The biggest similarity that exists between a Saudi Arabian home and a South African Indian home is of course hospitality. In general Indians are a food loving nation and I can not deny the fact that I do originate from a family that are all foodies. My family loves entertaining and having people over either for a cup of tea, lunch or dinner. In fact any time is tea time. Having a mom, aunts and a grandmother that are all expert cooks, staying in shape is certainly a difficult task. My mom was also in the catering business for quite some time now and only in recent times we have asked her to simmer down and relax. Hence mom has decided to now share her tried and tested recipes with the rest of the world. Our home is generally very busy week in and week out with family or guests from abroad. Hence, through meeting and interacting with different cultures mom has been fortunate enough to be able to share her recipes and knowledge in cooking with our guests and at the same time learn about traditional foods and staple diets that exist in other parts of the world. Through this page I aim to provide a step by step method on how to make a variety of dishes particularly dishes that we all enjoy as a family. If you do try these recipes and enjoy the end result I request you to please make a special prayer for my mom. May Allah grant her a long life of good health, wealth, peace and prosperity and may she continue to excel in what she loves doing the most, feeding tummies :)))))))). To the blog readers out there, if there is a dish that is your speciality and you wish to share the recipe with the rest of the world, please feel free to email me at desertmoonsdiary@gmail.com. Bon Appetit!!!!
( Take note that I will try posting one recipe on a weekly basis on the main blog page. All recipes can then be found under the page titled " Rey's Kitchen Delights for future reference)
Having posted a picture of the Umm Ali dessert on my facebook page a few weeks ago I have had numerous inbox messages requesting for the recipe. I would also like to take the opportunity in thanking our guest, dearest Brother Mustafa from Jeddah for sharing some of his Saudi recipes with us during his recent trip to South Africa. We thoroughly enjoyed having you in the kitchen with us. With the chilly winter air slowly starting to creep in, Umm Ali is a perfect winter dessert!!
Umm Ali
Step 1:
Take 500g of pastry dough. Chop it up into small squares and place in an oven tray. Bake the dough at 180 degrees celcius until light brown.. Then take the pastry squares and crush it into an oven proof pyrex dish
(Do not crush it too finely).
Step 2
In a saucepan add one 1 1/2 liters of milk. To the milk add the following ingredients:
1 tsp cardamon powder
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp nutmeg powder
sugar to taste
1 ounce butter
A handful of dessicated coconut
Chop up walnuts, raisins, pistachios, cashewnuts (Any type of nuts can be added)
Once the mixture is boiled add 250ml of fresh cream. Give the mixture one final boil. Then pour the boiled mixture over the crushed pastry in the oven proof pyrex dish. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees celcius until golden brown. Serve hot.
