Seif’s Favorite ‘Mom Dish’: Egyptian Basbousa
What’s your favorite Mom Dish?
Our good friend Seif stated that his mom’s traditional Middle Eastern dessert Basbousa is his favorite dish. In our chat with him, he states that it can be prepared a variety of ways, but that he prefers to make it with farina, yogurt, butter, syrup, and sliced almonds on top. We were able to find this recipe that uses ghee, homemade cinnamon sugar syrup, and coconut flakes on top.
Basbousa is a common dessert throughout the Middle East, and originated during the Ottoman Empire, when the city of Yerevan (modern day Armenia) was conquered by the Ottomans. There are different variations to the dessert based on region, but it usually consists of butter, semolina (or farina), and then soaked in syrup. Some people add yogurt, milk, or even eggs to make it fluffier or more cake-like (2, 3). This sweet dessert goes by many names depending on region:
It is called basbousa in many Middle Eastern countries but also harissa or harissa hloua in Tunisia and in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, kalb el louz in Algeria, chamia in Morocco, revani or rabani in Turkey, safra in Israel , pastūsha in Kuwait, namoura in Lebanon or Syria, revani in Greece, shammali in Cyprus, or shamali in Armenia (4).
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