Arabic desserts are not only delicious but highly addictive. Here are some easy Arabic dessert recipes for a newbie.
Lebanese Semolina Pudding
Ingredients
For the Cream and Pudding Layers:
- ¾ cup fine semolina
- Pinch of salt
- ¾ cup cold coconut cream
- 3 ½ cup non-dairy milk (unsweetened)
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- 2 tsps orange blossom water
- ½ tsp grated orange zest
- ¾ cup chopped pistachios
For the Syrup:
- ½ cup water
- ¾ cup sugar
- Squeezed orange or lemon juice
- ½ tsp orange blossom water
- ½ tsp rose water
Instructions
- Open a can of full fat coconut milk and refrigerate it before opening.
- If you use cold coconut milk, the higher fat cream solidifies and it becomes easier to set the pudding.
- You can then easily remove the solidified cream layer and discard the remaining water.
- Collect this solidified coconut fat and ensure that it is around 3/4th cup.
- Whip this cream with a hand-held manual whipper or an electric whipper to make it fluffy and easy to spread. Keep aside.
- Take another bowl and add the non-dairy milk, semolina and sat and bring together to a boil. Keep stirring the mixture with a whisk.
- After 30 seconds of mixing, boiling and stirring continuously, remove from the heat and add in the cranberries, rose water, orange blossom water, and orange zest.
- Add this mixture into a 9 x 13 inches baking pan and level it out smoothly to make it even. Allow this to cool.
- Once it is cool, spread the coconut cream over the entire semolina surface and level it out too.
- Chill this in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- Next, take the sugar and pour some water into the sugar to mix it. Add some citrus juice and reduce the heat to medium-high. Do not stir the syrup and let it come to a boil. As soon as the bubbles start coming in the liquid, reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 5 minutes. Do not mix the syrup even now as, doing so, tends to crystalize the syrup later.
- Now keep swirling the sauce pan and then remove it from the flame and let cool.
- Once the dessert has chilled, cut the pudding in neat slices and remove and place in a large platter.
- Decorate each slice with pistachios and drizzle some leftover syrup. Serve!
Kanafeh (Sweet Cheese Pastry)
Ingredients
- ½ pound shredded kanafa dough, thawed.
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
- 2 cups feta, crumbled
- ½ cup apple or pear sauce.
Instructions
- Break the Kanafa dough using a food processor into one or two inch long pieces.
- Mix the butter with the dough using your hands and then press half of this dough into a baking pan in a thin layer.
- Pulse the different cheeses in the food processor to get a coarse consistency of each.
- Add these mixed cheeses in a layer over the dough.
- Again add the remaining dough layer over this cheese layer and bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Serve warm with syrup or garnished with apple or pear sauce.
These are two amazing and easy Arabic dessert recipes worth trying.
