27 February 2017
Rosewater the delicate and versatile kitchen staple
Welcome to a new regular series spotlighting one of the Steenbergs products. The first of these is on the Steenbergs Organic Rose Water.
Rose water was cultivated in Iran with more than 18, 000 cultivars and have been traditionally scattered at weddings to ensure a long and happy marriage as it's been cited as a symbol of love and purity. In fact apart from it's pretty name, rose water has been used to reduce blood sugar and also been used as a cough syrup and to treat acid reflux. Rose water is truly a wonderful staple that is used in Middle Eastern cooking. It is a key ingredient in many sweets such as baklava and Turkish delight and can be used to give a wonderfully sweet and florally aroma to your pastries and cakes such as Persian yazdi squares.
They’re very easy on the eyes and once you take a bite you will taste the rose water which has beautifully perfumed the cake with the ground cardamom. Cardamom helps to lower blood pressure as well as helping with bad breath and even help with cavities.
Steenbergs Organic Rose Water adds a wonderful floral flavour to baking and savoury dishes.
All you need is:
Ingredients:
(Makes up to 20 cake squares)
(Use organic/natural real food ingredients where possible)
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 20-25 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 25 minutes (to include cooking time and pouring over the rosewater syrup)
For the yazdi cake:
220g of almond flour
150g of coconut sugar
200ml of almond milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of baking powder
100g finely ground pistachios
100ml of coconut oil, melted
1/s teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt
For the filling and topping:
200g of pistachios, crushed
8 cardamom pods, deseeded and crushed
100g coconut sugar
For the rosewater syrup:
150ml of filtered water
2 teaspoons of organic rosewater
50g coconut sugar (all melted together in a small saucepan for 5 minutes)
Yazdi Squares created by NikiBakes and featuring Steenbergs Organic Rose Water.
From your kitchen:
A wooden spoon
A sharp knife
A griddle pan
A silicone spatula
A couple of teaspoons and tablespoons for measuring
A few mixing bowls, small and large
A chopping board
A food processor or pestle and mortar
A square brownie baking dish
A couple of small saucepans
A sheet of greaseproof paper
Method:
Step 1:
Preheat your oven to gas mark 4 or 180°c and grease your square brownie baking dish with extra coconut oil and line with greaseproof paper. Whisk your melted coconut oil and coconut sugar with your vanilla extract, set aside.
Step 2:
In a larger mixing bowl whisk together your dry ingredients which include the almond flour, baking powder, ground pistachios and Himalayan pink salt and start to fold in your ingredients with your wooden spoon. Spoon out half of your cake mixture and fill you cake with the pistachio- cardamom mixture, leave ¾ of this for the topping of your cake.
Step 3:
Once you have poured over the other half of your cake batter, sprinkle over the remaining pistachios and cardamom topping and bake in your oven for a minimum of 20 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack and allow it to cool slightly.
Step 4:
Finally, prick your cake very gently with a fork and pour over the rosewater syrup, allowing it to seep through to your cake. Once completely cooled cut into squares and serve with some strong black tea, delicious!
Rose water is well paired with cardamom here and brings the flavours of the Middle East to your kitchen with ease. Give rose water a go today and see how versatile it truly is.
This article has been written and researched by
Niki Behjousiar
Recipe Creator and founder of nikibakes
Twitter: @Niki_Beh
nikibakes has been blogging for over 10 years and has a passion for gluten free and dairy free recipes. She's a Persian chef who loves all things spice and particularly enjoys Asian and South American cuisine. She's always on the lookout for fresh and delicious flavour combinations and uses our spices daily in her cooking and on her blog.
