Jazariyeh

Ingredients

Carrots

• 1.5 kgcarrots, grated
• 800 gsugar
• 200 mlwater
• juice of 1 lemon

To flavour

• 2 teaspoonsground cardamom
• 1 tablespoonrose water
• or 1 tablespoon orange blossom water
• a pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoonground cinnamon, optional

To finish

• 150 gpistachios, chopped
• or 150 g desiccated coconut
• extra pistachios, to press on top

Directions

1. Use firm and genuinely sweet carrots. Cut those cores out if they are woody. Peel all the carrots thoroughly. Grate them on the coarse side of a grater. You need a great deal of grated carrot. Put the sugar and water in a heavy pan. Warm it until the sugar dissolves.
2. Add the lemon juice to the pan. Lemon juice stops the sugar crystallising. Add all the grated carrot to the syrup.
3. Stir it all through thoroughly. It looks like far too much at first. Bring it up to a steady simmer. Stir it every few minutes at first. Give it about forty minutes at that stage.
4. Stir it constantly once it thickens. Judging when it is done is the whole skill. Keep children well away from the pan. Finishing it takes only a moment.
5. Take the pan off the heat entirely. Stir in the cardamom and the salt. Add the rose water to the pan. Stir in most of the chopped pistachios. Setting it takes several hours. Grease a shallow tray lightly. Tip the hot mixture out into it.
6. Press it out flat with a greased spoon. Aim for about two centimetres deep. Press the remaining pistachios into the top. Let it cool completely at room temperature. Give it at least four full hours. Cut it into small diamonds or squares. Use a sharp knife wiped between cuts.
7. Take small pieces of the cooled paste. Roll them into balls between your palms. Roll each ball in desiccated coconut. They keep three weeks in a sealed tin. Layer them with paper so they do not stick.

Technique

• Carrots are mostly water by weight and almost all of it has to cook away, which is why a kilo and a half of grated carrot reduces to a small tray and the cooking takes over an hour.
• The mixture goes through stages: the carrot first releases water so the pan looks wetter than when you started, then that water evaporates and it thickens steadily, so do not judge it by the first twenty minutes.
• Lemon juice stops the sugar crystallising, without which the sweet turns grainy on standing; it is not there for the flavour.

Substitutions

• Desiccated coconut or chopped pistachio both work for rolling or scattering.
• Orange blossom water stands in for rose water.

Variations

• It is set in a tray and cut into squares or rolled into balls and coated.
• Turkish cezerye is the close relative and shares the same Arabic root.
• Indian gajar halwa is the related sweet made with milk.

History

Damascene sweet of grated carrot boiled with sugar and rolled in coconut or pistachio, sold in the old souqs.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jazariyeh?

Jazariyeh is a dessert from Syria: carrot paste cooked with sugar and pistachio, cut into squares. Damascene sweet of grated carrot boiled with sugar and rolled in coconut or pistachio, sold in the old souqs.

How long does Jazariyeh take to make?

Jazariyeh takes 20 minutes of preparation and 1 hour 15 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes one tray, about 30 pieces. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Jazariyeh?

Yes, within limits. Desiccated coconut or chopped pistachio both work for rolling or scattering. Orange blossom water stands in for rose water.

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

Stir it constantly once it thickens. Judging when it is done is the whole skill. Keep children well away from the pan. Finishing it takes only a moment.