Aish al Saraya (Middle Eastern Bread and Cream Pudding)

[FoodMan]

Aish al Saraya (Middle Eastern Bread and Cream Pudding)

Serves 10 as Dessert.

Aish el Saraya translates roughly to “bread of the mansion”. The word Aish in Egyptian dialect means bread, this leads me to believe that this dessert is originally from Egypt. Of course I have no proof or research to support this so I am just theorizing here. On the other hand Aish in Arabic also means life or living, so this dessert could possibly refer to a life of luxury, a life filled with mansions, cream and sugar. In any case this is an absolutely delicious, simple and refreshing dessert that requires no baking an whose components can be prepared well in advance. The nut topping is traditionally toasted pistachios, that will give you a very nice color contrast to the bread too. However, toasted almonds are also just as good if not better. Try a mix of both or either one. In the picture I only used almonds because I was out of pistachios.

• 3 c toasted bread crumbs (see note)
  
• 1-1/2 c fragrant syrup (Atr, see note), plus 0.5 cup additional for serving if desired
  
• 2 c cream filling (Kashta, see note)
  

- In a bowl mix the bread with the 1.5 cups syrup till you have a crumbly loose “dough”.

- In a round cake pan, I like a 9 inch spring form pan, but any dish will do as long as it is at least 2 inches deep, layer half the bread crumb mixture and pat with your hand to compact a little. It should not be as compact as pie dough.

- Layer the cream on top of the bread crumbs. Add the rest of the bread crumbs on top of the cream and pat them down as much as possible without squashing the cream. Top with the toasted nuts.

- Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving and serve it cold, with an extra drizzle of syrup if desired (I think it is already perfectly sweetened on its own).

NOTE: Please make your own bread crumbs for this, the store bought ones are not good. Use regular white bread, challah, or any other soft not too sweet bread. Place the slices in the oven and toast till golden brown. Crumble them in the food processor and process till you have fine-textured crumbs. For 3 cups, you need about 12 slices of white bread.

NOTE: For the Fragrant syrup recipe, click here

NOTE: For the cream filling recipe, click here

Keywords: Dessert, Lebanese, Easy, Mediterranean, Breakfast, Middle Eastern, Pudding

( RG1786 )