Kurdish pastries – Kulicha

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 600 g flour
• 250 ml water
• 200 ml vegetable oil
• 1 pinch of salt
• 800 g dates
• 3 packets of vanilla sugar
• 2 tsp butter (coconut butter)
• 1 tbsp, leveled cardamom powder
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 2 tbsp walnuts
• 2 tbsp rose water
• 1 egg yolk

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 35 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours 5 minutes

for 10 dumplings

Mix the flour, oil, water, and salt and knead into a smooth dough. The dough should not be too soft or too firm. For the filling, pit the dates and cook them slightly in a frying pan with water. Then add the remaining ingredients. If you don’t have coconut butter, you can also use regular butter. Once the dates are soaked, put the mixture in a blender. Blend everything until puree-like. If the mixture is too firm, add a little water. After blending, return the mixture to the pan to keep warm. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Now portion out the dough. Tennis ball-sized portions are good. Roll these out into flatbreads about 2 mm thick. Spread the mixture evenly over the dough. If it’s too firm, it won’t spread as well. The dough should be covered. Too much or too little mixture is neither good. I would say 3 heaped tablespoons of mixture per flatbread. Then roll up the dough with the mixture, so that it looks like a log. Then, using a knife, cut diagonally into the stick at 2-3 cm intervals. Spread the pastry on a baking sheet. Beat the egg yolk and brush it on the pieces. Bake at medium heat for about 30 minutes. The pastry will turn golden brown when done. Once cooled, store it in plastic bags, not in the open air.