Kleija – memories of childhood – Eid joy

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Rituals of the Eidul-Adha in Baghdad’s popular areas cannot be brought to fruition without having the traditional sweet dish known as kleija, whose recipe secrets are passed on from one generation of women to another. Regardless of how difficult these days to make kleija amidst this busy pace of life and high prices of its components, the dish still retains its place on the Iraqi table. “Kleija is not just a kind of sweet we eat and then it’s over. It’s a tradition we inherited long ago and became part of our lives. Some of its flavor is still our own secrets we tell no one,” Umm Ahmed said as she sat on the floor of her house reception, where her female neighbors of al-Hay al-Shaabi, central Baghdad, gathered around her. “I used to watch my mother ever since I was four years old making dough of flour, oil and sugar. My mother, may she rest in peace, was a connoisseur on these Eid cookies (known in Iraqi colloquial dialect as kleija). Our house used to be a meeting point of the women in the neighborhood,” Umm Ahmed told IraqiNews.com. People walking down Baghdad’s narrow alleys can clearly see women in their traditional black abayas (robe) with long tin boards on their heads and heading towards the local ovens in the area to have their cookies well done. “I used to make kleija at home on every Eid despite the effort it takes and the high prices of its components,” Salwa Ibrahim, a teacher, said. “The taste of Eid can never be felt without making these cookies and sweets and hearing words of praise from visitors tasting them in our house,” said Ibrahim, smiling as her daughters argue they would prefer ready-made cookies to kleija. She said she mixes flour, edible oil and a little sugar with yeast and then makes round small pastries she stuffs with dates, sometime almond, sesame and coconuts. “Although the way kleija is made looks very similar, each and every woman has her unique touch as if each kleija expresses the nature of its maker,” a mellow Ibrahim said. Umm Marwa, an employee, said she was crazy about the Eid cookies. “The best Eid cookies are made from dates, particularly al-Khistawi brand, whose price doubled to reach more than 1500 Iraqi dinars,” she told IraqiNews.com. “Usually, almonds are crushed by a pestle inside a copper mortar before adding them to kleija. Unfortunately, the prices of peeled almonds are ranging between 12,000 and 13,000 Iraqi dinars (roughly $11-12), let alone the skyrocketing prices of flour,” she added. “These high prices prompted many women to purchase kleija from stores. It’s nearly the same cost, but without the effort we usually do making it,” Umm Marwa complained. She noted that “the Eid cookies are just a matter of a Baghdadi tradition passed from mothers to their daughters”. AmR (I) 1