Egyptian recipe
How to make Om Ali
أم علي
All of Egypt
A national dessert of Egypt: pieces of pastry or bread baked in sweet hot milk with nuts, raisins and coconut until the top is golden. It is often compared to bread and butter pudding, but it is made without eggs.
Ingredients
- 1 sheet (about 320 g) ready-rolled puff pastry
- 100 g mixed nuts (pistachios, almonds and hazelnuts), roughly chopped
- 50 g raisins
- 30 g desiccated coconut
- 1 litre whole milk
- 80 g sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 150 ml double cream
- Ground cinnamon to serve
Method
- Bake the pastry as the packet says, until puffed and golden, then let it cool and break it into bite-sized pieces.
- Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan). Scatter the pastry in an ovenproof dish with the nuts, raisins and coconut.
- Warm the milk with the sugar and vanilla until it is steaming and the sugar has dissolved, then pour it over the pastry.
- Spoon the cream over the top and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until bubbling and golden. For a darker top, put it under a hot grill for 1 to 2 minutes, watching closely.
- Serve warm, dusted with cinnamon. It contains nuts, so check with guests who have allergies.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
Its name means 'Ali's mother'. A popular legend links it to a sultan's wife in the 1250s, but the first known written recipe dates only from the 1800s.
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