The past few months I have had zero motivation to cook let alone blog, but my family got tired of eating the same meals over and over again and my dad got tired of eating take away.
I finally got tired of being tired and lazy and dragged myself to plan a menu that would excite everyone and get the spark that was once there for cooking and blogging.
I also seem to be suffering from writers block, just sitting in front of the computer to type up a past, makes we so tired I am ready for bed.
Then I came across this recipe on Instagram just as the Muslim fast was starting and that spark to want to create something from a ton of ingredients seemed to come alive again.
I didn’t really pay much attention to it, seeing as it contained pomegranate seeds and I can never seem to get my hands on these ruby red seeds whenever I need them.
Then this morning while doing some last minute shopping, I just happened to cast my eyes to the left and there sitting proud as punch in the fridge staring back at me as a tub of pomegranate seeds. I grabbed them up before anyone could even think of taking it themselves.
Seeing as I had managed to get my hands on pomegranate seeds I thought why not try it out. I didn’t really plan this dish and I was so unprepared. Firstly I forgot I needed dates. Shh don’t tell my parents this, but I had a stash of frozen dates hidden at the back of the fridge, that I bought just before lockdown and seeing as they were frozen, they would still be okay. Just a few minutes at room temperature and they were soft enough for the knife to chop them up. Seeing as no one got food poisoning or a deli belly, the dates were still fine and there was no need to mention how long I had had them. My parents were under the impression that I had bought them this morning.
Then the second mistake, I had assumed that the last time I looked at the recipe I was 100% sure I had seen salticracks in the picture. Seeing as I didn’t have any in the cupboard, I had to wait for my dad to pick up a box on his way home. Only once I had opened the salticracks packet did I relook at the recipe and kick myself for being so stupid, there was no salticracks in the picture, not even a single crumb not even a mere whisper of a cracker, the cream cheese was to be spread over the cucumber. Seeing as I had already made my father stop at the shop to buy me crackers and I had already eaten a handful while I was making the arrival at home tea. I decided to improvise the recipe and add crackers to it.
I used crackers as my base and chopped up all the other ingredients into cubes.
I was sceptical about this dish, dates is a sweet delicacy and I have never seen it eaten with cream cheese.
The only time I ever saw dates in the house, was during Ramadan when my gran was fasting or when she came back from Haj and there was like an endless supply of dates. Back then I was not a fan, I would freak out whenever I saw the box being opened. My gran also tried to get me to drink Zum Zum water, it was too fizzy for me, it gave me the giggles whenever it hit my tongue. I kept chocking every time I tried to make it go down, I just gave up and rather ate the meebos while no one was looking.
Who would have thought, 25 years later, I would be eating dates. Not me, definitely not me.
At first my mother refused to try one, but after forcing a plateful in front of her she tried two. The platter was left in front of my dad and he ate everything. When he saw what had happened, he couldn’t stop laughing and saying that he just lost control.
All in all, this dish was pleasantly surprising and I can’t wait to try it out again.
Ingredients:
- Salticracks
- Pomegranate seeds.
- A handful of mint leaves, roughly chopped.
- Kiri plain cream cheese.
- Chaat masala.
- A few medjool dates, seed removed and cut into bit size cubes.
- 1 x cucumber, chopped into small cubes.
Method:
- Generously spread cream cheese over the crackers.
- Add the cubed pieces of dates, cucumbers and the pomegranate seeds.
- Sprinkle over the chaat masala.
- Finely garnish with the chopped mint leaves.