AISH AL SARAYA (ROYAL COURT'S BREAD)
Aish Al Saraya, which translates to the Royal Court’s Bread, is a delicious two layered dessert. The base is a super sweet golden bread layer, topped with a rich cream layer, sprinkled with nuts and a drizzle of sugar syrup for an extra kick if you like.
INGREDIENTS
For the crust:
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
12-14 slices toast bread
Squeeze of lemon
For the cream layer (OPTION 1):
For the cream layer (OPTION 2):
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups fresh milk
5 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup of rosewater, mixed with orange blossom water and a pinch of mastic powder
1 tablespoon butter (room temperature)
1 can Nestle cream
PREPARATION
1. First, prepare the base of the dessert by cutting the crusts off the toast bread, and placing the crustless slices into a food processor pulsing to form toast crumbs.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, place 2 cups of sugar with 1/2 cup of water and a squeeze of lemon juice, stirring to combine. Stirring the mixture before putting over heat helps to make it smoother and prevent granulation.
3. Place over low heat and bring to boil. As soon as it begins to boil, calculate exactly 3 minutes, stirring every once in a while.
4. After 3 minutes have passed, take 1 cup of the boiling sugar mixture, and place in another smaller pan to caramelize.
5. Caramelize it over medium heat, stirring regularly, until it turns a dark amber color. Do not leave the pan unattended at any point while doing this.
6. Leave the rest of the boiling sugar mixture in the pot, over low heat, while you do the above step.
7. Once the sugar is caramelized, quickly pour it back into the boiling sugar mixture and stir to combine. Be careful during this step, it might spray from the heat.
8. Remove from heat, and add 1 teaspoon of rosewater and 1 teaspoon of orange blossom, and stir to combine.
9. Now, pour the whole mixture over the bread crumbs and mix it really well coating all the crumbs with the sugar mixture turning it a dark golden amber color. If the bread crumbs and sugar mixture turns sticky, add a little of water to smoothen it out and make the mixture soft.
10. Spread the crust in the base of your serving dish, smoothing it out with your fingers or the back of a spoon.
11. To make OPTION 2 of the cream layer, place the sugar, heavy cream, milk, cornstarch and flour in a large pot and whisk to combine all ingredients.
12. Then place over medium to medium-high heat, whisking continuously until it thickens.
13. Once it starts to thicken, pour in the 1/2 cup mixture of rose water and orange blossom, while continuing to whisk. It will thicken very quickly at that point, and you’ll need to whisk quickly to smoothen it out before it curdles.
14. Add one tablespoon of butter and mix to combine well. The butter makes the cream glisten and soft.
15. Finally, taking the mixture off the heat, mix in the can of Nestle cream and stir until the mixture is smooth and soft.
16. Pour the cream mixture over the bread crust we made and smoothen it out with a spatula, spreading it evenly. If making OPTION 1, prepare the cream a day in advance and then begin from this step onwards.
17. Bang the dish on the table so it sets properly, then dipping the spatula into some orange blossom, run it over the cream again smoothing it one last time.
18. Finally, top with crushed pistachios or pine nuts or almonds, then refrigerate for an hour or two before serving.
