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Basbousa | Indian Sweet recipes

Ingredients :


  1. Semolina flour/Rava – 1.5 cups
  2. Yogurt – 1 cup
  3. Butter – 1 stick (softened)
  4. Baking powder – 1 tsp
  5. Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
  6. Sugar – 1/2 cup and 1/4 of a cup
  7. Honey half a cup
  8. Rose water – 4 tsp
  9. Lemon juice 2 tsp
  10. Almonds – 16 to 18


Method :


Mix the butter and half a cup sugar thoroughly with a hand mixer. Add yogurt and vanilla essence
and beat again for a couple of minutes with the mixer. Add the semolina flour (rava), baking
powder and mix with a wooden or plastic spatula. The result will be a sticky loose kind of dough.
Keep aside for half an hour.
Make a honey syrup in the meanwhile. In a pan, combine honey, one fourth cup of sugar and 2
tsp rosewater, cook for 10 minutes to form a syrup. Turn the heat off, add the lemon juice and 2
tsp rosewater and mix well. The honey syrup is ready to use.

Now, transfer the dough in a greased baking dish or pan. Level it as much as possible by gently
pressing with hand or spatula. Bake it at 375 F for about 25 minutes first. Take the pan out, the
dough will be partially cooked by then. Cut the in squares or diamonds as preferred and press an
almond into each one of them. Don’t forget to wear your oven gloves while doing all this. Back
in to the oven for another 20 minutes or till the edges appear brown. Once this is done, increase
the temperature of the oven to “Broil” mode and bake further for 5 to 8 minutes so that a fine
brown crust is formed on the Basbousa. Carefully watch the Basbousa every 2 minutes while it is
on broil, food burns easily at that high temperature.
Pour the honey syrup all over the squares as your baking dish comes out of the oven. Cool and
transfer the pieces to a serving dish or a storing box as this dessert tastes best the next day.
Serving suggestions
· With whipped cream on top.
· With strong coffee.

Tips :
· Cooking times can vary depending on the Oven, adjust the timer accordingly.
· Reduce the amount of sugar if you prefer your sweets to be less sweet.
Interesting fact :
· Basbousa is called by different names (Hareesa, Ravani) in the Middle Eastern regions.
· It is a very high calorie (220) per piece dessert.

Mix the butter and half a cup sugar thoroughly with a hand mixer. Add yogurt and vanilla essence and beat again for a couple of minutes with the mixer. Add the semolina flour (rava), baking powder and mix with a wooden or plastic spatula. The result will be a sticky loose kind of dough. Keep aside for half an hour.