Cardamom and Tea

dried mint labneh cheesecake

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Yesterday was the first anniversary of starting Cardamom and Tea, and I can’t believe all that’s happened in just three hundred and sixty five short days. Here are some highlights:

I don’t think anniversary resolutions are a thing, but they totally should be, so I’ve got a list of some things I want to do better this year:

  • I want to post more recipes for easy weeknight meals (off to a great start here, hah).
  • I’d like to start hosting more events and workshops.
  • I’m gonna triple the number of recipes I wrote last year!!! Just kidding, I’d like to work on more work-life balance stuff, and start taking better care of myself.
  • While I occasionally have a bad cooking day, the miserable results will never, ever get posted here. But when things don’t go right in the kitchen, I’m a bit of a grump for the rest of the day. I’m smart enough to realize that failure is an important step in any creative process, but I’m not smart enough to know how to get over it. So I guess I’m resolving not to have fewer disasters in the kitchen, but to work on my attitude, so I can make the most of my mistakes without all the pointless sulking. But anyway, this is all beside the point, because this post isn’t about failure, it’s about cheesecake.

This cheesecake is based on a very classic meze. You take some labneh, spread it thinly on a plate and sprinkle on some crumpled dried mint. But instead of a savory meze, I’ve put these ingredients to use in a cheesecake. It’s sweetened just enough and laced with dried mint, it’s got a very rich pine nut and graham cracker crust, and it’s topped with a rustically gorgeous dusting of mint. This isn’t the kind of cheesecake you’d top with sprinkles, maraschino cherries, and birthday candles—it’s more for your Wuthering Heights book club, coffee with your best friends, or a wine tasting party. You know, grown-up stuff.

But let’s talk about one of the essential ingredients, dried mint. When recipe writers talk about the difference between fresh and dried herbs, I’ve noticed that they almost always focus on their contrasting strengths. But in addition to robustness, there are also some really important differences in flavor. To give a familiar example, think about the flavor of dried basil versus fresh. While you can substitute one for the other in most recipes, the results taste nothing alike. Some might say that dried basil doesn’t taste as good as fresh (eye roll), but I think each ingredient shines in its own most favorable context.

It’s the same thing with dried mint. It tastes a lot like fresh, but just grassier, muskier, and deeper, rather than fresh, zesty, and bright. Its subtle flavor works perfectly in sweets, because it keeps things from becoming cloying. Instead of that sweet and bright mint-chip vibe, you get this really smooth, sophisticated flavor.

You can find dried mint at most Middle Eastern markets, spice shops, and some supermarkets with a well-stocked international section. But if you can’t find it, it’s actually super easy to make at home with fresh. I’ve got instructions here.

Also, I totally lied because this post is completely about failure! I thought this cheesecake was the perfect thing to post for my one year anniversary, because it started out as a complete, unmitigated disaster, but became one of my favorite cakes I’ve ever baked.

So here’s how it started: I thought it would be a good idea to make a 100% pine nut crust before buying a food processor in our new apartment. Since I was only armed with a mortar and pestle, the crust completely fell apart once it was baked. This wasn’t helped by the fact that I couldn’t find labneh anywhere in Hong Kong, so I tried making my own yogurt, but without the right kind of milk (real milk is insanely expensive, so I went with a rehydrated milk powder drink from the supermarket around the corner from my apartment). The resulting yogurt was thin, and it trickled through the cheesecloth like thickened milk. So I ended up with this piddling amount of yogurt (which was not even as thick as Greek yogurt) on top of a crumbling crust. While this was nowhere near good enough for a post, I thought maybe we could at least enjoy it. But then I took a bite. It turns out that a purely pine nut crust has just way too much pine nut flavor. Who knew.

But then, after many months of sulking over this failed idea, I tried again, in the right circumstances, with the right ingredients, and with the right plan, and everything worked out perfectly. I realized that I need to take full advantage of what’s available, rather than trying to recreate something unattainable. I now save my labneh cooking adventures for my visits to Chicago, and I take advantage of the gorgeous fresh fish and produce Hong Kong has to offer while I’m there. I also learned that pine-nut-only crusts are not such a good idea. And most importantly, I finally realized that I needed to do something about all this ridiculous self-indulgent sulking, although I’m still working on figuring out how. But one thing’s for sure, cheesecake sure helps.

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dried mint labneh cheesecake

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  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 16 hours

Ingredients

For the graham cracker pine nut crust:

  • 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon pine nuts
  • 1 package graham crackers (9 full crackers) ground into fine crumbs (1 cup + 2 tablespoons crumbs)
  • 4 tablespoons melted butter
  • 1/3 cup sugar*
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the filling:

  • 1 1/2 pounds labneh***
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 3 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons crumbled dried mint****

For the topping:

  • 1/2 pound labneh
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon crumbled dried mint for sprinkling

Instructions

  1. Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350° F [180° C] convection.
  2. Purée the pine nuts in a food processor, until they stick to the sides in a thick paste. Scrape the sides down, add the graham crackers, and pulse until everything is very finely ground.
  3. Add the melted butter, sugar, and salt, and process until everything is well-blended.
  4. Lightly coat the sides of an 8-inch cheesecake round** with oil or butter.
  5. Place the crumbly crust in the cheesecake round, and press it down into 1 even layer. Use a glass, measuring cup, or something else that has a flat bottom to press it into a compact layer.
  6. Place the cheesecake round on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, until it turns a little golden. Let it cool while you work on the filling.
  7. Make the filling and bake the cheesecake: Lower the oven to 300° F [150° C] convection. †
  8. Place the labneh in a medium mixing bowl. Add the egg yolks and slowly whisk together to completely incorporate (use a whisk, but do not whip it together—you don’t want to incorporate too much air into the filling).
  9. Add the remaining eggs one egg at a time, mixing everything together completely with each addition.
  10. Add the sugar and salt, and stir together until it all dissolves completely. Then carefully stir in the dried mint.
  11. Pour into the (slightly cooled) crust and bake for about 55 minutes, just until the very center is a little jiggly.
  12. Once the cheesecake comes out of the oven, let it cool for a couple minutes while you make the topping.
  13. Make the topping: Combine the labneh and sugar, and pour over the top. Carefully smooth it out, put it back in the oven for 10 more minutes. Remove from the oven, run a knife around the sides, and leave it at room temperature for about 2 hours before covering and refrigerating overnight. If you don’t have all night, at least refrigerate it for at least 3 to 4 hours. Don’t worry if the edges are a little rough (you’ll cover the top with mint).
  14. Once it’s chilled long enough, remove from the pan. ‡ Place on a serving plate and sprinkle with crumbled dried mint.

Notes

* Feel free to reduce this to 1/4 cup.

** You can use a 9-inch round, but the cook time will be slightly shorter once you add the filling. If you’re not using a pan with a removable bottom, line the bottom of an 8-inch cake pan with a parchment round.

*** I developed this recipe with store-bought labneh, but you can use homemade. Just be sure to strain it long enough (the full 12 hours) or the cheesecake might not set correctly. Compare yours to the bowl of labneh above as a reference point.

**** You can find dried mint at most Middle Eastern markets, spice shops, and some supermarkets with a well-stocked international section. But if you can’t find it, it’s actually super easy to make at home with fresh.

† If you don’t have a convection oven, it will just take a little longer to bake all the way through. When I’ve used a conventional oven for this recipe, it’s taken about 20 minutes longer.

‡ If you’re not using a pan with a removable bottom, very very carefully invert the cake onto a wax paper-lined cutting board after chilling overnight. Immediately invert it back onto a serving plate and peel the wax off, using a knife to scrape if it isn’t releasing. The top ends up covered, so no worries.

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a cook for Syria supper club

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The way I cook Middle Eastern food in Hong Kong is slightly different from the way I cook Middle Eastern food in Chicago. When I’m in Hong Kong, I bake all my own flatbreads and I tend to find inspiration in fresh produce and seafood. When I’m in Chicago, I tend to use a lot more dairy, especially Middle Eastern yogurt and labneh, and I tend to cook a lot more with beef.

I think this has a lot to do with what’s most available to me. There’s so much overlap between Cantonese produce and Middle Eastern produce. For instance, the expensive Lebanese zucchinis that my family normally has to search for are easy to find in just about any wet market in Hong Kong. While I sometimes buy my grandmother a pricey case of persimmons as a Christmas gift, they’re a much more everyday fruit in Hong Kong during the winter. These foods, which are special treats in Chicago, still feel like special treats in Hong Kong, but I get to eat them all the time, whenever I want, which kind of feels like having birthday cake every day, but without it getting tiresome. I’ve heard that it’s going to be the same deal with jarareng in the spring, and I’m so unbelievably excited.

This is one reason that I felt a kinship with Pomegranate Kitchen a couple weeks ago, when I attended their Cook for Syria event. Chef Maria Bizri and her team cooked a delicious, thoughtful meal that reminded me of the food I grew up with, but with an even more intentional focus on the fresh flavors of Middle Eastern and Asian produce. Pomegranate, carrot, jade melon, and eggplant all featured prominently. There were also several delicious meat courses, my favorite being the barramundi, which was perfectly battered and fried, and whose lemoniness reminded me of my great grandmother’s masgouf.

Maria’s generous spirit inspired me to create and share my own Cook for Syria meal plan, inspired by her masterpiece. But while Maria is an incredibly talented chef who makes hosting an eight-course benefit look easy, the idea of organizing a supper club might sound a little overwhelming to the uninitiated, so I planned this suggested menu specifically with a potluck in mind. Collaborating relieves a lot of the burden on the host and makes everything feel so much more possible.

On the other hand, if you’d rather do it all yourself (which is much more in the spirit of Middle Eastern hospitality anyway), this particular menu is also perfect for working ahead. Everything can be finished ahead of time, except for the masgouf, which the host can prep and assemble in advance and then broil at the last minute.

the menu

green and herby masgouf  |  lemon-curry-marinated white fish, broiled with tomato, onion, and herbs
red lentil soup  |  with lots of carrots and warm, fragrant spices
muhammara  |  sweet and sour red pepper dip
manakish za’atar  |  flatbread with sumac, dried thyme, sesame seeds, and olive oil
crispy lentil and carrot salad  |  with quick-pickled lemon, toasted pine nuts, mint, and parsley
chocolate féve and pine nut cookies  |  sprinkled with sea salt, chewy, crispy, and as big as your face
BYOB

notes on the menu

  • The herby masgouf is best made by the host, since it doesn’t travel well.
  • Here is the easiest way to wrap a stockpot to transport the soup. Feel free to instead make a second salad, if no one can manage transporting the soup.
  • The only specialty ingredients that can’t be replaced are pomegranate molasses (in the muhammara), and za’atar (in the manakish za’atar). Both are available in Middle Eastern grocery stores, as well as many supermarkets with large imported food sections. If you can’t find these ingredients, hummus would be a good alternative to the muhammara, and plain old pita bread works great in place of the manakish za’atar.
  • Let your friends know whether their recipe needs to be multiplied when they sign up: Buy 3 pounds of fish for the masgouf (quadruple it); use a sheet pan to broil them all at once. Double the manakish za’atar. Double the muhammara. You can get away with a single batch of the lentil and carrot salad (which yields small portions), but you might want to double it.

Dietary restrictions

  • vegan / vegetarian: This menu is very vegetarian friendly, and somewhat vegan friendly, with the exception of the fish and dessert. To make it completely vegan:
  • gluten free: There are 3 gluten-containing dishes here, 1 with hidden gluten, so be mindful.
    • The muhammara can be made without breadcrumbs. Here’s how to adapt my recipe: after chopping the peppers in the food processor, remove them to a fine mesh strainer, and let them drain for 10 minutes over the sink before returning them to the food processor. Leave out the breadcrumbs entirely, and proceed with the recipe as usual.
    • Whoever is in charge of manakish za’atar should bring some gluten free crackers or veggie slices along with it.
    • Instead of the cookies for dessert, make a flower water fruit salad.

the invitation

  • Message ten of your friends at least two weeks ahead of time. Ask everyone to RSVP in one week, so you can send a couple more invites if some can’t attend.
  • Say a few words about the cause, and link them to Cook for Syria so they can read more. Explain that you’d like to collaborate to do a collaborative fundraising supper club.
  • Put together a suggested menu featuring six dishes (feel free to simply use the menu above), and ask everyone to partner up with one other person to sign up for an item (let them know you’ve got the masgouf). Also let your friends know that they can change up the menu, and link them to some resources (like my archives or the Cook for Syria recipes page). Also include links to the suggested recipes so your friends can decide which one they want to make (or link them directly here if you’re using this menu).
  • Explain how the donations will work. Give a suggested donation range, so that your friends don’t feel pressured to contribute more money than they can afford. The easiest thing is to set up a fundraising page, as described on the Cook for Syria website, and have your friends donate to UNICEF there.

the dinner

  • Serve the soup in individual bowls, and serve everything else family style. Split each dish up into three portions and distribute them around so that everyone can easily reach everything. It’s okay if you don’t have room for everyone to sit at the same table; a likely scenario is 8 people at a dining table and 4 people at a smaller table, or around a coffee table. Just do your best to make sure everyone is comfortable.
  • If space is crowded, use juice glasses for wine, like in old school Italian restaurants. Also skip the flowers, or use little tiny bud vases like you’d find in a bistro or café (as pictured above). If you don’t have little tiny bud vases, feel free to repurpose kitchen stuff. I used a 1-oz ramekin for the one above. Tea lights are great because you can usually sneak them onto even the most crowded table.
  • Don’t forget to make a playlist!
  • Remind everyone to tag their photos #cookforsyria. Sharing photos of the evening will spread the word and encourage others to get involved.
  • Check out Cook for Syria’s list of hosting tips for more.