Last night I had a friend over who is headed back over to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. When she was here a few weeks ago, she bought a small flask of Al-Qahwa, (pronounced Ghe-wha) a Saudi Arabian coffee. It is completely sublime and I have been quite obsessed lately with this heady spiced coffee made with cardamom, saffron and cloves.
Roasted Coffee Beans, Green Coffee Beans, Cardamom, Saffron, Ground Cloves for Al-Qahwa
It is traditionally drunk from beautiful little glasses that are not filled up the whole way. Now, being quite the coffee fan, I am used to my large cappucino and so not to fill these beautiful little glasses all the way up requires a great deal of constraint on my behalf .
Al-Qahwa
According to Ya Salam Cooking , “when serving you should pour enough coffee to fill the cup slightly more than one third, but definitely less than half as over filling indicates that the server is not hospitable and would like the guest to leave as quickly as possible.” Now, as you can see from my picture, this I did not achieve but truly it is because it is just so yummy…………..
My friend had brought me some bags of roasted coffee beans, unfrosted green coffee beans, cardamom, and a bag of the ground clove, ground cardamom and saffron spice mix she makes herself. To go with it she had brought the stickiest caramel tasting dates, Awamat, which are like crisp doughnut balls, you can find a recipe here and another yummy caramel tasting cake made with condensed milk but I can’t remember the name of it.
Awamat, dates and cake
I love how food is shared between cultures, I remember going to Japan about 15 years ago and staying with a Japanese friends family. The mother of my friend couldn’t speak a word of English, but wanted to show me how to have a traditional tea ceremony. It was lovely, no words needed, just a sharing of cultural traditions over tea. Similarly, Wafa has left me with a little part of her homeland, a shared tradition, that I will treasure. I urge you to give it a try. It really is well worth the effort.
Al-Qahwa
Roast green coffee beans under the grill turning every 10 seconds until they are lightly toasted
1 tbspn full cream milk
1 1/2 tbspn cardamom
Pinch Saffron
Pinch ground cloves
Boiling water about 400 – 500 ml
Bring the water up to a high heat and add all the ingredients in. Bring to the boil, the top will be slightly frothy.
Let stand for a few minutes so the spices sink to the bottom before pouring.
Serve with a sweet treat such as sticky dates or baklava……..yum
TIP – As it is drunk slowly in small amounts, I would suggest popping this into a flask to save reheating it and then you can sip it over several hours, perfect for a girls afternoon tea.
the spare change kitchen 