DECEMBER 2009

in the KITCHEN with
Haresa (Barley Soup)
INGREDIENTS
35 Cups Water
4-5 Pounds Beef Chuck Roast
2 Chopped Onions
4 Cups Barley
4 Tablespoons Salt
2 Teaspoons Black Pepper
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
3 10 oz. Cans Chick Peas
INSTRUCTIONS
Add water, salt, onion and meat to stock
pot. Bring to a boil. Add barley and cook
for an hour over the stove. Set oven
temperature to 320 degrees. Add the
cinnamon, black pepper and more water if
necessary to top off. Then cover the stock
pot and bake in the oven overnight. In the
morning, remove the bones from the meat
if applicable. Then, add the chick peas
along with half of the liquid in each can.
If consistency needs adjusting, stir in hot
water and check salt and spice content
before serving.
Ferial and Mahasin Kassa’s
Christmas Favorites
BY MARK KASSA
Keeping up with traditions cultivates a
deeper-rooted culture in our younger generations.
Through different times people
evolve accordingly. In many instances, everyday
life takes a hold of us and our families, and it’s
difficult to keep up with what got us here in the
first place.
Many of the oldest traditions have been the
most respected over time; that is why they still
exist. Although the reason can be distorted, it has
to be the youth that trusts the older generations
enough to keep the old country heritage alive. If it
cannot be done on a consistent basis, then those
traditions must be embraced during the holidays.
With Christmas upon us, a couple of perfect
examples of those long-passed-down traditions in
the food category are Klecha and Haresa.
Not that it should come as a shocker considering
my culinary background, but while I was a
young child growing up I was not like others in
that I enjoyed trying new foods and lots of them.
But there were two things my paternal grandmother
knew that I did not particularly like to
eat. It’s not to say that I would not try them, but
Klecha and Haresa were ironically on that extremely
short list.
Now, many years later, I have found myself
in the kitchen with Ferial, wife of George
Kassa, and Mahasin, wife of Joseph Kassa, both
of whom attribute a great deal of their cooking
knowledge to the same woman as my dad’s maternal
grandmother — my great grandmother,
Habouba. Therefore, in a sense, here I was eating
the same Klecha and Haresa that I avoided
as a kid. The differences are my more mature
palate of course, but mainly a deeper sense of
the importance of this great food culture.
These two sisters-in-law have a very typical
story. As well-recommended Chaldean girls
in Telkaif, they both were discovered through a
related source, Masair Saint Paul, who was their
soon-to-be husbands’ sister’s sister-in-law teaching
religion class in Telkaif.
The two Kassa brothers, having been born
and raised in Detroit, went over to Iraq for the
first and last time in 1963. George describes the
experience as “uprooting” for the young wives,
who only a couple months after their joint wedding
in Iraq were to leave and never even have a
slight return. Although with the solid enclave we
Chaldeans have in the Detroit area, many of Ferial
and Mahasin’s relatives and friends who were
not already in Michigan already would eventually
end up here.
Forty-six years, four children and 12 grandchildren
later for each family, Ferial and Mahasin are
still preparing Klecha together. Both staple foods
during the Christmastime celebration, Haresa is
usually eaten after midnight mass on Christmas
Eve and the morning thereafter, while Klecha is
snacked on during various times throughout the
three days of holiday celebrating with family.
For this Christmas, Ferial and Mahasin have
collaborated in providing their simple yet delicious
passed-down recipes.
Mark Kassa has a bachelor’s degree from Michigan
State University and a culinary arts degree from
Schoolcraft College. He currently helps operate
the grocery and meat departments at While Lake
Supermarket. To have your dish featured in In the
Kitchen With, drop a line to info@chaldeannews.com.
PHOTO BY DAVID REED
Mahasin and
Ferial Kassa
ladle up a treat
for Mark Kassa
Klecha (Date-Walnut
Stuffed Cookies)
INGREDIENTS FOR DOUGH
5 Pounds All Purpose Flour
1 ¾ Pounds Melted Unsalted Butter
1 Cup Melted (but not liquefied) Crisco
Shortening
3-3 ½ Cups Warm Water
½ Cup Sugar
1 Teaspoon Cardamom
1 Package of Dry Yeast
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Egg Wash (1 egg whisked with a
couple drops of water and 1 drop of yellow
food dye)
INGREDIENTS FOR FILLING (1)
3 Pounds Ground Walnuts
2 ½ Cups Sugar
1 Heaping Teaspoon Cardamom
¼ Cup Rose Water
INGREDIENTS FOR FILLING (2)
3 Pounds Dates
1 Pound Walnuts
1 Heaping Teaspoon Cardamom
INSTRUCTIONS
In 13-quart mixing bowl, combine dry
ingredients. Smooth the butter and Crisco
together and hand mix with the dry ingredients.
Then add the water and knead the
dough. Form into one big ball. Cover in
plastic wrap and a towel allowing one hour
for it to rise.
After the dough rises, put small rolled
balls in the cuff of your hand and stuff
with the well-mixed walnut filling (1). With
leftover dough, roll flat. Also, in between
two sheets of plastic wrap, roll flat filling
(2). Remove plastic. Place on top of rolledout
dough. Then roll out and slice into
date-swirled cookies. Place cookies on a
baking sheet with a wax paper liner. Brush
with egg wash and bake in oven on 350
degrees for a half hour.
DECEMBER 2009 CHALDEAN NEWS 45
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