Aish el Saraya-Middle Eastern Dessert

  
We love desserts! And if it is Arabic sweets, we love them even more. I just cant get enough of Arabic sweets, so i am always in search for recipes. You all must be aware of my love for it. I have posted quite a few arabic sweets recipe already, some of them are Arabic bread puddingUmm-AliKataif Asaferi, and Kanafe Naame. Check them out if you haven’t before. 

  
  
Just recently i found this super easy recipe of this Middle Eastern dessert named aish el saraya! Made it and devoured every bit of it. It looks a lot like umm-Ali but there is difference between both. 

  
I served this dessert to my Jordanian guest yesterday and he loved it. He said it was delicious! This comment coming from an expert made me very happy. 

   
 

It is very simple to make this pudding, so this is gonna be my go to dessert when I’m short of time, when I’m entertaining and when i need something eggless or rich and creamy from now on. You all should try this. Its too good. 

  
Serves 5-6

Recipe courtesy: Archana of Archana’s kitchen

For simple syrup:

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon of orange blossom water

1 tablespoon rose water

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 cup water

For custard:

500 ml of milk

400 gms sweetened condensed milk (1 tin)

300 ml whipping cream

1-2 tsp rose water

1-2 tsp orange blossom water

5 tbsp corn flour

Toasted bread rusk (about 30 small rusks enough to line the dish you are setting the sweet in)

Chopped pistachios for garnish

  

 

  1. Place the toasted bread rusks in a square dish. 

  2. For the syrup: Mix in sugar, water, lemon juice in a pan and heat in a medium heat. Once the sugar has melted add in the rose water and orange blossom water. Remove from flame. Allow to cool a little. 

  3. Pour in the syrup over the rusk and allow to soak. Then line another layer of rusk and pour in the syrup. Let all of it soak the syrup well. 

  4. For the custard: 

A) Mix the cornflour in about 1/2 cup of cold milk and mix well. 

  
B) Combine together milk, cream, condensed milk and corn flour mixture in a heavy bottom pan and heat it on medium heat. Keep stirring till it gets smooth and thick. Once it thickens add in the rose and orange blossom water. 

C) Stir it a bit more till you get a “thick” pudding like pouring consistency. 

D) Pour over the rusk. Sprinkle in the chopped pistachios. 

  1. Refrigerate for 5-6 hours or overnight. 

  
Notes:

✔️ The cream part of the pudding is soo yummy that you can make that alone as a pudding by omitting the rusk part. 

✔️ Instead of the rusk you can also use toasted bread. 

✔️  I didn’t have orange blossom water with me, so i used the rose water alone. 

 

Aish el Saraya-Middle Eastern Dessert

Ingredients
  

INGREDIENTS

  • Serves 5-6
  • Recipe courtesy: Archana of Archana’s kitchen

For simple syrup

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of orange blossom water
  • 1 tablespoon rose water
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 cup water

For custard

  • 500 ml of milk
  • 400 gms sweetened condensed milk 1 tin
  • 300 ml whipping cream
  • 1-2 tsp rose water
  • 1-2 tsp orange blossom water
  • 5 tbsp corn flour
  • Toasted bread rusk about 30 small rusks enough to line the dish you are setting the sweet in
  • Chopped pistachios for garnish

Instructions
 

DIRECTIONS

  • Place the toasted bread rusks in a square dish.
  • For the syrup: Mix in sugar, water, lemon juice in a pan and heat in a medium heat. Once the sugar has melted add in the rose water and orange blossom water. Remove from flame. Allow to cool a little.
  • Pour in the syrup over the rusk and allow to soak. Then line another layer of rusk and pour in the syrup. Let all of it soak the syrup well.

For the custard

  • Mix the cornflour in about 1/2 cup of cold milk and mix well.
  • Combine together milk, cream, condensed milk and corn flour mixture in a heavy bottom pan and heat it on medium heat. Keep stirring till it gets smooth and thick. Once it thickens add in the rose and orange blossom water.
  • Stir it a bit more till you get a “thick” pudding like pouring consistency.
  • Pour over the rusk. Sprinkle in the chopped pistachios.
  • Refrigerate for 5-6 hours or overnight.

Notes

Notes:
The cream part of the pudding is soo yummy that you can make that alone as a pudding by omitting the rusk part.
Instead of the rusk you can also use toasted bread.
I didn’t have orange blossom water with me, so i used the rose water alone.

   
 

85 thoughts on “Aish el Saraya-Middle Eastern Dessert

  1. That is just beautiful Sadia, so simple. Are those little toasts the ones that come packaged, you know the French toasts. They look similar. Have never heard the term rusks. Love this recipe.

  2. Ohh Sadia what a wonderful presentation! I kept scrolling down to the recipe to see what the mystery cake layer was, and I cannot believe that it’s rusk! I have to try this!

  3. I love desserts, too, and this one looks amazing, Sadia! I love how creamy it is. And the pistachios must give it great texture and flavor. I was wondering about the rusks, too. I have never heard of that before. Also, I haven’t used those waters either. Do you find them at the regular grocery stores? Thanks so much for sharing this!

    1. Hii Shari! Thanks for the comment dear.
      Well rusks are twice baked bread, we get ready packed ones here easily. Do you know of melba toasts? That is rusk. Rusks are like biscotti actually. If you don’t get these you can simply toast your normal bread and use.
      Rose and orange blossom water would be available in asian stores.

  4. What a beautiful dessert, Sadia! I know why you love this so much! I am bookmarking it and I think I will make it the next time I have a little dinner party! 😀

  5. Wow, what stunning photography and delicious recipes! I don’t think I’ve ever tried making a Middle Eastern dish, but after seeing you blog I’m wondering why I never have! Looking forward to following along on your culinary adventures and trying some delicious new food! xx Jamie

  6. Yummy…. I too made this dessert few days back..I got the recipe from chef at large .. but didn’t use rosewater ,instead of rusk i used bread ,still came out nice ..

  7. hi Sadia..its a yummyyy dessert.I made it a few days back and got lot of praises from my guests..so a big thank you for this delicious dessert recipe.just wanted to ask you that if i can share the recipe link on a closed bengali community group on. FB..
    thanks once again and looking forward to following your other lip smacking recipes..

    1. Thanks a lot sreeparna for the comment and also for trying. So happy to know that your guests liked it.
      Go ahead sreeparna, you can share the recipe link. I would be happy if you do so. 🙂

  8. Looks awesome. I want to make this today. What size was the square pan you used?

    Thanks in advance.

  9. Hi Sadia, You have a beautiful blog and everything looks delicious. I want to try this dessert for a dinner party. Is this dessert very sweet ? Also could you please kindly let me know if I can make this in a 9inch by 13 inch pyrex baking dish for like 15 -17 people or should i double the recipe. Sorry for so many questions : (
    Thank you

  10. Fresh cream and thick cream are same? If not, can i replace whipping cream with thick cream?

  11. Hello sadia
    Very tempting looking desert going to try inshaa allah this weekend .
    For rusk we get here americana and britania brand . If I use sweet rusk will the dish become very sweet?.Waiting for your reply

    1. Hey Shaista!
      If you don’t like your desserts too sweet just use toasted bread instead of rusk. Just toast the bread very well till crisp. Then pour the syrup on it. It should taste equally good.

    1. Orange blossom water is a fragranced liquid made from extracts of orange flower. You will get it from middle eastern stores or you can order it online. But if you can’t get it, omit it in the pudding. Add rose water alone. That would work too.

  12. Hi !! I just tried this recipe today.. its not perfectly set like urs. What could b de reason ? Or should i refrigerate for more time ?

    1. Oh that’s bad. The pudding might have not set well either because you didn’t add the exact amount of corn flour or else the corn flour must have not gotten mixed properly. Refrigerate overnight and see if it sets. Hope it does. Let me know.

  13. The cornflour is not enough. My custard was to sloppy. But besides that the taste, was a rush of tears, tummy tinkly, little bit of curled toes- and that’s what everyone thought that tasted it

    1. Thank you so much Ali. Happy that you liked the taste of the custard, but sad that it didn’t set well. 🙁 Next time you make it add a tbsp extra of corn flour.

  14. Dear Sadia,

    I want to make sure you mean corn flour. We have corn flour as well as corn starch here in the US. I’ve used cornstarch for thickening in puddings and corn flour in cookie or pie dough. So I just want to make sure you mean corn flour for the custard instead of cornstarch. Thanks.
    Looks absolutely yummy and want to make it as soon as possible. Kinda reminds me of Tres leches cake ( Mexican cake)

    1. Hey Rose Mark,
      To be frank I didn’t know that there is a difference between the two. I just read a bit about it and came to know that there is a slight difference between the two. As you have mentioned, corn starch is used as thickening agent and that’s what I have used here. Thank you for mentioning it. 🙂

  15. I’ve always used corn starch to make custard instead of corn flour… is that what you meant? Would that still work?

  16. Hello there! I’m so excited to have come across this recipe. I’m going to make it tonight for a family dinner tomorrow. Two quick questions: 1) I don’t have Orange Blossom Water – can I use orange zest instead? If so, how much would you recommend? 2) Confirming that we can use corn starch where it asks for corn flour? Thank you so much!

    1. Hey Sajeeda,
      No, don’t use orange zest, instead use rose water.
      Yes you can use corn starch too.
      Hope you and your family will enjoy this dessert. Please do let me know the feedback. 🙂

      1. Thank you so much for your quick response – very much appreciated! I won’t use orange zest then – glad I messaged you! Quick question – in the syrup, do I add an additional tablespoon of rose water (in lieu of the blossom water) or do I just omit the blossom water and keep the rose water to 1 tbsp.?

  17. Hello Sadia! The dish looks delicious. I have enjoyed this dessert ever since I was little. A little tip is to add butter to the syrup, and as for the custard, you can make a light version if you’re short on whipping cream and make it with milk, sugar, cornflour and rose and orange blossom water.

  18. We do it with an old round loaf bread that we peel the crust and we soak it with dark syrup and leave it for a while to soak well then we add the cream which is like a clotted cream and finally we turn it upside down and sprinkle some ground pistachios and rose jam and enjoy

  19. Oh how I wish that I could eat this I’m diabetic. Only thing that I would change is I’d omit rose water tastes like your eating flowers. And you can use orange extract but very little since it’s concentrated. I got this recipe for my neice. Since I no longer bake she’s become quite a baker.

  20. Hi, can I omit the rose water and just use orange blossom. I am not a fan of rose water. If that would work should I use the same amount or add more to replace the rose water. Thank you!

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