Tamriyeh

Ingredients

Dough

• 500 gplain flour
• about 280 ml warm water
• 1 tspsalt
• 3 tbspoil
• 1 tbspvinegar

Semolina cream

• 1 litrewhole milk
• 120 gfine semolina
• 80 gsugar
• 1 tbspcornflour
• 1 tbsporange blossom water
• a pinch of mastic, ground with sugar
• a pinch of salt

To laminate

• 150 gghee or clarified butter, softened

To fry

• ghee, or a mix of ghee and oil

To finish

• icing sugar, in quantity

To serve

• scalding hot, in paper

Directions

1. Make the cream first, since it must be completely cold before it goes near the pastry. Whisk the semolina, cornflour and sugar into the cold milk before heating it.
2. Combine them while the milk is cold and whisk it smooth. Semolina rained into hot milk seizes into lumps immediately. Bring it to a simmer over a medium heat, stirring constantly. Stir without stopping and get into the corners of the pan, where it catches first.
3. Cook it for 8 to 10 minutes until it is very thick. It must be thick enough to hold a spoon upright. Take it off the heat and stir in the orange blossom water and mastic. Grind the mastic with a pinch of sugar first, since the grains stick to a mortar otherwise, and use very little. Mastic is the Damascene signature here, resinous and faintly pine-like, and too much makes the cream taste medicinal.
4. Spread it in a shallow tray, press cling film onto the surface, and chill it until cold and firm. Film against the surface stops a skin, and a skin becomes lumps in the filling. Mix the flour, salt, water, oil and vinegar into a firm smooth dough. The vinegar relaxes the gluten and makes the dough far easier to roll paper thin.
5. Knead it hard for 10 minutes, then rest it, oiled and covered, for at least an hour. Rest it properly, because an unrested dough springs back and cannot be rolled thin. Now roll it out as thin as you possibly can, into a large sheet.
6. Take it close to translucent, so you can see the board through it. Use plenty of ghee and spread it right to the edges with your hands. Chill the coil for 30 minutes. Roll them thin, to about 2 mm each. Put a generous spoonful of the cold cream in the centre of each. Fold the pastry over and seal the edges very firmly.
7. Press out every trace of air as you seal, and check the whole seam. Trapped air expands in hot fat and splits the parcel open, and a leaking tamriyeh empties its cream into the pan and makes it foam dangerously.
8. Fry them a few at a time for 2 to 3 minutes, turning once, until golden and blistered. Stand back as they go in, and never fry one you are not confident is sealed. Lift them out and drain them for a few seconds only. Now dust them heavily with icing sugar while they are still hot.
9. Serve them immediately, in paper, and warn people that the cream inside is genuinely scalding. They are eaten standing at the stall in Damascus, and they soften within twenty minutes, so they are never made ahead.

Technique

• Mastic is sold in Middle Eastern shops and should be used very sparingly.
• Cypriot shamishi is the close relative and is made with a plainer dough.
• They must be eaten within minutes of frying.

Substitutions

• Ready-made filo, doubled and buttered, which is easier but less chewy.
• Vanilla in place of mastic.

Variations

• Made with a plain unlaminated dough.
• Filled with ashta, clotted cream, instead of semolina.
• Dipped in sugar syrup rather than dusted.

History

A Damascus street sweet, fried to order in the old city and eaten scalding hot.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tamriyeh?

Tamriyeh is a street food from Syria: fried pastry pockets of sweet semolina cream, dusted heavily with icing sugar. A Damascus street sweet, fried to order in the old city and eaten scalding hot.

How long does Tamriyeh take to make?

Tamriyeh takes 1 hr plus 2 hr chilling of preparation and 25 min of cooking. The recipe makes about 16. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Tamriyeh?

Yes, within limits. Ready-made filo, doubled and buttered, which is easier but less chewy. Vanilla in place of mastic.

What is the most important thing to get right in Tamriyeh?

Make the cream first, since it must be completely cold before it goes near the pastry. Whisk the semolina, cornflour and sugar into the cold milk before heating it.