Tamina | Algerian Semolina Spoon Dessert

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Mouskoutchou Mocha

Greetings all my friends in the Blogoshpere!

Gâteau au Yaourt or yoghurt cake is a staple in French home baking. It is known as aMouskoutchou cake here in Algeria. It is the simplest cake to make since pot de yaourt (a container of yoghurt), emptied and cleaned is used to measure out the rest of the ingredients.

I find it an excellent fun ... and tasty to make with my children! it appeals to them, much with its moist and fluffy rumb! And what child cannot enjoy a cake that they (with the exception actually putting it in the oven) can measure, mix and pour all themselves! There are no complicated steps, no scales to dig out of the cabinets. And with the intensive sandbox training they have, they are real experts at the completely emptying and filling of the yoghurt containers.
Superb I'd say!

The Gâteau Danette au chocolat noirthat I posted about a while ago, is based on this exact idea of measuring by volume not weight.

The basic Gâteau au yaourt recipe or method(which I will post about in depth at later date) is a building block to a lot of great variations. You can add chocolate, cocoa, chocolate chips, nuts, citrus juice, zest, or peel of any citrus fruit! Whatever floast your boat!
Today, I present the yoghurt cake ... a real chocolate cake from your childhood ... but all grown up!

The frosting is really not sweet at all, it has a nice intense espresso flavor, almost a bit bitter, so if you like coffee, you'll like these... if you want total sweet... I would adjust the amount of powdered sugar! Mouskoutchou Mocha 
(Makes one 20cm round cake or 12 cupcakes)° Use the emptied container of youghurt for measuring

• - 1 container of plain yoghurt
• - 1 pot oil
• - 2 pot sugar
• - 3 pot flour
• - 3 eggs, beaten
• - 1 packet of vanilla sugar
• - 2 packets of Algerian baking powder (or 1 packet European11g)
• - 1 tablespoon of instant espresso powder dissolved in 1 tablespoon of hot
  water. (Or 1 tablespoon of hot coffee)
• - 1/2 cup cocoa
• - 250 g bar of very good quality dark chocolate melted
  (for me Cote d'Or chocolat noir

Frosting:
- 1 cup cheese tartiner (Vache qui rire or LeBerbere)
- 1/3 powder sugar (if you like more sweeter frosting add 1 cup of powder sugar)
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso desolved in 1 t easpoon of hot water or. Or 1 teaspoon of hot coffee

1. Preheat the oven to 180.
2. Spoon the yogurt into a large bowl.
3. Add the oil, eggs, vanilla and sugar. and begin mixing.
4. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder.
5. Slowly add into the bowl and mix well.
6. Stir in the by now (cooled) melted chocolate and coffee .
7. Pour the batter into into a greased and floured cake pan. or paper lined cupcake tins (fill 2/3 of the cup).
8. For cupcakes, bake 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
   For cake, bake for 15 minutes at 180C, then reduce to 150 and bake a further 20-25 minutes. Again, check for doneness by inserting a clean toothpick.
9. Meanwhile, whip the powder sugar, coffee and cheese tartiner until creamy.
10. After the cake has cooled, spread the frosting over the top of the cake.
11. Sprinkle over the frosting, shaved chocolate or crumbled dry cookies.

1. 
   
   

Elhamdulillahillazee at 'amanaa wa saqaanaa wa kafaa naa wa awaa naa

I pray to you all bon appetite and always warmth of blessings around your table!


heni

Tamina Algéroise

Rocher Truffles

Click the picture to see the enlarged full view

As promised today, I am presenting the very easy recipe for yet another Eid gateaux I made ... Rocher truffles! You will not believe how easy this one is LOL! It's laughable! You can easily make these ahead of time ... and if any unexcepted guests arrive, simply take them out of the freezer - these are very nice cold as a frozen treat!

Here I will presenting the measurements in grams since the ingredients I bought are packaged with the metric measurement ...

The will yield you about 50 truffles or easily 90-100 mini truffles ... so again economical petit four for entertaining that looks so luxe!

• 500g container of Nutella (I bought a 600g one - I simply added more biscuits so I used up all of the container)
• 200g of digestive milk or butter biscuits (I used the Bimo brand, 4 packets for the amount of Nutella I had)
• 100g (about half packet) of gofri cookies - otherwise known as wafer cookies (I used LU brand chocolate flavor) - for the coating
• 150g whole toasted hazelnuts (optional)

This is how the dough looks when you combine the Nutella and biscuits.
From this point, keeping mixing until a blended dough is achieved.

1. Toast the hazelnuts then allow them to cool.
2. Stir the Nutella until it become soft. Do not be tempted to heat it up, your truffles will not set.
3. Crush the biscuits in a robo or by hand into a fine almost flour-like crumb. Set aside.
4. Now crush the gofri cookies
5. Mix the Nutella and biscuits until a very soft dough forms.
6. Roll the dough into your desired sized balls. (After a while, the oil from the Nutella will come out so be sure to wash your hands - an oily dough will only separate)
7. Insert into each ball one of the toasted hazelnuts.
8. Now roll the balls into the crushed gofri cookie crumb.
9. Now set the truffles into the fridge for least 30 minutes.
10. Then you are ready to present them on pretty mini cupcake papers.

Here is what they look like from up close ... you can see the coating from the gofri cookies.

Trick:

These similar to the Raffealo truffles are easily made ahead, store well in a sealed container in the fridge or even able to freeze them. They stay nice and moist even after a week.

You can roll the truffles also in the same biscuits as in the filling, or crushed hazelnuts(as with real Rochers), other nuts, dip them chocolate, coconut, etc. The coating options are endless.

Seffa de couscous - little grains of sweet delight

Greeting all my friends in the Blogosphere!

Today, I want to talk about couscous ... but not just any ordinary couscous ....

Couscous generally is symbol of hospitality in North Africa. Served both at happy and sad occasions.

The word couscous. It is called taam in Algeria, seksu in Morocco, kousksi in Tunisia and maftoul in Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine.

The name is derived from the Berbere word seksu, meaning well rolled, rounded.

Seffa is traditional sweetened couscous where the grains are coated in butter then many times also mixed with dried fruits and nuts.

There are different Seffa recipes : Seffa de riz, Seffa Medfouna, Herbel (wheat cooked in milk) ... and Seffa de couscous, which is my favourite and the one I present today. (I might post the others later)This dish is served usually at engagement parties, funerals but also for souhour (morning breakfast) during Ramadan. But also served in many parts of west Algeria and Morocco for new guests visiting for the first time.

This dish is rather sweet but still is not considered a dessert. Algerians make it by just adding sugar to the couscous, but I have found making a simple syrup then steeping the fruits (plus I sometimes add apples or pears) little cinnamon then drizzling it on the couscous gives it much better taste!

Seffa is traditionally served in a big salad-bowl like called zlafa, a large and deep serving dish of wood or ceramic which is most often just as colourful and festive as the dish itself. The zlafa is set right on the table, in the middle, reachable to all the persons at the table. Each guest is given then a spoon and even a small bowl of leben (buttermilk). Everyone eats from their own section of the couscous. Invading the other's section is considered extremely rude. Well enjoy the recipe ... and don't hog all the fruits from your neighbours! =)



My version:

1/2 package - 250g Couscous fine (small grains) 1/4 cup sugar (or to taste) 3 cups water dried fruits (what you like ... I use either mix of figs, prunes, apricots and sultanas or raisin. Apples and pears are also nice pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg few cardamom pods orange blossom water, few splashes toasted almonds, pine nuts pistachios Prepare the couscous per the method: soak, steam, fork. Poach the dried fruits (or fresh apples/pears) in the sugar water with the spices/orange water. Remove cardamom pods when finished. Toast the nuts. Finally mix the fruits in with the couscous. Mound the couscous on a platter in a pyramid type shape. Optionally draw a line on the couscous with cinnamon. Top with the nuts. Have sugar at the table for those who prefer it sweeter.

Algerian version:

• 1/2 package of couscous
• sugar to serve at the table
• cinnamon
• toasted almonds
• sultanas (swelled in water, preferably orange blossom water)
• dab of butter (optional)

1. Prepare couscous.
2. Mix sultanas and butter in the couscous.
3. Mound the couscous on platter as above.
4. Decorate with cinnamon and toasted nuts.

Trick:

around the region of Alger this type of couscous is more commonly known as Mesfouf.

I serve this alot for breakfast or even lunch meals since it's quick and filling. I use local acacia honey from Chiffa instead of the sugar which is healthier and natural alternative. But if you do choose to use sugar, maybe if you use the sugar sparingly.

I am entering this in Tobias of Tobias Cooks Mediterranean Cooking Event: Morroco.