Romanian Coliva Recipe 335

Steps:

• Wash the wheat kernel with nine waters (one for each of the 9 angel squads in heaven) then boil in a Teflon pot for 2-3 hours at medium heat. Stir thoughtfully with a wooden spoon to prevent the wheat from sticking to the bottom of the pot. When boiled, put content into an enameled pot and covered with a wet towel, so that the composition won't form a "crust." Sweeten the composition with 250 g sugar and 150 g honey. Flavor with zest from one lemon and one orange and with 1 TBS vanilla. Add 200 g of the crushed walnuts and stir till all these extra ingredients incorporate in the wheat composition evenly. Your coliva is now almost ready - all it needs is the décor that will make it fit for the liturgy. Place the composition on a large platter and form the coliva with your hands, respecting its shape - make sure you even the coliva to look like a cake. Coliva can take any form: rectangular, oval or round, and sometimes even "cross." With the rest of the crushed walnuts and crushed graham crackers cover the coliva on the top and the sides. Add powder sugar and then make your ornaments out of chocolate and candy. You can even use half walnuts to form a cross or to ornate the sides of the coliva. Coliva is very delicious, and many people choose to eat it on occasions other than those related to death. If you want to do so, simply skip the shaping and decorating.

Steps:

• Rinse the wheat berries and place them in a large saucepan. Add enough water to cover by 2 inches, along with a few pinches of salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the berries are tender and beginning to split but not mushy, about 1 3/4 hours. (Add more water to the pot when the liquid reduces to the level that the wheat no longer floats, and stir from time to time so the berries don't stick to the bottom.) Drain and set aside in the strainer to cool and dry for at least 1 hour or up to several hours.
• Place the cooled wheat berries in a large mixing bowl. Add the sesame and anise seeds, walnuts, slivered almonds, raisins, cinnamon, and the pomegranate seeds. Sift in 1 cup of the confectioners' sugar and toss it all together.
• Transfer the mixture to a large platter or tray. Sift the remaining confectioners' sugar over the top to coat it thickly, almost like a frosting. Decorate the top with the whole almonds and the dragees.
• To serve, present the platter of decorated kolyva. Then, just before eating, mix it all together. Serves 40.
• NOTES: Pomegranate is not always in season, but there really is no substitute for the seed in taste, texture, or symbolism. If it is not available, simply omit it.
• Dragees are available in any well stocked large supermarket, usually in the baking aisle.
• Kolyva is traditionally prepared the day before the memorial serve, but the wheat berries can ferment if left at room temperature overnight and the sugar can crystallize in a refrigerator's moist environment. The best pre-preparation method is to boil and refrigerate the wheat berries ahead of time, then add the other ingredients and decorate the kolyva just before it's needed.
• Adventures In Greek Cooking : The Caper and The Olive by Susanna Hoffman.