How to Cook Iraqi Food: Basra Date Tarts

Basra is a city famous for its expansive date palm groves.
This is a step to step guide on how to make Basra Date Tarts, which are inspired by the date groves that have surrounded the city for millenia. The shell is made with dates, oatmeal, and walnuts, and filled with honey-sweetened yogurt. This is a rich, yet all-natural dessert recipe with a lot of heritage.

Recipe:

1 1/2 cups of dates for 2 shells
1 handful of oats
1 1/2 cups yogurt
1 T of honey
1 tsp of rosewater
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
Garnish: a few whole walnuts

Put the yogurt in a coffee filter or a double layer of cheese cloth to strain overnight.
Preheat the oven to 375˚ F.
Pit the dates, and then mash them up.
I use my hands, and add a tablespoon of hot water to moisten them.
Add the oatmeal and walnuts and stir until the dates hold together.
Butter and flour the tart shells for easier removal.
Fit the date mixture into the shell.
Bake for about 10-15 minutes until they puff up a little and form a crust.
Cool completely.
Mix the drained yogurt, honey, and rosewater.
Fill the date shells with the yogurt mixture.
Form a little oasis in the middle, and fill it with honey.
Toast the walnuts, and fill the little oasis of honey with the crunchy nuts.

This is from Kitchen Caravan, the website link is here:

http://www.kitchencaravan.com/recipe/basra-date-tarts

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Iraqi
• Iraq
• Iraki
• cuisine
• delicious
• cooking
• Baghdad
• Basra
• Mosul
• Middle
• Eastern
• Arab
• Arabian
• Mediterranean
• Greek
• Turkish
• Iranian
• Persian
• authentic
• food
• kebab
• kabob
• falafel
• masgoof
• hummus
• biryani
• dolma
• healthy
• salad
• durshi
• kubba
• kibbeh
• dates

[Jemeela]

yumma!

[Edukah]

mmm:) thank you for this great recipe!

[dubbedcrazy]

this girl is a natural anti-depressent! *_*

[dreamieprince]

I'm Italian Chef,and i really do like it!! i was born in Egypt since most of arab lands are full of palms so dates is tradtional desert so every single home have own style so you keep it up lil sweet chef! you rock!! another recipe you can seeded the date and replace it with one piece of Almond peeled,and saute them then mix them with toasted Almond and pour yogurt or half and half cream on the to and bake it : ) you rock miss IRAQ!

[rotormeeeeeeee]

You look really sweet and seem to have really good cooking skills!

[jacob7207]

I don't think it's from Iraq either, but what the hell do I know? It looks good anyway. I'm going to try it myself.

She said something about baking it but she never put it near the oven.

[lola2660]

I'm iraq and i gotta say it's not a iraqi desert... Maybe iraqi inspired but not originally iraq.

[vsbrobin]

Hi everyone, sorry that I am just responding to these comments now. I had not seen them before. We have an online cooking show called Kitchen Caravan, where we teach people how to make healthy recipes, while teaching about the history and culture behind the ingredients. This recipe is not from Basra, but is a healthy recipe using dates and yogurt and rose water. We wanted to explain to people a bit about the history of Iraq, through our ingredients. Thanks for watching!

[dunia4444]

I wanna know where is she from???????

[habazbooz69]

very sweet both the desert and you

thanks

[DrAmir0078]

Hey I am from Baghdad and never heard such desert in Basrah ... LOL ... thanks ...