Basbousa / Semolina Cake

Basbousa is a traditional Arabic sweet cake. It is known by different names in different regions, like Nammoura in Lebanon; Hareesa in Jordan, Ravani/Revani in Greece and so on. Similarly, the recipe varies according to different regions. Some recipes contain eggs; yogurt or milk; coconut; and some are prepared using clarified butter(ghee) or vegetable oil.

The recipe below is the Libyan recipe which is eggless and neither yogurt or coconut. I used melted butter for the same.

Ingredients:
Recipe Source: 7aum Suvai

Semolina/Rava - 1.5 cups
All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Melted butter - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Almonds - 16

For Sugar Syrup
Sugar - 1 cup
Water - 1 cup
Lemon juice - 1tsp

Method:

Soak almonds in hot water for 20-30 minutes. Remove skin and keep aside.
Make sugar syrup by adding sugar,water and lemon juice in a sauce pan. Bring to boil and cook until it is sticky and the sugar melts completely. Keep aside.
In a bowl add rava, flour,sugar, baking powder, baking soda and mix well.
Then add melted butter, milk and vanilla essence and fold everything together gently.
Preheat oven to 180 C.
Grease a cake pan with butter.
Pour the batter to the pan and gently pat to spread evenly.
Score the batter with a knife either square or diamond. Place the almonds on the top of each square or diamond.
Bake for 30 mins. After 30 mins remove from oven and cut through on the scored line. Again place it back to the oven and bake it for 12-15 minutes more until well cooked and brown on top.
Remove from oven and pour cold sugar syrup over the hot basbousa. Cover everywhere with sugar syrup and allow to soak for 40-45 minutes.
Once it reaches the room temperature, slice along the scored lines and serve along with tea or coffee.

Comments

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