Making makrouds: Why is it impossible to find semolina in US markets?

I was looking for semolina the other day, and couldn't find any after looking for it in multiple diverse supermarkets. 

I can find semolina flour, I can find farina, I can find about ten different textures (sizes) of bulgur, I can find pre-cooked couscous, I can find cracked wheat, I can even find whole wheat (the entire grain), I can find many forms of wheat flours, but no semolina anywhere. 

Does nobody cook with semolina in the U.S.? 

PS: If anyone is interested I was making makrouds, and I ended up making them with farina, which turned out ok, I guess next time I'll order semolina online beforehand. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by kuan 

You must be looking for a special type of semolina.  I use semolina all the time at home.  Have you tried Bob's Red Mill?

AFAIK they make semolina flour (ground semolina), but not semolina, which is coarse. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koukouvagia 

What are makrouds? 

 

Have you tried asking at an italian bakery?  I can't find semolina in any market but I ask my local bakery to bag me up some of their 00 semolina flour.  It's not on the shelf or anything, they just sell me some of what they use.

Haven't tried an Italian place. Makrouds are a north African pastry made out of semolina and dates, deep fried and dipped in honey. It's one of my favorite desserts. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koukouvagia 

What's the difference?

 

Semolina is coarse. Semolina flour is ground semolina. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ishbel 

Semolina pudding (a milk pudding like a rice pudding or tapioca) was a staple of British school lunches.....  It wasn't very nice as a milk pudding, but I've had it in other dishes and liked it!

We had "semolina cake" when I was young. My mum used to whip it in seconds. It was either unflavored, served with jam, or flavored with cocoa powder. However what we call semolina in France is not necessarily the same as what's called semolina in english. In English, semolina always comes from Durum wheat, whereas in France, we have "tender wheat semolina" (semoule de ble tendre) so.. not durum. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by KYHeirloomer 

That really sounds good, FF. Would you mind posting a recipe?

Makrouds:

Dough:

9 ounces semolina flour

9 ounces semolina

1 Tbs sugar

1/4 tsp salt

3.5 oz melted butter

1/2 cup orange flower water

Warm water

Filling:

8 oz dates

Pinch cinnamon 

1 tsp melted butter

1 tsp orange flower water

+ oil for frying

+ honey for dipping

• Filling: Steam the dates (20mn), let cool, add other filling ingredients and roughly mix with your fingers. Shape as a 1" diameter cylinder/log.

• Dough: Mix dry ingredients, add butter and mix gently, not too much, add water and orange flower water to desired consistency (like a dough). Cover and rest 1/2hr. 

• Assemblage: Spread dough and put filling cylinder in the middle, bring dough back together on either side of filling to close the filling inside, you now have a long cylinder of dough with date filling in the center. Cut diagonally to make little lozenges. 

• Cooking: Fry makrouds briefly in hot oil, place on rack and let dry, then dip in warmed honey, place on rack to dry, dip in honey again, place on rack to dry. 

ENJOY! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by KYHeirloomer 

Wow, FF, that's moving high on my to-try list.

 

One question: Are those fresh or dry dates you're using?

You know I'm still not sure what the difference is? If you remember we had that discussion a couple of years ago... so those are definitely not green, unripe dates, but they're just the regular Medjool dates you buy at the store. Those were purchased in the bulk bins from Whole Foods, where the employee told me they were fresher than the ones you buy wrapped in small containers because they keep changing the ones in the bulk bins all the time. I'm not sure how much of an expert the WF employees is though. 

I've bought tons and tons of dates in my lifetime, I absolutely LOVE them, I must have tasted at least 12 or 14 different kinds, and I'm still unable to tell the difference between fresh and dried. Maybe I've just never had dried dates? How do you tell? 

Well I never, ever buy dates that have been chopped or prepared in any way. I only buy whole dates, usually from the market, sometimes the bulk bin, rarely from a package. However, I can find the medjools in the bulk bin year long, there's no season when they aren't available. So... still confused.

For the makrouds, I steam the whole dates, let cool, then add the melted butter, cinnamon and orange flower water and mix briefly with my entire hands. The dates stay fairly whole. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by KYHeirloomer 

Count your blessings! Here, the whole, fresh dates are only available a few months of the year. Figs are even worse, as the availability of fresh figs is measured in scant weeks---three, if we're lucky, and often not even that long.

You've got to love california, where everything is always in season. The only issue being, I've lost complete track of the seasons. Green peas, for example are only UNavailable for about 2 months of the year!! 

Just came back from the farmer's market, talked to the date farmer, and they explained that they had most dates year round because they produced so much that they could keep some in cold rooms to sell year round. Seasons depends on dates, for example they had some fresh Bahri, which I bought, they're absolutely delicious. They don't produce a lot of those so they're only available 3 months of the years. The rest, including Medjool, honey dates, empress, they offer year round. 

She said they sometimes have dried empress dates, but not often. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by boar_d_laze 

 

Testify!

 

BDL

Not sure what you mean. 

Ah... thanks...   Just came back from the Farmer's market where we bought... peaches!  End of October!!