Qatayef (atayef, katayef, qata'if)

One of the most rewarding experiences I had during my two and a half years in Dubai was Ramadan. Fasting with my Muslim friends from sunrise till sunset, breaking the fast together, inviting each other out for Iftar and enjoying authentic Arabic buffet at Egyptian or Lebanese restaurants are memories very dear to me, especially since this is the fourth year away from them during the holy month. This post is dedicated to them.

Mango Cake (semolina)

Some of my earliest memories are connected to old Indian movies - dramatic, tear-jerking stories of love and family, tradition and culture, and happiness celebrated through music and dance. It wasn't until 1998 that I discovered the magical world of spices and the endless flavours that make Indian cuisine unique.

Indian sweets rely on semolina, besan, vermicelli, rice, carrots, mangoes, pistachios, almonds and dairy to deliver unique tastes and textures and are commonly flavoured with rose water, saffron and cardamom. Not many fruits are found in typical Indian desserts and among them mango is the most extensively used. It gives each dish a gorgeous yellow/orange colour and a deep fruity taste. Before finding this recipe on RedChillies I'd only had mango in the form of smoothies and juices. A quick scan of the ingredients and I was immediately hooked: semolina - one of the best things ever created.

Black Bean Brownies

I rarely make recipes without having some sort of idea how they will turn out. When I stumbled upon Happy Herbivore's recipe I was intrigued. BEANS??? The brownie pictures looked so good, I just had to make some myself. These brownies are a surprise for anyone who tries and finds absolutely no vegetable taste in them. For me the surprise was triple: I'd never had beans in my sweets and I'd never eaten black beans or rolled/instant oats before. More reasons to look forward to making these goodies.

Besan Sooji Laddoos

Thirteen years ago I was introduced to the magical world of spices and I've been using them in my cooking ever since, not only in Indian dishes, but also in Romanian ones to add extra flavour. It's funny how, in spite of my weakness for desserts, I've only tried a few types of Indian sweets, like gulab jamun, ras malai, gajar ka halwa, sooji ka halwa and burfi. I've watched dozens of Hindi movies and craved the famous laddoos every time I saw them shown at weddings or festivals, I've also read a lot of recipes, but somehow I always got discouraged to make them due to their high sugar content.

Strawberry Mille-Feuille

Mille-feuille (thousand sheets), also known as Napoleon, is a classic French dessert made up of alternating layers of puff pastry and pastry cream, with a black & white pattern icing. Although it is ready in just a few easy steps, making the cream from scratch and creating the icing pattern can be daunting for someone who's never done this before.