Abu Hamdiya spoke to The Media Line about her experiences as a chef and also shared one of her most popular Ramadan recipes.
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How does your cuisine combine Palestinian and Italian culinary traditions?
For example, sometimes I make ravioli with cheese and fresh Palestinian za’atar [leaves] and it’s very delicious.
How well-known is your food in both Italy and Palestine?
In Italy, I’m well known as a Palestinian chef with Palestinian food; in Palestine I’m known for Italian food. When people here talk about Italian food, many people think about me, fortunately.
How did you get into cooking when you were younger? What made you decide to go in that direction?
But food doesn’t have to be a last choice. I could’ve chosen other things, but I chose this because I’m happy to work in this sector.
What made you attracted to Italian culture and cuisine?
I was attracted to the language at first, and then the culture and the food.
Why do you think Ramadan is important, in terms of food?
People who celebrate Ramadan sit together and eat together, even those that don’t observe it.
I don’t like that Ramadan has become commercial and that people hurry to buy food and things like that. I’m not against special recipes and desserts for Ramadan, but I’m against the “too much” of things: buying too [much] and serving too many foods.
What are some of the special foods that people eat during Ramadan?
There are also many types of juices that you don’t see outside of Ramadan, like tamarind, lemon or almond juice.
There is also qatayef, a special sweet for Ramadan that is a kind of pancake filled with nuts or cheese. I love it.
What is your vision for the future, and what do you hope will be the impact of your cooking?
I hope my cooking will arrive in every home! For Palestinian culture, I speak and write in Italian, so I know that my Palestinian food will be in many Italian households. They’ve invited me into their houses and it’s really nice.
FIDAA ABU HAMDIYA’S QATAYEF RECIPE
For the dough:
2 cups Italian type “0” flour (or all-purpose flour)
¼ cup durum wheat flour
3 cups lukewarm water
1 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. sugar
For the filling:
400 gr. Tosella Italian cheese (soft white cheese, can be substituted with akkawi cheese)
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp. sugar
Instructions for the dough:
Place all the dough ingredients in a bowl and whisk until a batter is formed.
Place nonstick frying pan over heat, wait until the pan is hot, and then, using a ladle, pour the batter into circular shapes that are more or less 15 cm. in diameter.
The pancakes are cooked on 1 side only, so within a few minutes they can be removed from the heat and set aside on a plate.
Instructions for the filling:
Crumble the soft cheese with your hands into a bowl.
Add cinnamon, sugar and mix all together.
Cooking and serving instructions:
For baked Qatayef:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Arrange the turnovers on a baking pan fitted with parchment paper and brush them with butter.
Bake for roughly 10 minutes or until the turnovers are golden in color.
Serve with honey on top.
For fried qatayef:
Fry the qatayef in a nonstick pan with vegetable oil until golden.
Serve with honey on top.
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