From The Blonde Abroad's blog I'd found another must do for Amman - a cooking class at Beit Sitti. In their own words...
"Beit Sitti is a local and family owned business that aims to empower women in Jordan through hiring local hajjeh’s who have exceptional talents in the kitchen."
It was founded in 2010 by three sisters (Maria, Dina and Tania) to keep their grandmother's legacy alive. We had a class mid-afternoon where 14 of us cooked with a Hajjeh plus a local lady for translation.
Also one of the founding sisters (Maria) joined us for part of it.
The setting is gorgeous - a large yet cozy house on the hillside with views over a mosque and also the citadel.
The interior is full of interesting pieces and pictures.
We started with a glass of lemonade on the terrace. Its made from blended lemon juice, mint leaves and sugar.
Then we set to work!
We made bread...
...fatoush (tomato, cucumber, parsley salad with fried bread and a dressing of onion, sumac, pomegranate molasses & lemon)...
...lamb kofta with fried potatoes and tahini sauce...
...and of course, hummus!
We ate on the balcony terrace overlooking the city with the calls to prayer in the background.
It was great fun making all the different elements with the group. And the ladies were good at giving us tips - such as rolling herbs around each other to cut.
or adding yoghurt to hummus to make it less claggy...
...or in fact replacing milk with yogurt in cooking where possible to make it fluffier!
Also, when using sumac, you should add it to the salad at the end with a sauce so it doesn't stick in clumps to some of the wetter salad/veggies.
Final tip I recall is use hot sugar syrup with cold cakes and vice versa.
We finished the meal with fresh mint or orange blossom teas.
I highly recommend making time for this when you're in Amman.
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