Komaj | A Persian Oatcake

Komaj is a very delicious sweet that you would not see anything close to it in any country! This cake has a very heavenly taste and just a bite will make you drown in your childhood memories though you have never tried it in your childhood!

Komaj | A Persian Sweet

Komaj is one of the traditional breads in Iran. Komaj (also referred to as oatcake) is a kind of flat bread that is cooked either like a cracker and biscuit or as cookie. This bread is said to be originally from Scotland which was later brought to Middle East through Britain. In Scotland, this bread is traditionally made in pan like dishes and in oven. This is the same way that this bread is baked is some of the Iranian cities.

Komaj first came to Iran from Iraq, about 250 years ago and became favorable among Iranian. Four kinds of Komaj were baked at those times: sugar komaj, plain komaj, Ghalami and Panjereii. Nowadays, komaj is made by different ingredients and is filled with: date, cinnamon, turmeric, cardamom and rose water. komaj is also baked simple and without filling.

Komaj is originally baked in Hamadan, but it is also baked in other big cities of Iran like Tabriz, Mashhad and Rasht. That's why it is really popular among Iranians.

The recipe is simple and is easy to bake. Let’s see how:

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Course Bread, sweet

Cuisine persian

Ingredients

  

To Prepare the Dough

• 700 grams flour finely sieved
• 300 milliliters milk
• 100 grams oil
• 20 grams active dry yeast
• 180 grams sugar
• 1 tablespoons salt

To Top the Sweets

• sesame as much as required
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 tablespoon sugar

Instructions

 

To Prepare the Dough

• In a suitable bowl, mix flour, active dry yeast, sugar and salt.
• In another bowl whisk the eggs, then add milk.
• Make a hole through the flour, then add the egg mixture. Mix gently until the dough becomes consistent.
• Knead for 8 minutes at medium-low speed in a mixer or for 10 minutes by hand, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
• place the dough in a greased bowl, cover and let it rest for an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Centigrade. Grease the cookie sheets.
• Roll out the chilled dough and cut out circles using cookie cutters (make sure the surface is a little floured). Place the cookies on the greased oven tray.
• You can make beautiful patterns on Komaj surface, using a sweet mold before you put topping on them.

To Top and Bake the Komaj Sweets

• Mix all the ingredients (except for sesame). Coat the surface of the cookies with the mixture using a brush. Then add some sesame to the top.
• Bake 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges are barely brown. Then turn the oven off and let cookies get cold, before removing from cookie sheets.

How are Komaj or Persian Oatcakes served?

Komaj is usually served at breakfast with some milk. It can be a prefect snack during the day at tea time.

Komaj – Extra idea

This type of homemade Persian sweet can be a perfect gift for your beloved ones, just prepare enough loaves of it, put them in a suitable container and bestow the package on your beloved ones.

Tips for cooking Komaj in a better way

• If you don’t have access to sweet molds, you can make the desired patterns using the edge of a fork or a knife, or just bake komaj plain and without patterns.
• For filling Persian Oatcake, you can make a mixture (including: some crumbled walnuts, cinnamon, sugar and some melted butter), place it in the center of the cookies and cover it with the dough. Filling komaj can make it unbelievably delicious.
• Don’t worry if your dough is sticky, this problem will go away by kneading more. (Do not add a lot more flour)

Other Persian Sweets

Komaj is a single example of many Iranian Sweets, as you can simply guess, each city or at least province has its very own kind of sweet or biscuit, such as Northern cookies (kolocheh), kolocheh fooman, noon berenji and many other examples.

What is very important in Persian cuisine is that any occasion has its own cuisine and this is what making the recipes memorable. Sweets made in Nowruz ceremony are Shirini Morabai, Qottab and Kolompeh! There are also other sweets too, the point is mentioning all of them in one article will be almost impossible.

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