Ramadaan, day 2

For some reason, the only thing I can seem to talk about this Ramadaan is food. Weird, considering that all day long, food is really quite distant from my thoughts. Water, on the other hand, I could die for while fasting…Anyhow, blog post of today is again concerning basbousa. It may seem like an obsession, since I made it again today, but really there is a good reason: Though everybody liked yesterday’s basbousa, I didn’t like the color of it, and was certain my mom gave me the wrong recipe, coz when she makes it, it comes out more golden than brown…and it turns out she gave me the recipe she likes, but doesn’t make, coz she prefers to make the one she doesn’t like, but everyone else adores. Confusing, I know…welcome to our family!

So, today, I made the thing over again, and here is the recipe…it’s from Tess Mallos’s book called “The Middle Eastern Cookbook” published in 1979.

Basbousa
Cake:
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla (or orange blossom water–my preference)
2 eggs
2 cups fine semolina (farina)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 yoghurt

Syrup:
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
grated lemon rind
1 TBsp orange blossom water

Method:
Cream together butter, sugar, and orange blossom water, till light and fluffy.
Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Sift together the semolina, baking powder, and baking soda, and add to butter mixture alternately with yoghurt.
Place batter into a greased pan (8 x 12 inches), and bake in a preheated 350 F oven for about 40-45 minutes.

While baking the cake, prepare the syrup: Dissolve sugar and water over heat, add lemon rind and orange blossom water, and then bring to a boil until somewhat thick, about 25 minutes.

When cake is golden brown, remove from oven. Let cool slightly, and pour syrup over cake. Cut cake into diamonds, and sprinkle with almonds or pine nuts if desired.