UMM ALI

Greatly obsessed with Arabic sweets these days, I browse crazily through recipes. And UmmAli was  never in my to do list until I tasted one during our stay at a dessert during one of the public holidays. We had  astay in dessert for one night with entertainment programs. It was complete different experience, and if not for the hot weather, it would have been a complete beautiful experience. There was camel ride and we slept in a tent with no lights or fans, with only small brightness from a lamp. And the night seemed long, as i felt it was due to the lack of Internet and i realised why people these days say "time flies". 

Regarding the Umm Ali, I shamelessly kept on feeding myself that day, over and over. Oh it was too yumm and I was trying to figure out the contents in it that contributed to the deliciousness of it.

 I first tried this recipe from a popular site, but the texture turned out hard as i baked for extra long time. The second time i tried this recipe from a cookbook and baked exactly same time as mentioned. We had guests the same day and they  were really impressed with this treat.

Over to the recipe:
Ingredients:

• Puff Pastry- 400 gms
• Pistachio nuts- 1/4 cup, chopped
• Almonds- slivered and blanched- 1/4 cup
• Raisins- 1/4 cup
• Evaporated milk- 2 cups
• Sugar- 1/2 cup
• cardamom powder- 1 tsp
• Rose essence- 4 drops
• Double cream- 1 cup
• Brown sugar- 1 1/2 tbsp

Method:

• Preheat oven to 190 C.
• Bake puff pastry sheets according to manufacturer's instructions, till golden brown and crisp.
• Cool. Crumble into large pieces. Add nuts and raisins. Stir transfer the mixture into a 9 inch square baking pan.
• Combine Evaporated milk with sugar. Bring to boil on medium high heat, stirring continuously. Lower heat. Simmer uncovered, for 4 minutes or till the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat.
• Add cardamom and rose essence.
• Pour milk mixture over the pastry mixture. Let stand for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 200 C.
• Whip cream and pour on top of milkand pastry mixture. Sprinkle evenly with brown sugar. Bake, uncovered, on the middle rack of the oven for 20 minutes. Serve hot.