Orange Basbousa and Kids Summer Club

Here in the Carolinas, we still have a few weeks of summer left before school stands and the dreaded  daily grind begins. For now we all enjyoing the laz y routine and spending all the  extra time with our kids making special memories , but have to admit that keeping them creatively engaged and unelectronically (just created a new word)occupied is always a challenge . The parents of our community were ready for the challenge  , so we got together  and putting on our thinking hats , came up with the idea of a summer club  where each one of us would take turns teaching the kids something that would be a break from the serious academic stuff taught at school . Be it applying henna or designing basic web pages , we would try our best to enhance their creative summer . 

Today as you might have guessed  was my turn and much as I wanted to try something different , my baking reputation intervened and the kids started asking me expectantly as to what bake I would be teaching them . Not to disappoint them , I stuck with baking but to decided to try the middle eastern "Basbousa" . I had originally thought of having an animated session teaching them Greek Mythology and the architectiure of the Parthenon ..not wanting to drop that altogther, I decided to merge the too. A quick google search confirmed what I suspected all along. The Greek eat this dessert too ..they just call it with a different name "Revani" or "Ravani" depending on which part of Greece one is residing.

Nestle Arabia also came to my rescue by providing such a simple recipe and a different one too. This one is an orange version of the original. That makes things easier. Now I can teach them about Egypt and make the traditional recipe which is famous for it's Egyptian roots. This partiuclar recipe suited my purpose because of it's apparent ease. You just dump everything in one bowl , mix it and then transfer to a greased baking tray , pop it in the oven ,wait for a sufficient period and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Easy peasy..do try this one with the kids and let me know.

Ingredients - 

3 cups semolina(sooji)

1 can condensed milk (14 oz)

1 tsp orange zest ( or use ornage marmalade like i did )

5 tbsp orange juice 

1 tsp soda

1/2 cup oil /butter/desi ghee

1/2 tsp cardamom or nutmeg powder

Almonds to granish 

Sugar Syrup - 

1 1/2 cup sugar 

1 cup water

1 tsp rose water

1/2 tsp lemon juice

Method - 

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees F or 180 degrees C . Also grease a baking tray .

Take a bowl and add semolina , baking soda , oil , nutmeg powder , orange zest , orange juice and the full can of condensed milk.

Mix the above well with the help of a spatula and transfer to a greased baking dish .

Press the mixture into the tray and place the almonds so that later when cut each individual piece, each  has one.

Bake it for about 40 minutes or until it turns golden brown.

While it is cooling , prepare the sugar syrup by bringing the sugar and water to a boil in a saucepan while stirring continuously.

Let it simmer for 5 minutes and now add the rose water and lemon juice. Let cool a little,

Now add the sugar syrup to the busbousa while it is still hot.

Let cool completely , cut into pieces and enjoy !