Mutabbak

It's time for Arabic flavour recipe of the month! and this time it was from my beloved Palestine, Muttabak" A sweet soft rolls filled with walnuts/cinnamon then dipped in sugar syrup) .This dish was introduced by Fidaa Haddad (host of the month),sharing her Authentic traditional recipe of Mutabak, that is famous in the beautiful city of Hebron.

This was my entry for Mutabak joz, and I want to say that I Have enjoyed every bite of it! rolls are kind of crisp and flaky from the outside as if they have been deeply fried, and soft on the inside. The walnut/cinnamon filling is truly delicious! with a big dip in sugar syrup will just finish it up! ,sweet over all :)

So, Enough talking and lets go to the full recipe from Arabic flavour , Enjoy :)

Mutabak Joz (sweet rolls with walnut filling) : الوصفة باللغة العربية اضغط هنا

Dough ingredients: – 1 kg flour – 1 cup olive oil – Pinch of salt – 55 g melted butter – 1/2 cup of sugar – 2 – 2 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Filling ingredients: – 1 kg walnuts (crushed and toasted in the oven until golden) – 2 tsp ground cinnamon – 1/2 tsp ground ginger – 1 tsp ground nutmeg – Pinch of all spice

Sugar syrup “qater” ingredients: – 2 cups of sugar – 1 1/4 water – Squeeze of a lemon – Orange blossom water (optional)

Directions: – Mix all dough ingredients together then add the water gradually till you get a soft and consistent dough that doesn’t stick to your hands. – Once you are done, rub the dough’s surface with some oil and set aside for half an hour to rest. – Cut the dough into small balls and put them in a bowl already rubbed with some oil. – Spread each ball on an oil covered surface. Use corn starch to spread the dough instead of flour till you get an almost transparent sheet of dough. Rub it with some oil before adding the filling. Spread the dough into a rectangle as in making a cinnamon roll. – Place some filling on the dough in a thin and long strip starting from one side of the dough. Start folding the dough on the filling till it’s completely covered. Cut a straight line right where you finished folding and rolling then carefully make a spiral shape out of each filled dough by rolling it inwards. – Transfer each mutabbaq roll to an oil rubbed baking sheet. Apply the same technique to the rest of the dough. Brush each roll with some olive oil. – Bake in a preheated oven on 200C until golden from the bottom. Broil the top as well. – After baking, take out of the oven and pour a generous amount of lukewarm sugar syrup on each roll and serve. The outcome must be crispy due to the thin layered dough used.

Stuffing Preparation: – Crush the walnuts into fine pieces. – Place walnuts on a baking sheet and roast in the oven. Keep mixing until golden and fragrant. – Mix roasted walnuts with the cinnamon and the rest of spices.

Sugar Syrup Preparation “qater”: – In a deep pot, add sugar and hot water and bring them to boil. Once it does, start stirring using a whisk. – Stir gently and then add a squeeze of lemon juice. Let it simmer for another 7 minutes. – you can add some orange blossom water if you wish. – Prepare the sugar syrup ahead of time as it must be lukewarm to room temperature when poured on the mutabbaq.

Bon appétit :)