Hilbeh--Fenugreek Cake, A Popular Levantine Dessert
By: Blanche Shaheen/Arab America Contributing Writer
Arabs throughout history had an uncanny ability to incorporate foods with medicinal properties into dishes. Many times superfoods like fenugreek are not palatable and almost bitter on their own. But the health properties of fenugreek are too massive to ignore, so Palestinians figured out how to put this seed into a popular cake called Hilbeh.
Hilbeh is a Palestinian cake (also popular in Lebanon and Syria) that uses farina, or cream of wheat, along with fenugreek seeds. The cake’s rustic texture is reminiscent of namoura (semolina cake) but it is vegan as it doesn’t use any dairy or butter. The fat of choice is olive oil, which soaks in with the farina and flour overnight to ensure extra flavor throughout. Hilbeh is not to be confused with the Yemenese Hilbah, which is a frothy condiment also containing fenugreek seeds used as a condiment with soups and stews.
Fenugreek seeds have also been used in ancient Indian and Chinese medicine for millennia. Holistic doctors credit fenugreek for increasing lactation and alleviating PMS and menopausal symptoms in women, increasing testosterone for men, soothing sore throat, and even fighting colon cancer. Since the seed is rather bitter when eaten alone or boiled in a tea, Indians actually chew on fenugreek seeds with a colorful candy coating after meals for better digestion and to cleanse the palate.
With hilbeh, Palestinians also stood by the adage that “a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.” The cake itself is sugar-free, so you can adjust the amount of sugar syrup you want to use according to your preference. Traditionally, however, the hilbeh is soaked with copious amounts of the syrup.
My mother-in-law, Auntie Reva, who is now in her mid-80s, still manages to find a way to make treats for the family whenever she has the energy. I can’t recall a single time that she bought processed sweets, always preferring to bake an Arab treat with ingredients that were familiar to her. She soaks the fenugreek overnight, to ensure a milder flavor and more digestibility. Soaking the seeds also removes lectins or antinutrient proteins that can inhibit mineral absorption. This is an ancient dessert that she has made at least twice a year since I have known her, and I wanted to preserve that special time with her in the video below:
HILBEH Ingredients:
1 cup farina (cream of wheat)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup olive oil (Palestinian olive oils like Harvest Peace work best because of their strong fruity flavor. To get 10% off use code BlancheTV at www.HarvestPeace.com)
1/2 cup fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp baking soda
20 grams yeast
For syrup:
1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Mix the cream of wheat, flour, and olive oil well, and keep in a bowl overnight. Soak the fenugreek seeds in 2 cups of water in a separate bowl overnight as well. The next day, cook the seeds in their water and simmer for about 30 minutes, then set aside.
To make the sugar syrup, combine the water and sugar in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally for 15 or 20 minutes. The syrup should be thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Finally add the lemon juice and set the syrup aside to cool.
Mix the yeast with 1 cup of the fenugreek water, while the water is still very warm but not too hot. This will activate the yeast. Stir the 1 cup of fenugreek water and yeast with the cream of wheat olive oil mixture. Then add the cooked fenugreek seeds and combine well. Spread the batter into a 9 by 13-inch pan and let rise for at least 30 minutes to one hour. Then cut the batter into squares before baking in the oven. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes, or until the top is nice and browned. While the cake is still hot, pour the sugar syrup on top. Wait about 15 minutes for the syrup to soak in before serving.
Blanche Shaheen is a journalist, host of the YouTube cooking show called Feast in the Middle East, and a cookbook author. For more authentic and classical Middle Eastern recipes, you can now purchase her brand new cookbook: “Feast in the Middle East, A Personal Journey of Family and Cuisine” by clicking HERE:https://secure.mybookorders.com/Orderpage/2189
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