Morabayeh Holou – Peach Compote in the Afghan Manner
Dear All,
Thank you for all your kind messages regarding my lack of blogging as of late.
I haven’t given up on blogging; I am just working on a non-food related project which has made it difficult for me to devote time to my blog at the moment.
Inshallah, I hope to be back in the Fall with new recipes / posts.
Thank you so much for your readership and warm and encouraging messages.
In the meanwhile, I leave you with a taste of summer – an Afghan- / Persian-style fruit spread called moraba, which is more similar to a compote than the western-style thick, gooey jams.
What I love about the moraba is that you can spoon some of the syrup into a glass, add ice and pour sparkling water over it to transform it into a sharbat.
On a warm summer evening, it is just the ticket.
Enjoy this peach moraba spooned over yoghurt, or your favorite crusty bread.
I love to smear some sar shir; a thick Persian breakfast cream similar to clotted cream, on bread and then drape slices of the syrupy moraba over it in the morning.
Have a lovely summer, everyone.
xo, shayma
Morabayeh Holou – Peach Compote in the Afghan Manner
Ingredients
- 2 lb peaches, peeled and cut into 1cm slivers, pit discarded
- 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
- 6 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 whole cardamom pods
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Place peaches in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan on medium heat
- Sprinkle with cardamom powder, cinnamon powder and brown sugar
- Add cinnamon stick, cardamom pods and water
- Stir very gently to combine, so as to ensure you don't break the peaches
- Cook the compote for about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, or until the liquid is reduced to a thick syrup. The peaches should still retain their shape. You don't want them falling apart and becoming mushy. NB If the syrup or compote begins to catch at the bottom of the pan, reduce the heat
- Allow compote to cool and spoon into jam jars
- Enjoy over yoghurt or spread over bread and clotted cream
oh wow, Shayms. This looks heavenly! i want some now!
xx
I want to do it! I’ll let you know! thanks Super Shayma!
xxxxxxxoxoooooooxxxxox
Looks delish Shayma. This recipe sounds much like the murrabba my mum used to make. Look forward to reading many more later this year when you’re back. All good wishes and hope you enjoy the sunshine! M xx
Delighted that you are back. The moraba looks yummy and tempting for a guy fasting for 16 hours in the Western Hemisphere! Your moraba is perfect to round off sehri…it’s energizing, sustaining, and invigorating. Thanks dear, for yet another simple, but beautifully crafted recipe.
Would it be wrong to eat this straight out of the jar? :)Sending happy thoughts and big hugs your way. Hope you are doing well!
PS: Ramadan Mubarak friend!
lovessssss it! xoxo
I’ve enjoyed your photography and stories about your culture so much. Good luck to you with you projects and don’t worry…we’ll be here to enjoy your talents when you return!
Now that peach season is in full swing, I’ll be sure to make this soon. I love all the different ways you can use a compote like this, and these flavors? To die for! Happy summer, Shayma.
So good to have you back Shayma! I won’t lie I was starting to panic and visiting your blog every other day waiting for an update!
I’m glad everything is all right!
Th pictures look heavenly. My Nani used to make murabas out of Amla (Gooseberry), she used to say amlas are good for your skin and hair – she had thick white hair all my life….so I guess it does work!
Peach must taste delightful in this manner!
Looking forward to more from you.
Love A.
Oh yes a great way to eat more peaches in season!! My father always puts some moraba on his ice cream (which together is called “Peshmelba”).Basically similar to a sundae…This one would go well with vanilla ice cream. Thanks once again for an awesome recipe and more so inspiration to enjoy food!!
I love your photos. They just whisk me off to a fairytale land with pretty peach compotes and cream and lazy mornings. Good luck with your ventures, and hope to continue seeing more from you x
I’m glad to hear you’ll be coming back to blogging soon – I love your posts.
This is the PERFECT recipe to make this Ramadan — a delightful post-iftar indulgence 🙂
I am always so thrilled to recognize yet one more word from the Afghan language; morabba is also used in Lebanese/Arabic for preserves and what a lovely peach morabba!!! I love it with that cream for breakfast! Glad to see you back in the blogosphere!
Ooh, i love the idea of using this unctuous dish as the base for a drink (i might make it the basis for a cocktail – a great sun-downer) as well as breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack/elevenses… The soft fruit would work so well with the aromatics you use here.
@Lawyer Loves Lunch No, it’s not wrong to eat this delicacy straight out of the jar–as I did almost immediately after making it.
Shayma, I’ve made peach conserve in the past, but Morabayeh Holou is, well, beyond. I made a jar last week–it’s gone, of course. The cardamom is an inspiration. I coarse-ground it and enjoyed biting into the perfumed fragments that clung to the golden, syrupy peach slices. This recipe is divine spooned over creamy, whole milk yogurt or as @LLL suggests, straight up, in apres mois, le deluge abandon.
I have had Amla (Gooseberry and mango murabbas… but never a Peach Murabba! Sounds absolutely delicious… and I love the idea of using the syrup for a sherbet, or smearing some cream/malai on toast with slices of this gooey fruit…
This recipe is delicious. We gave it a go this weekend. We definitely have to share this recipe with our clients. Thanks so much for posting. What would you say about adding some whole cloves to the compote?
Thanks Shayms, this will be a perfect addition to J’s diet 🙂 hope mine turns out as yummy as yours! xx
Seeing muraba written in Farsi reminds me of how funny the way the language is written versus pronounced. Beautiful photos.
This was so delicious, Shayma. Took this compote to top a pistachio semolina cake with rosewater-lemon-sirup with one half of the recipe, the other half I ate right out of the pan!