Zheng He’s is probably one of my favorite restaurants here in Dubai, serving authentic Chinese food in a very special surrounding in full view of the Burj Al Arab. Today we decided to have brunch there, taking our time and sample the food with our favorite Champagne.
Since there is a new team in the kitchen, it was the best opportunity to try the food of the new chef, L told me the our good friend Bong had his son in the team there, so nothing could go wrong!
After almost 30 years I got to try again Kaegi Fret from Switzerland, a chocolate coated waffer bisquit I grew up with in my childhood. Not knowing that this product still exist, or being ignorant I got to appreciate Swiss quality. Reading the company’s website I am surprised to learn not much has changed in the product then maybe the packaging.
The famous “Kägi-fret” is named after the founding Kägi family plus an abbreviation of the French word for waffle, “gaufrette”, and has been produced in Toggenburg since 1958. Only the finest top quality ingredients are used in the production of Kägi-fret, and it’s known by young and old alike as the ideal sweet snack for when you’re out and about.
On Thursday, 19th of June was the wedding of Sheikh Ahmed, Chairman of Emirates Airline. This event was for females only since the male wedding was on the 14th of June. I made some pictures of the venue before the event since it is not allowed to take any pictures during the wedding. 3000 guests where invited at the Dubai World Trade Center.
Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, joined other dignitaries including a number of Supreme Council members, crown princes, deputy rulers, sheikhs and senior officials, at a luncheon to celebrate the wedding of the Chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation Department and Emirates Group, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum to the daughter of Sheikh Obaid bin Thani Al Maktoum.
The luncheon was attended by the Ruler of Fujairah, H.H. Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al-Sharqi and the Ruler of Ajman, H.H. Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi.
Others include Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, H.H. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Dubai Crown Prince, H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Deputy Ruler, H.H. Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Sharjah Crown Prince and Deputy ruler, H.H. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Ras al Khaimah Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler, H.H. Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Umm Al Qaiwain Crown Prince, H.H. Sheikh Saud bin Rashid Al Mualla, FNC Speaker, Abdul Aziz Abdullah Al Ghurair, Abu Dhabi Ruler’s Representative in the Eastern Region, Sheikh Tahnoun bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, a number of sheikhs, ministers, senior officials, statesmen, and members of diplomatic and consular corps.
Not everyone does like Arabic sweets perhaps but here the local and Middle Eastern expats do! No wonder that diabetes is wide spread in the Gulf.
There is not much on ingredients when it comes to Baklava but they have to be of best quality. Flour, Ghee, Sugar and nuts are well selected to prepare these fine sweets. Nine to twelve layers of dough is prepared to achieve the flakiness of Baklava. Crushed Pistachio nuts mixed with some sugar syrup form the center and when taken out of the oven more syrup is skillfully poured over the entire tray and set aside to cool and dry.
The history of Baklava is not well-documented; but although it has been claimed by many ethnic groups, the best evidence is that it is of Central Asian Turkic origin, with its current form being developed in the imperial kitchens of the Topkap? Palace.
Vryonis (1971) identified the ancient Greek gastris, kopte, kopton, or koptoplakous, mentioned in the Deipnosophistae, as baklava, and calls it a “Byzantine favorite”. However, Perry (1994) shows that though gastris contained a filling of nuts and honey, it did not include any dough; instead, it involved a honey and ground sesame mixture similar to modern pasteli or halva.
Perry then assembles evidence to show that layered breads were created by Turkic peoples in Central Asia and argues that the “missing link” between the Central Asian folded or layered breads (which did not include nuts) and modern phyllo-based pastries like baklava is the Azerbaijani dish Bak? pakhlavas?, which involves layers of dough and nuts. The traditional Uzbek puskal or yupka and Tatar yoka, sweet and salty savories (boreks) prepared with 10-12 layers of dough, are other early examples of layered dough style in Turkic regions.
The thin phyllo dough as used today was probably developed in the kitchens of the Topkap? Palace. Indeed, the sultan presented trays of baklava to the Janissaries every 15th of Ramadan in a ceremonial procession called the Baklava Alay?.
Other claims about its origins include: that it is of Assyrian origin, dates back to ancient Mesopotamia, and was mentioned in a Mesopotamian cookbook on walnut dishes; that al-Baghdadi describes it in his 13th-century cookbook; that it was a popular Byzantine dessert. But Claudia Roden and Andrew Dalby find no evidence for it in Arab, Greek, or Byzantine sources before the Ottoman period.
One of the oldest known recipes for a sort of proto-baklava is found in a Chinese cookbook written in 1330 under the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty under the name güllach (Buell, 1999). “Güllaç” is found in Turkish cuisine. Layers of phyllo dough are put one by one in warmed up milk with sugar. It is served with walnut and fresh pomegranate and generally eaten during Ramadan.
