The problem with making shoarma, shwarma or donner kebab at home (and the word can be also spelled schwarma or shawrama) is that the original versions are all made on a vertical spit that turns in front of an open gas or charcoal generated flame. A secondary problem is that the average skewer used is almost 1.5 cm. thick and holds between 8 – 10 kilos of meat. Cooking at home requires a different method and, of course, smaller amounts of meat.
Here, after a great deal of both rewarding and not all that rewarding experimentation, is the very best I can come up with. It may not be quite “the real thing”, but it will satisfy in many of the same ways.
Lasagna, also lasagne, is both a form of pasta in sheets (often rippled in North America and other countries, though seldom so in Italy) and also a dish, sometimes named Lasagne al forno (meaning “Lasagne in the oven”) made with alternate layers of pasta, cheese, and sometimes ragu (a meat sauce). While it is traditionally believed to have originated in Italy, evidence has come to light suggesting that a very similar meal known as “loseyns” (pronounced ‘lasan’) was eaten in the court of King Richard II of England in the 14th Century. The word “lasagna” is derived from the Greek word “lasanon” meaning chamber pot. The word was later borrowed by the Romans as “lasanum” to mean cooking pot. The Italians then used the word to refer to the dish in which what is now known as lasagna is made. The word lasagna or lasagne (plural) now simply applies to the food itself. The British (and Italians) generally use the plural “lasagne” to mean both the dish and the pasta while the Americans commonly use the singular “lasagna”
A gevulde koek is an almond cookie made of dough and butter with a sweet filling. Almond paste is the most common filler. An almond cookie with a diameter of about 10 cm, a half almond on top. The top of the cake is shiny brown, an effect that is achieved through to cover the dough with beaten egg. It is a typical Dutch bakery item. The cookie is eaten with coffee, tea and hot chocolate.
The cheaper versions ( the one you mostly buy in the supermarket) are not always filled with almond paste, many of them filled with beans instead of almond paste.
Rondo (also called Amsterdammertje) and a canoe have the same ingredients as an almond cookie, but baked in a mold. Rondo is a round and an elongated canoe.
Ingredients For the almond paste: 125 grams of blanched almonds 125 grams sugar 1 egg 1/8 tsp lemon peel
For the cookie dough: 300 grams of flour 200 grams cold butter, cut into cubes 150 grams sugar 200 grams almond paste ( the almond paste you just made) 1 egg 12 almond halves to put on top of the cookies
Instructions
Boil water and add the almonds. Wait till the almonds float to the top, take them out the water with a skimmer. After they cool down peel the skin of the almonds, and dry the almonds.
To make the almond paste, add 125 gram almonds, 125 gram sugar, 1 egg to the food processor and chop it up. This is enough for the cookies you are about to make.
Sift the flour add the cubed butter and sugar. You cut the butter into the flour. If you have a large food processor let the food processor do the work for you. After the butter is small lumps, knead the dough on your counter top.
Preheat the oven to 350F. Roll the dough out on a floured surface. Cut out rounds with your (preferably fluted) cutter. Put half of the rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Put the almond paste in a pastry bag or ziploc bag and cut the corner off. Squirt little heaps of the almond paste on the rounds. Moisten the edges of the cookie with water and press the other cookie rounds on top. Press a half almond on top of each cookie. Beat the egg and brush the cookies with it. Bake for 25 min. If they are not golden brown just put your oven on high broil that will do the trick, keep an eye on it because it takes no time to brown them.
*Right Click on this picture below, save it to your computer and print it as a 6×4 picture*
200gramsalmond pastethe almond paste you just made
1egg
12almond halves to put on top
Instructions
Boil some water and add the almonds. Wait till they float to the top and take them out with a skimmer. After they cool somewhat down peel the skin of the almonds, and dry them.
To make the almond paste, add 125 gram almonds, 125 gram sugar, 1 egg to the food processor and chop it up. This is enough for the cookies you are about to make.
Sift the flour add the cutup butter and sugar. You cut the butter into the flour. If you have a large food processor let the food processor do the work for you. After the butter is pretty much small lumps, knead the dough on your counter top.
Preheat the oven to 350F. Roll out on a floured surface. Cut out rounds with your (preferably fluted) cutter. Put half of the rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Put the almond paste in a pastry bag or ziploc bag and cut the corner off. Squirt little heaps of the almond paste on the rounds. Moisten the edges of the cookie with water and press the other cookie rounds on top. Press a half almond on top of each cookie. Beat the egg and brush the cookies with it. Bake for 25 min. If they are not golden brown just put your oven on high broil that will do the trick, keep an eye on it because it takes no time to brown them.
It is about time I start to post some recipes of my child hood. Recipes of the food my mother used to cook for us and still does. The picture below shows some shots of her well used cookbook :).
If you are Dutch you know what this is. This is a typical Dutch dish. I had to improvise with this recipe for stoofpeertjes, because some ingredients are not available here, like ‘Gieser Wildeman Pears’, I used Bosc Pears. Bosbessensap is not available here neither. I came up with one of my own concoctions.
Suriname’s food is an exotic mix of East Indian, Indian, Creole, Indonesian and Chinese cuisines with a touch of Caribbean thrown in; the cheapest eateries are warungs, Javanese food stalls serving fried noodle and rice dishes. This recipe BBR is the abbreviation of Brown Beans and Rice and very popular in Suriname and Holland. The most important ingredients in this dish is beans and meat. You can use all sorts of meats: beef, chicken, pork. This is a good dish where you can use your left over meat
