Date Paste is a delicious natural way to sweeten a dish. The first time I had it was as a labneh and date paste combo from @madinadatefarms which I bought 2 years ago at one of the Ramadaan markets. This year I tried making my own and it’s just incredibly simple to achieve this caramelised goodness. All you need are dates and water. I served my date paste with some double cream yoghurt and homemade simit.

The simit in this pic is from a 10 minute bagel hack from @pots_pans_and_pancakes. I just changed the shaping and dipped them and coated with sesame seeds for a simit version. I have since tried a more original recipe which I will share soon.

Date Paste

1 packed cup Dates pitted
1 cup boiling water

Soak the dates in the boiling water for 15 minutes.
Drain the water and reserve.
Add the dates to a processor or blender with 1/2 cup of the reserved water.
Process on high scraping down every now and then if needed till it is smooth. This can take a bit of time depending on the dates.

I used Ajwa dates which took a bit longer to process and were slightly less sweet. Medjool dates are softer and will be sweeter.