Concept

I made crème brûlée of cardamom with sesame cream and grape honey. In the crème I combined also grinded Tunisian cookies and sultana raisins. I tried to combine 3 aspects that define the Israeli gastronomy to my taste. Arab-Palestinian ingredients, Jewish tradition and western techniques of cooking. Ah, and sweet and tasty, the most important one.

Recipe

Ingredients:
200 ml cream
3 yolks
50 gr. Sugar
8 seeds of cardamom, grinded
50 ml grapes honey (Arabic: Debs. Turkish: Pekmez)
80 ml sesame cream (Arabic: Tahini)
5 Tunisian coffee cookies, grinded (see recipe below)
20 gr. Sultana raisins
Brown sugar for grilling the caramel

Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 110 degrees.
Bring to heat the cream with the cardamom, Sesame cream and the grapes honey, until it's boiling.
Lower the heat and cook for 2 more minutes.
Whip the yolks with sugar until becomes cream. Add the hot mixture to the eggs, while mixing the eggs, to prevent from cooking the eggs.
Strain the dough to a different tool and add to two oven proof bowls.
Put in the oven for 35 minutes.
After done, add the grinded cookies and the raisins. Spread some brown sugar on the top and caramelize with blowtorch or under the grill.

Tunisian coffee cookies recipe:

Ingredients:
500 gr. flour
2 eggs
200 gr. Sugar
100 ml. vegetable oil
21 gr. Baking powder
1/2 tablespoon vanilla essence
1 lemon

Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.
Mix the eggs, sugar, oil, baking powder and the vanilla, until it becomes a dough.
Add lemon juice to the dough.
Add the flour and mix well.
Create different shapes and put them into the oven, until the cookies turn brown.

Curriculum Vitae

Rafram Chaddad was born in Tunisia, and active as a visual artist in Israel and Tunisia. His art deals with the local aspect as well as with the Jewish-Arab history. Rafram is also a coordinator of Slow Food in Israel, and cooks for his living and for his ideas.