New Kid on the Block - shelal cheese

Quite often new exotic ingredients come into my kitchen. I would like to familiarize you with them. Probably some of you will have more ideas on their use - so feel free to share your ways. 

Today I present shelal - a cow's milk cheese from Syria made into form of strands. It is very salty so it would be a good idea to rinse it under cold water - but only for few seconds. If you leave the cheese in water, it will loose all its stiffness. This cheese is great for decorating salads and open sandwiches.

My canape: gluten-free bread, home made houmous, baby spinach leaves, slice of ham, shelal with nigella seeds, broccoli sprouts, New Zealand's Grove (Greencado) avocado oil.  

Another interesting ingredient: anardana powder - dried pomegranate seeds from India.

Anardana and aniseed bread

Oh Lord, grant us enough time to bake and share the recipes! Baking was done, so here is the recipe, only one of so many others done in Warsaw over the last year. The inspiration came through an unusual Indian ingredient, Anardana powder, which is powder of dried pomegranate seeds.  This recipe is shared especially for Mrs Elzbieta and her husband – a professional home baker.

  

Anardana and aniseed bread

 

425 g wheat flour

150 g rye flour

100 corn flour

2 Tbsp oil

1 Tbsp Anardana powder

1 tsp aniseed

¾ Tbsp salt

25 g yeast

500 water

1. Mix anardana powder, oil and yeasts with tepid water. Add to all the other ingredients.           

2. Knead the dough until homogeneous and elastic. Form an oblong loaf, cover with a wet cloth and forget for about 2 hours.

3. When the bread doubles the size, put to the hot oven (180°) and bake for about 45 minutes. Check for the hollow sound. Place for another 10 minutes in the oven if necessary. Cool down.

Enjoy the exotic Eastern flavour of this filling bread!