White cheese with tomato and onion
Breakfast in Cairo flats and Delta villages rarely happens without a plate of gebna bel tamatem beside the ful and falafel. Soft, salty white cheese is broken up with a fork, then tomato, onion and a little green chilli are mashed in with a spoonful of oil until it turns into a rough, juicy, pink-flecked spread. It is scooped up with torn aish baladi, or with gluten-free bread if you need it to stay gluten free. Domiati and feta are often set with animal rennet, so choose a white cheese labelled vegetarian. Avoid soaking-wet tomatoes; seed and drain them, or the cheese turns into a watery mash. Chef's tip: make it no more than an hour before eating; the salt draws water from the tomato and the spread slowly turns watery.
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An eggless coffee sponge made with condensed milk, split and soaked in a cocoa, coffee and brandy glaze, then filled and covered with vanilla whipped cream, flaked almonds and grated chocolate. A grand party cake; use brandy essence instead of brandy for an alcohol-free version.
A moist, oil-based carrot cake spiced with cinnamon and full of chopped nuts and mixed peel. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. For a change, use 2 cups drained, chopped tinned pineapple instead of the peel. Contains egg.
A small, moist chocolate cake made without eggs, using condensed milk and fresh orange juice and rind for a lovely chocolate-orange flavour. Serve with chocolate sauce.
A soft eggless cake with chopped banana, passion fruit pulp, cashews and yogurt, lifted with a little cider vinegar. It is served with a passion fruit custard sauce, so it makes a good warm pudding as well as a tea-time cake.
An eggless carrot cake made with condensed milk and oil, with chopped cashews, mixed peel and cinnamon. Moist and lightly spiced; serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped fresh cream.
No-bake squares of crushed cornflakes, rice crisps and coconut held together with peanut butter and golden-syrup toffee. Quick to make and great for parties.
Wholemeal pastry sweetened only with honey, sandwiching a thick filling of dates, lemon and mixed nuts. Glazed with milk and sprinkled with sugar, it is like a home-made fig roll in slice form.
Plain, crisp, old-fashioned biscuits flavoured with custard powder, the kind that fill a big tin. Shape them as thin ovals with a fork, or roll and cut rounds and prick holes in them. For a change, swap the custard powder for 5 tsp ground ginger and 1½ tsp ground cardamom, or use wholemeal wheat flour instead of plain flour.
Flaky little crescents made from a rich yeasted dough, cut into wedges, spread with cinnamon sugar and rolled up from the wide end. Serve them with coffee or tea; they are best on the day they are baked.
Soft-centred chocolate cookies with chopped roasted peanuts in the dough and more on top. Yogurt keeps them tender. A favourite with children.
Chikki is an Indian brittle. This crystal version is made with plain white sugar, melted until clear and golden, with peanuts, almonds, pistachios and sesame seeds, scented with cardamom and saffron. Work quickly: the brittle sets in moments.
Rustic, crunchy cookies made with wholewheat flour, porridge oats, brown sugar and fresh coconut, with a gentle aniseed note from fennel seeds. Not too sweet, so they are good with a cup of tea or masala chai, and they keep well in a tin.
Small, soft eggless vanilla cupcakes in paper cases, topped with sugar sprinkles: just right for little hands and children's parties. The same mixture also bakes as one large basic cake in a 25 cm round tin.
A big batch of party biscuits: a buttery dough with mixed nuts, chocolate pieces, cherries and coconut, bound with coco-pine juice (mixed coconut and pineapple juice). The dough is shaped into rolls, chilled and sliced thin, so you can bake as many as you need. Leftover coconut milk can be frozen in ice-cube trays and used whenever required.
Crunchy, wholesome biscuits made with crushed Weetabix (wheat biscuit cereal), coconut and mixed nuts, rich with fresh cream and rolled in more cereal and pistachio. If the dough is too firm, add 1–2 tbsp milk.
Barfi churmoo is a rich Gujarati sweet: a firm dough of coarse wheat flour and gram flour is fried in ghee, ground to an even crumb, then bound with roasted mawa (khoya), hot ghee and saffron syrup and set in a tray. It's crumbly, fragrant with cardamom and nutmeg and topped with nuts. Makes about 40 pieces, perfect for Diwali boxes and weddings.
These gulab jambu are made with milk powder, grated carrot and a creamy semolina mixture, fried slowly until golden and soaked overnight in syrup so they're soft and juicy all the way through. The carrot gives them a lovely colour and gentle sweetness. Serve them halved, decorated with nuts and rose petals, with fresh cream.
The basic eggless vanilla cake cut into three layers, soaked in pineapple syrup and layered with pineapple pieces, fresh coconut and whipped cream, like the cocktail. Make it the day before: it needs to chill overnight. Leave out the Malibu (coconut rum) for children.
A crunchy no-bake chocolate slice: crushed rich tea biscuits, cornflakes, rice krispies and shredded wheat, nuts and coconut are bound with cocoa, margarine and golden syrup, then covered with melted chocolate. It's sweet, crisp and chocolatey, like a homemade cereal bar. Makes about 50 fingers, ideal for parties and lunch boxes.
Coconut pinwheels are a pretty no-cook sweet: a soft dough of desiccated coconut, milk powder and icing sugar is split, half coloured, rolled together into a swirl and sliced. They're sweet, coconutty and great fun for children to help make. Makes about 60 slices, perfect for party platters.
Siro (sheera) is the Gujarati version of sooji halwa: semolina roasted in ghee until light brown, then cooked with hot saffron milk and sugar until the ghee separates. It's soft, rich and fragrant with cardamom and nuts. Serve it hot, as a festive sweet, for prasad, or as a comforting treat.
Badam pak is a rich almond sweet: coarsely ground almonds and mawa (khoya) roasted in ghee, mixed with puffed edible gum and cardamom, then bound in a saffron sugar syrup and pressed into a tray. It's nutty, chewy and fragrant. Makes about 35 squares; the book also gives a soft 'hot badam pak' to serve warm.
A lighter way to make lapsi: fine cracked wheat (bhaidku) is roasted in a little oil, mixed with jaggery water and steamed until soft and fluffy instead of cooked in lots of ghee. It's gently sweet and grainy, with a toasty flavour. Serve it hot with warm ghee poured over at the table.
Shrikhand is a classic Gujarati dessert of yogurt hung until thick and creamy, then sweetened and flavoured with saffron, cardamom and ground nuts. It's cool, tangy-sweet and silky. Serve it chilled with hot puris, or on its own as a dessert; add fresh fruit for fruit shrikhand.
A no-cook barfi that children love: chopped dried fruit, nuts, crushed biscuits, cornflakes and rice krispies, with mixed peel, cherries and chocolate, all bound with butter and golden syrup and pressed into a tray. It's chewy, crunchy and full of colour. Makes about 42 squares, great for lunch boxes and party trays.
Lapsi is a festive Gujarati sweet of coarse cracked wheat (bhaidku) roasted in ghee, then cooked soft with jaggery water, fennel and saffron until the ghee shines through. It's grainy, buttery and gently sweet, finished with nuts, sultanas, nutmeg and cardamom. Serve it hot, on its own or as part of a festive thali.
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Dhosa ladoo is a traditional Gujarati ladoo: a thick wheat and gram flour dough is baked twice until dry, ground to a coarse crumb, then bound with melted jaggery and warm ghee and pressed into balls. They're crumbly, rich and warm with nutmeg, with poppy seeds on top. Makes about 35, and they keep well for festivals.
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A simple, wholesome Gujarati sweet: doughnut-shaped dumplings of coarse and fine wheat flour with gram flour are steamed, then ground into soft crumbs. Each person mixes in hot ghee and powdered sugar to their own taste. Serve warm as a filling winter treat.
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A rich nut barfi of pistachios, cashews and almonds bound with saffron milk syrup, pressed into a tray and topped with a layer of dark chocolate. It's dense, nutty and chocolatey, and cuts into neat fingers. Makes about 80, ideal for Diwali boxes.
A rich, creamy vermicelli pudding: thin vermicelli roasted until golden, then simmered in milk until it reduces by half and flavoured with saffron and cardamom. Vanilla ice cream stirred in at the end makes it extra smooth and cool. Serve chilled after a festive meal, scattered with almond and pistachio flakes.
These pendas (pedas) take minutes in the microwave: milk powder, cream, sugar and ground almonds cook together into a soft fudge flavoured with cardamom and saffron, then are shaped into rounds. They're milky, nutty and melt in the mouth. Makes about 35 — press them into small moulds for pretty shapes.
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Sweetened whipped cream with vanilla for coating cakes and piping decorations. An electric beater can be used, but for an inexperienced cook a hand whisk is safer: over-beating curdles the cream.
An eggless chocolate fudge icing made with butter, milk, cocoa and drinking chocolate. Coat the cake while the icing is still warm; it thickens as it cools and can also be piped.
A rich, glossy chocolate frosting made with melted cooking chocolate, butter and an egg, then thickened with icing sugar. Use it to fill or cover cakes, swirling it on with a palette knife. Contains egg.
A light butter icing for all basic sponge cakes, flavoured with the essence of your choice. Add a little milk for a softer icing for piping, or use cocoa instead of the cornflour to make chocolate butter icing.
The simplest icing: icing sugar warmed with a little boiling water and coloured as you like. Pour it over fairy cakes and small sponges and leave it to set to a glossy finish.
A rich butter cake flavoured with cinnamon and packed with almonds, cashews, walnuts and macadamias, then covered with melted chocolate and nut flakes. Serve with sweetened fresh cream. Contains egg.
An upside-down cake: poached apple slices, cinnamon, chocolate sauce and macadamia nuts go in the bottom of the tin, a vanilla sponge is baked on top, and the cake is turned out to show the apples. Serve warm with custard sauce. Contains egg.
An eggless Christmas cake: sultanas, raisins, currants, cherries and peel are soaked overnight in apple juice, then baked with nuts, pumpkin seeds, lemon rind, ginger, cinnamon and a splash of brandy or rum. Start the day before.
A moist eggless cake made with semolina, coconut and yogurt, baked with slivered almonds on the bottom and top and moistened with orange juice. Serve with coconut ice cream or custard sauce.
A homely eggless cake made with crushed Weetabix (wheat biscuit cereal), chopped apple, cashews and cinnamon, bound with condensed milk. Serve warm with ice cream.
A classic buttery loaf cake dotted with glacé cherries and sultanas, perfect sliced at tea time. Toss the fruit in a little flour so it stays spread through the cake. Contains egg.
A simple, eggless fruit cake made with condensed milk, packed with mixed nuts, dried fruit and cherries and warmed with ginger and cinnamon. The book says it can be used as a wedding cake.
An eggless, dark and spicy fruit loaf flavoured with cocoa, cinnamon and black treacle, with mixed nuts and dried fruit. It is brushed with brandy while warm and dusted with icing sugar. Serve in slices with fresh cream. Leave out the sherry and brandy for an alcohol-free loaf.
A dark, moist eggless chocolate sponge, split and moistened with orange juice, filled and covered with whipped fresh cream, and finished with halved strawberries and grated chocolate. A show-stopping birthday cake.
Soft, milky pendas made from mawa (khoya) and crumbled paneer cooked down in sweetened milk, flavoured with saffron, cardamom and a little nutmeg. The mixture is pressed into small moulds to give pretty shapes. Makes 15; serve as a festive sweet or offering.
Pandadi are delicate layered pastries: thin rounds of butter dough stacked with custard powder, rolled, sliced and fried so the layers puff and flake. Once drained they're dusted with icing sugar, ground nuts, cardamom and saffron and scattered with rose petals. Makes about 40–45; a special-occasion sweet that keeps well in a tin.
A quick almond sweet made in minutes in the microwave: semolina toasted in butter, mixed with coarsely ground almonds, saffron and sweetened condensed milk, then set in a tray. It's soft, nutty and fragrant with cardamom. Makes 20 squares, ideal when guests are on the way.
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