You are invited for tea and biscuits at the Iraq Pavilion.
This year’s Pavilion wants to offer guests something different, appreciating visitors are going to be rushed off their feet and in need of a break. The building where the exhibition is held, Ca’Dandolo, is a 16th Century apartment that is a domestic space divided into a number of rooms. Rather than transforming it into a white cube, the exhibition goes with the grain of the venue, making the most of the existing architectural features and the elegant furniture. It retains a domestic feel which contributes to the salon-like atmosphere, encouraging guests to sit down and relax, enjoy the works around them and leaf through the literature provided. Traditional Iraqi tea, complete with kleytcha bil joz, a semi circular biscuit traditionally served to guests with tea will be available. These biscuits are supposed to be descendants of older Mesopotamian ones called qullupu that were also circular.
However the logistics of this simple gesture posed a challenge. The tea could be brought to Venice at anytime,even if someone still had to be trained in how to make it, but the costs involved of importing the biscuits directly from Iraq seemed absurd, not withstanding EU food import regulations. It was decided that the best way to give visitors a taste of Iraq would be through a local bakery, though there was nowhere in Venice producing traditional Iraqi pastries. So, an Iraqi lady, after several months’ search, who bakes Kleytcha, agreed to come to Venice from Baghdad and teach a family of bakers in the Veneto the recipe.
The biscuits themselves are made with a soft yeasted dough, which can either be baked plain and topped with roasted sesame seeds or filled with a mixture of walnuts, cardamom and rose water. Spices such as cardamom are common in Iraqi baking, as they love to surprise their guests with the flavours. Desserts in general are very popular among Iraqis, and households typically keep pastries and candies on hand to present to guests.
It seems fitting that the Iraq Pavilion should treat its visitors as guests and give them the same hospitality as they would be shown entering the home of an Iraqi family. It will probably be the most comfortable pavilion in Venice – pleasant for the artists, who deserve a break, and nice for audiences.
Recipes
Iraq Tea (Chai)
Ingredients:
Samovar with teapot, loose black tea, sugar (optional), tea glass and saucer.
Method:
Boil the water in the samovar.
Fill the teapot with some of the boiled water and add one or more teaspoons
of tea.
Return the teapot to the samovar and leave it brewing for 10–15 minutes.
It is most important that the tea doesn’t boil.
Pour tea into the glass and mix with hot water from the samovar according
to your taste. It can be very light, medium or dark. Add sugar. Enjoy.
Biscuits (Kleytcha)
Stuffed with walnuts, Kleytcha bil joz
Kleytcha mix:
3 cups flour
1⁄4 cup oil or butter
1 tbs salt
2 tabs yeast
3⁄4 cup lukewarm water
Small tbs sugar
2 tbs sesame seeds (roasted)
1 beaten egg
Filling:
1 1⁄4 cup crushed walnuts
3⁄4 cup sugar
½ tsp of fine ground cardamom
1 tsp amount of rose water
Prepare the walnut filling by putting the oil (or butter) in a pot over a medium heat
and mix well while heating. Add in the cardamom and mix well. Turn off heat.
Put aside.
For the kleytcha mix:
Pour the water into the yeast, add sugar and leave in a warm place for 15 minutes.
Mix the flour and salt with the oil and knead until you get homogenous dough,
then put in the yeast and mix well.
Cover the dough with a lid and leave for 15 minutes.
Roll the dough (using rolling pin) into a thin layer (¹/8 inch) and cut into squares
(approximately 7 cm each), arrange them evenly on a tray and wipe the surfaces
with the beaten egg.
Cut circles using a cookie cut ter or a glass. Put 1 teaspoon of the filling in the
middle of the circle. Fold circle in half-moon shape. Crimp the edges. Ar range
on a pan. Brush with beaten egg and apply roasted sesame seeds on top and put
the tray in a preheated oven at 180–200 C for 15–20 minutes.
This should make 42 pieces.
Plain Kleytcha (khfeef)
Same as before, but without the stuffing.
Pour the water into the yeast, add sugar and leave in a warm place for 15 minutes.
Mix the flour and salt with the oil and knead until you get homogenous dough, then
put in the yeast and mix well.
Cover the dough with a lid and leave for 15 minutes.
Roll the dough (using rolling pin) into a thin layer (¹/8 inch) and cut into squares
(approximately 7 cm each), arrange them evenly on a tray and wipe the surfaces
with the beaten egg and roasted sesame.
Recipe courtesy of Naila Raouf Chadirchi and Warda Hanna Isho,
our Lady of the Biscuits