in the oven for about 5 minutes and serve hot or warm.
Yellow Cake
SFUF
Most Levantine meals end with fruit rather than a sweet dessert. And sweets are the reserve of professional sweet-makers, bought to serve with coffee when we have guests or family visiting, or simply as an indulgence between meals. A few are made at home, however, such as this cake which my mother often baked when we were children. In fact, most Lebanese families would serve this on a regular basis. It is one of the rare sweets that is almost exclusively made at home; when made by a sweet-maker, it is never as good. The classic recipe calls for only turmeric, but I love saffron and have adapted my mother’s recipe to produce a rather luxurious version using this spice.
Serves 4
1 tbsp tahini
250g (9oz) plain white flour
125g (4½oz) fine semolina
½ tsp baking powder
75g (2½oz) unsalted butter (or 75ml (2½fl oz) extra virgin olive oil)
250g (9oz) golden caster sugar
good pinch of saffron threads
½ tsp turmeric
30g (1oz) pine nuts (or blanched almonds)
Baking disk measuring 21cm (8in) square and about 4cm (1½in) deep
Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350°F), gas mark 4 and grease a deep baking dish 21cm square with the tahini.
Mix the flour, semolina and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Add the butter (or olive oil) and rub the fat in with your fingers until it is well absorbed. Put the sugar in another mixing bowl. Add 150ml (5fl oz) water and the saffron and turmeric to the sugar and stir until the sugar is completely diluted. Let the saffron/turmeric infuse for 15 minutes then add the sweetened water to the flour and semolina mixture and blend well together. Pour the mixture into the baking dish, scatter the pine nuts (or almonds) on top and bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes or until the cake has risen and it is cooked through.
Remove the cake from the oven and let cool before cutting it into medium squares or diamonds. Serve at room temperature. The cakes will keep for a week if stored in a sealed container and kept in a cool place.
Sticky Sponge Cake
NAMMURAH
This cake is as much a family sweet as it is a street one, the latter being more common in Egypt, where it is known as bassbuma, than elsewhere in the Levant. It may shock you initially to see the cake swimming in sugar syrup, but don’t let this worry you. You can rest assured that the sponge will soak up all the syrup. All you need worry about is the number of calories you will be consuming with each slice. Not quite 1,000 calories a bite, but not far off!
Makes 24 squares
425g (15oz) semolina
75g (2½oz) golden caster sugar
100g (3½oz) unsalted butter, softened
300g (11oz) plain yoghurt
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp tahini for greasing
50g (2oz) blanched almonds
For the sugar syrup
525g (1lb 2oz) golden caster sugar
1½ tsp lemon juice
1½ tbsp rose water
1½ tbsp orange blossom water
Baking dish measuring 20 × 30cm (8 × 12in) and about 4cm (1½in) deep
Put the semolina, sugar and softened butter in a mixing bowl and work together with your hands until well blended. Add the yoghurt and bicarbonate of soda and mix well together until you have a firm batter.
Grease the baking dish with the tahini, then add the batter and spread it evenly over the dish. Flatten it gently with the back of a spoon, to form an even layer, then cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rest for 3 hours.
Meanwhile, make the syrup. Put the sugar and 225ml (8fl oz) of water in a saucepan. Add the lemon juice and place over a medium heat. Bring to the boil, occasionally stirring the mixture. Boil for 3 minutes then add the rose and orange blossom water and boil for a few seconds more. Take off the heat and set aside to cool.
Thirty minutes before the batter is ready, preheat the oven to 200ºC (400°F), gas mark 6.
Divide the uncooked cake into 24 × 5cm (2in) squares and press one blanched almond in the middle of each square. Bake in the oven for 20–30 minutes or until golden.
Remove from the oven and pour the cooled syrup all over the cake. Let it rest for 30 minutes at least so that it soaks up the syrup. Serve at room temperature. You may find the traditional amount of syrup excessive. If so, reduce the quantity to your liking, bearing in mind that the sponge needs time to absorb the syrup and that although it may look at first as if the cake is swimming in syrup, it will eventually be fully absorbed.
Rice Pudding
REZZ BIL-HALIB
Another typical family sweet, rice pudding is comfort food par excellence – soft and creamy, and lusciously sweet and fragrant with the addition of rose and orange blossom water. I prefer to use good-quality short-grain rice to regular pudding rice, which contains broken-up pieces, but it is your choice. You can decorate with slivered pistachios, as here, or give it a Turkish twist by adding saffron. It will be all the more luxurious.
Serves 4–6
200g (7oz) short-grain white rice (bomba, Calasparra or Egyptian), rinsed under cold water and drained
300ml (½ pint) full-cream organic milk
100g (3½oz) golden caster sugar
1 tbsp rose water
1 tbsp orange blossom water
Slivered pistachios, to garnish
Put the rice in a saucepan with 500ml (18fl oz) of water. Place over a medium heat and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and cook the rice for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Once the rice has absorbed all the water, pour in the milk. Bring to the boil then add the sugar and simmer for another 20 minutes. At this stage you will need to stir the rice very regularly so that it doesn’t stick or dry up. You want the texture to be like that of a custard, so add a little milk if you think it is becoming too dry.
When the rice has become very soft and very creamy, remove the pan from the heat. Add the rose and orange blossom water, mixing them in quickly, then pour into one big serving dish or 4–6 individual ones. Allow to cool before placing in the fridge. Serve chilled or at room temperature, garnished with slivered pistachios.
Sweet Walnut Coil
’AMMTO ZAHIYEH’S BORMA
This is my Syrian aunt’s recipe for homemade baklava, which she formed into one big coil – hence the name borma, meaning ‘rolled’ or ‘turned’ in Arabic. She used to make her own dough, but to save time I substitute with a good-quality filo pastry, usually a Greek or Turkish brand.
Serves 6
275g (10oz) golden caster sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1½ tbsp rose water
1½ tbsp orange blossom water
200g (7oz) shelled walnuts, finely ground
¾ tsp ground cinnamon
75g (2½oz) unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
6 sheets of Greek or