Ingredients
300 gm plain flour
130 gm semolina
130 gm caster sugar
220 ml warm water
1 x 7gm sachet instant yeast
1 tsp sesame seeds
180 ml olive oil
130 gm nigella sativa seeds
Raw soaked almonds, to decorate
For the sugar syrup
400 gm caster sugar
250 ml water
Method
1. Line a 20cm cake tin with baking parchment.
2. Combine the flour, semolina, sugar, water, yeast and sesame seeds together in a bowl, by hand or using a stand mixer.
3. Blend the olive oil and nigella seeds together in a blender to create a black oily paste. Add this to the flour mix and stir in.
4. Make sure the mixture is well combined, then place it in your lined tin and flatten it down. Take a knife and create a shape on top of the cake, pushing all the way down to the bottom. This is necessary as when it cooks the syrup needs to get right into the grooves.
5. Place the almonds around the top of the cake, inside the marked segments. This will help indicate when the cake has cooked too, as the almonds will brown, then let it sit for about 30 minutes in a warm place.
6. Preheat the oven to 180C Fan (200C/400F/Gas 6). When ready, place the cake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 35-40 minutes.
7. While it is cooking, heat the sugar and water in a pan and let them cook down to create a nice syrup. This should take about 10-12 minutes. Set aside.
8. When the cake is ready and still hot, drizzle all of the syrup over the top and let it sit for about 30 minutes before serving to allow the sugar syrup to soak in. Nigella seeds are quite bitter, so the sugar syrup is very important in this dessert.
- Recipe extracted from Baladi
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Tell us about your favourite dishes or recipes at food@gulfnews.com
