Semolina Helva

This is Iman’s recipe for semolina helva, a very popular treat in the Balkans, Turkey, and various Middle Eastern countries. In Aleppo it is served with salty cheese — such as cubes of jebne keab (antep peyniri in Turkish) or braided jebne meshallaleh (örgü peynir) — and bread to balance the sugar in the helva. In Turkey, it is served as a dessert at the end of the meal. It is also prepared on the seventh, 40th and 52nd days of a funeral and distributed to neighbors.