While researching what to cook for Egypt I was struck by how familiar a lot of the food seemed. I guess from all the previous research I’ve done and having some ties to other countries in the region. However, they all had a unique twist on them and looked very intriguing. Had I picked a savoury dish I might have been brave enough to try Kushari and eclectic mix of rice, spaghetti, small round macaroni, vermicelli, fried onions, black lentils and hummus, topped with thick tomato sauce, garlic and vinegar sauce, and chilli sauce. I say brave because I think that amount of carbs in one meal would absolutely kill my stomach because of my IBS but it’s definitely something I would try a mouthful or two of if I visited Egypt!
In the end I decided to try Om Ali, or Ali’s Mother as it translates is an Egyptian bread pudding of sorts, made with sweetened milk, nuts and cream. Now, full disclaimer I really don’t like bread pudding at all, normally it is high on my list of food that I won’t eat but the Egyptian twists on other dishes had intrigued me enough and when I found this recipe by Tasbih using palmiers which are actually quite crunchy instead of bread I was sold on deciding to try. The recipe was very simple and I bought palmiers from the supermarket which I broke up for the recipe.
It was very tasty but sadly still went a little soggy and I’m not sure it’s something I would try again. However, if you’re a fan of bread pudding then I would definitely recommend!
I used Tasbih’s recipe (I just made a little less – I’ll put her full amounts below). I also only used pistachio and coconut for the topping as it’s what I had at home!
Ingredients
· 500 palmiers
· 1 litre full fat milk
· 100 g granulated sugar
· 250g fresh eshta balady (you can substitute for clotted cream or whipping cream)
Optional
· 57g toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
· 57g pistachios, coarsely chopped
· 75g raisins
· 20g shredded coconut
Method
Use a 9x13 inch baking tray – the kind of the size you’d use for flapjacks or rocky road if you’d like it slightly more like traditional bread pudding. Tasbih suggests making it in a shallower dish if you want it crunchier.
Preheat the grill to 200C and put the rack on the middle rack.
Break about half of your palimers into the baking dish of your choosing. You can either add nuts at this stage or sprinkle on at the end like I did.
In a saucepan heat up the milk with the sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Pour the milk over the palmiers and then sprinkle the other half on top. Now spoon over the eshta or clotted cream to cover most of the palmiers and then bake in the oven for around 10 minutes until it’s golden brown.
Garnish with the nuts, raisins and coconut and serve.
留言