thought was "oh, they look like date fig rolls" something that I had grown up eating; in reality they are more like a date filled biscuit which tasted more like a maamoul than a fig roll. A maamoul is another date filled pastry with an outside that resembles the texture of a fig roll more closely than makroud; and I first tried them when I went to visit my mum in Bahrain! A great example of what I was saying above.
Anyway, makroud come in many varieties, sometimes filled with dates and honey, figs or almonds; they can be fried or baked, and their name roughly translated to diamond-shaped. They are delicious but I must admit I found them tricky to make, I followed mostly this recipe while comparing it to others which used different amounts of dates, no wheat flour and more water! Mine is a slight adaptation.
Makes 30 (baked)
Ingredients
For the filling
150g dates (pitted) - They need to be quite soft, if they are hard soften them in boiling water for 5-10 minutes before making the paste.
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
For the dough
1 3/4 cups semolina
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup clarified butter or ghee
2 pinches salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
around 1 cup of water
4 tbsp orange blossom water or 1/2 tsp of orange essence
For the syrup
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons orange blossom water or 1/2 tsp of orange essence
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Method
Place all of the ingredients for the filling into a food processor and process until a paste forms. You can add a little water or melted butter to help reach a thick paste consistency - you will be rolling this later so make sure it is thick. Set aside.
In a large bowl add the semolina, flour, baking powder and melted clarified butter or ghee. Mix well with a spoon until all the mix is evenly coated in butter. Cover and let it stand for 2 hours to overnight.
Slowly add the orange water or essence along with 3/4 cups of water. Mix without kneading and add a little more water if necessary - the dough should be smooth and relatively pliable.
Wrap in clingfilm and let the dough rest for 45-min to an hour.
Once the hour is over, pre-heat the oven to 180C, 360F, and line a try with parchment paper.
Divide the dough and the paste into 4, take one portion of each and keep the rest covered.
Take the portion of dough and roll it into a sausage about 1 -1.5 inches thick.
With your index finger make a deep dent in the middle of the sausage, going lengthwise. Imagine you are making a trench/ditch/gutter in it.
Next take your portion of filling and roll it into a cylinder the length of your dough. place your cylinder in the gutter you created earlier.
Pinch the edges of the dough over the date paste, to enclose the paste in the dough. Once this is complete gentle roll the sausage to seal the edge and roll out until it is around 1inch in diameter; leave on the counter edge side down.
Flatten the sausage and then make a diagonal cut at the top, continue making cuts every inch creating diamond shapes. Place each diamond onto the baking tray - make sure they are close together but not touching - this will prevent the date paste from burning.
Repeat until all the dough is used.
Bake on the centre rack for about 30 minutes until they are golden brown.
While they are in the oven put all the ingredients for the syrup into a saucepan over low heat and bring to a boil. Turn off and set aside
Once the makroud are out put them on a cooling rack.
Once they are cold dip each makroud in the syrup and leave on the cooling rack to dry off.
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