Egyptian Cuisine

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Basbousa

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Cuisine: Egyptian Prep time: 20 min(s) Cooking time: 40 min(s) Servings: Makes 25–30 pieces Created by Amira Georgy

This sweet semolina cake topped with a rose-water and lemon syrup is incredibly easy to make.

Ingredients

2 ½ cups - coarse semolina
1 cup - desiccated coconut
220 g (1 cup) - caster sugar
75 g (½ cup) - self-raising flour
200 g - thick yoghurt
200 g - unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp - vanilla extract
25–30 - blanched almonds
milk if needed

Syrup
330 g (1 ½ cups) - sugar
250 ml - water
1 tsp - lemon juice
1 tsp - rosewater

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 190°C. Mix the semolina, coconut, sugar, flour, yoghurt, melted butter and vanilla in a bowl. If the mixture seems too thick, add a little milk – but it should still be fairly stiff. Spread the mixture with your hands in a buttered 30 x 25 x 5 cm baking tray. Cut it into diamond shapes, pressing hard. Place an almond in the centre of each diamond. Bake for 35–40 minutes until golden brown.

Meanwhile, make the syrup. Place the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Simmer for 5 minutes without stirring. Stir in the lemon juice and rosewater and remove from the heat. Leave to cool.

Pour the syrup over the cake while the cake is still hot. Cool to serve.

SBS cook’s notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55–60 g, unless specified.

Egyptian Restaurants

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Displaying 4 of 4 Egyptian Restaurants.

Restaurant Suburb
1. De Bortoli Winery and Restaurant Dixons Creek
2. Princess Jasmine Punchbowl
3. Made In Africa Ethiopian Restaurant Moorooka
4. Cupido Carlton
   
18 Feb 2013 11:43 AEST
mindy
bellarine
basbousa
oh wow.. just watched the show... i have an egyptian heritage and remember my nan making basbousa when i was young... i have not had it since she passed away in the 80's... now i have a recipe i shall make it for my family and hope to reignite the tradition for my children and their children
31 Dec 2012 01:32 AEST
Fran
Cawongla
Fool Proof
Have made this recipe lots of times. Never fails to please and attracts lots of complements. I cut down the sugar quantity in the syrup to half a cup - still sweet enough. Also use orange blossom water if I don't have rosewater. Have left out the lemon juice to if I don't have any. Haven't noticed any negative effects.
22 Nov 2012 03:53 AEST
john
antartica
ummmmm
so nice but even nicer with cream and berries. I replaced almonds with cooking choclate so tasty really recomend to friends.
11 Sep 2012 12:00 AEST
chapa
QLD
yummy
I used low fat yoghurt, less sguar, and I didn't use syrup. It still tasted yummy! Thank-you for sharing.
16 Jul 2012 07:03 AEST
George
Moorebank
Wow
My friends wife made this when she invited our fly for tea last week and this dish Bosbousa came out very well. It was delicious.
19 Apr 2012 10:24 AEST
Belinda
Bell Park
Soooooo good!
Oh wow! This recipe is so easy (even a water burner could make it!) and it tastes sooo good! It is super sweet, so it wouldn't be a problem to reduce the sugar. I didn't have any lemon juice for the syrup, so I used lime instead and it was still brilliant. I also love vanilla, so added a dash of extract in the syrup as well. Fabulous recipe - vanishes quickly! Everyone I shared it with loved it, although my father did think it would be better without the "pot pourri" (AKA rosewater, hehe!)
14 Feb 2012 11:36 AEST
tamski
Sydney
The Best
Most positively, this is a great recipe. We make it regularly in our home. The best basbousa recipe found. Easy to prepare, children help in the kitchen. So, our 'friend ' sana from calgary. Check your grammar, English, oh yes, don't forget your ignorance as well. And on Australia Day. Oh, pl-ea-se :-)
03 Feb 2012 03:16 AEST
Sandy Tasha
Frankston
Delicious Basbousa
I made this Basbousa to share with friends at work. The sweet wonderful aroma really works. Everyone was so keen to taste it. Basbousa cake tastes really good, everyone at work was happy with the aroma, the flavour and also the syrup. Just beautiful. Thanks for the recipe.
29 Dec 2011 11:49 AEST
sarah
point cook
yummy
made this a few times. love it. very easy and quick to make
29 Aug 2011 12:01 AEST
rafia
india
AGREE
GOOOOOD
03 Jul 2011 02:26 AEST
tani
melbourne
to confused
doesn't matter. You don't have to rest it.
23 Jun 2011 04:30 AEST
Carly
Canberra
confused
In the video it says to let rest for thirty mins where as in the recipe it doesn't say anything? plz Help
17 Oct 2010 07:25 AEST
Taylor
4737
thank you
wow, i go to school and i am going to use this for an assessment on egyptian food. u have done a really great job and everyone will like it. thank you
16 Sep 2010 09:08 AEST
Kerry
Murwillumbah
Deeeviiiiiiiiine!!!!!!
Have made this 3 times for various reasons since last weeks episode. It is truly divine served warm with cold plain yoghurt. Easy too!
10 Sep 2010 04:38 AEST
Margaret
Stirling S.A.
Basbousa
So easy to make, can get the ankle nippers to do it, or at least the 10 year olds. Delicious with coffee or with cream for a dessert
17 Feb 2009 04:12 AEST
Katherine
Melbourne
Confusing
On the video Amira says to bake for 20min on 180 degrees (fan forced). In the method above it says to 190 degrees for 35-40 min until golden brown. Can someone please clarify?
06 Feb 2009 02:55 AEST
Erika
noarlunga
Delicious
I loved it. Sooo easy to make, and popular with the kids. Very similar to another one I have made over the years, but very nice. Thanks
17 Jan 2009 08:33 AEST
Mona
Perth
Wanna make this :D
i made it!!!!!..yummm!!!!...but didnt know what size baking tin to use :(....dose anyone know what was the size of the tray used?...please help??...thanking u in advance :)
22 Dec 2008 05:22 AEST
Ruth Phillips
Lewisham
Basbousa - perfect flavour
After see this episode of the show I decided to bake basbousa instead of the usual Greek walnut shortbread for Christmas - made an experiemental lot with slice trays - not satisfied witht he depth of the trays I went searching for the authentic tray from Lakemba - happily I found one and am about to make it again - a great hit the first time by the way - even if imperfect in my view. I especially enjoy the hint of lemon and rose water - Great show!
16 Dec 2008 07:35 AEST
teresa fairclough
springfield
quick and easy
i will be making this great dessert for christmas day for our family get together and i am sure it will be a winner for bothe young and old alike. Just wait 'til my lady boss tasted this new dessert, she will be asking for the recipe. This is a great recipe, it will not take a lot of time to do it.
16 Dec 2008 01:25 AEST
Abigail
Brisbane
What size pan
Hi, what size pan do you think would be best for this recipe?
13 Dec 2008 02:44 AEST
Anna
Mornington
Quick & easy...
I saw this the other night on Food Safari and thought that looks really easy...I googled the name and found many different versions on this sweet,some had lots of eggs and others had none,some had coarse semolina others fine.Then I entered the FOOD SAFARI site and there it was!!! The recipe that I had been thinking of ALL week,so I went out this morning and bought all the ingredients and I have made it..it really is wonderful!!The easiest sweet and no eggs...Thank you Amira !
11 Dec 2008 06:30 AEST
Alison
Yarraville
YUM!
I'm making this for a get together on the weekend
11 Dec 2008 01:05 AEST
Zakia
Matraville
Beautiful..
This recipe was soo easy and beautiful looking.. very similar to another one.. but Thanks for it..
   

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