Basboosa (Egyptian Semolina Cake)

Ingredients (takes 30 mins to make)   For the Batter: ¾ cup ghee 1½ cups semolina ½ cup desiccated coconut ¾ cup sugar 160 g yogurt 1 egg 1 tsp vinegar ½ tsp vanilla extract A pinch of salt   For the Syrup 1 cup sugar 1 cup water 1 cinnamon stick ½ tsp vanilla extract Peel of 1 orange (optional) A squeeze of lemon juice Method 1) Prepare baking dish by greasing it with margarine very well or spray it with a non-stick spray. Set baking dish aside. To prepare the cake batter, simply mix all ingredients together in a bowl and combine very well. Spread the batter in a thin layer in your baking dish and make sure the cake mixture isn’t thick. Add some nuts on top if preferred. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees until golden in color. 2) While the basboosa is baking, combine water and sugar in a deep saucepan and cook over medium heat adding the cinnamon stick and the orange peels if you like the syrup flavored with orange. Allow the syrup to boil for 5 minutes and then remove from heat. Add vanilla and a squeeze of lemon juice. 3) Once the cake is done baking, remove from the oven and immediately pour the hot syrup over it. Both cake and syrup must be hot. Allow the cake to rest and soak all the syrup in and then serve with crème fraîche. Recipes in this section provided by Sara Abdel Salam. A dedicated foodie, Abdel Salam is a food and menu specialist and consultant. She holds an MBA from the Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport but works as a professional food stylist and photographer (check out her portfolio on www.pinterest.com/saraasalam/my-cooking-mania) and as a TV chef on Tahrir channel’s Feha Haga Helwa. In 2010 Sara started Sara’s Kitchen (ww.facebook.com/KitchenSara), today one of the largest recipe-sharing communities in the Middle East with over 55,000 fans and followers. In 2012 she co-founded Beram & Tajine, the Middle East’s first Egyptian/Moroccan e-magazine, with Assia Othman. Browse the nine issues produced so far at issuu.com/beramandtajine. You can visit Abdel Salam’s youtube channel at www.youtube.com/user/matba5sara?feature=watch.