AISH EL SARAYA
Whenever I need a quick dessert, my reliable Aish El Saraya recipe never disappoints!
After whipping up this no bake middle eastern dessert countless times, I’ve fine tuned the quantities and can confidently say, my version is the BEST! Plus, I’ll be sharing two stunning serving ideas with you!
Featuring simple ingredients, it’s a deliciously luxurious dessert, made with a base of toasted bread, soaked in simple syrup – that’s been fragrantly infused with rose or orange blossom water. It’s then layered with a creamy milk custard known as ashta, and topped with ground pistachios and dried rose petals.
It translates to “bread of the royal palace” in arabic – but don’t let its regal name deceive you! Requiring less than 30 minutes of your time, it’s surprisingly easy to make!
Looking for more indulgent dessert recipes? Try my Steamed Banana Cake OR this Easy Chocolate Cake Recipe!
A no bake dessert worthy of royalty – that I can make at home?
Let’s do this!
What You’ll Love About This Recipe
Individual Dessert Cups OR A Tray For Sharing
Recipe Ingredients
What you’ll need, to make the best AISH EL SARAYA recipe:
Ingredient Notes
Rose Water OR Orange Blossom Water: widely used in middle eastern desserts, these unique floral waters not only add an unforgettable, luxurious aroma and flavor, but also symbolize hospitality and celebration, enriching the dessert with cultural significance. I love the brand Cortas. Some enjoy mixing both waters, its upto personal preference;
Milk: cold full cream or 2% works best.
Cornflour/Cornstarch: is the fine, white powder used as a thickening agent. “Cornflour” in Australia, is equivalent to “Cornstarch” in the United States. Use a premium or good quality cornflour/starch for best results. When measuring the cornflour for this recipe, it’s best to use a kitchen scale to weigh it in grams, that way you can expect the correct consistency of ashta every time!;
Heavy Cream: refrigerated fresh cream with 35% milk fat content. In Australia it’s referred to as thickened cream;
Sugar: I use caster sugar, because it’s quicker to dissolve, but you could also use granulated sugar
Rusk (Toast Bread): Instead of toasting bread myself, I opt for rusk to create this delightful bread pudding-like dessert, and it’s a game-changer! Rusk is a firm, dry biscuit-style bread, typically produced by twice-baking slices of bread or dough, until they achieve a crispy, crunchy texture. It’s an excellent substitute for regular white bread, boasting a perfect texture straight out of the package. Since there’s no need for toasting, using rusk significantly cuts down on prep time! With its subtle flavor, I particularly enjoy the cardamom-infused (elaichi) variety from the Parle brand for this recipe. Rusk has an exceptional ability to absorb liquids while retaining its shape. It’s commonly enjoyed as a snack, perfect for dipping into tea or coffee, and readily available at your local grocery store!;
How To Make AISH EL SARAYA Step-By-Step:
Here are some quick visual instructions. The full instructions with the exact ingredients are printable in the recipe card below!
Step 1: In a small pot, combine water and sugar, stir to dissolve, then bring to a boil. Simmer over medium heat for 15-20 minutes.
Step 2: Stir in rose OR orange blossom water and the syrup is ready!
Step 3: While the simple syrup is heating, arrange the rusk bread in the base of a tray, OR;
Step 4: For individual dessert cups, crush the rusk into a coarse powder. To do this, either pulse in a food processor or place in a sealable bag and bash with a rolling pin, set aside.
Step 5: In a separate medium saucepan, mix cornflour with a small amount of cold milk, until completely dissolved. Add the remaining milk, heavy cream, and sugar, mix well.
Step 6: Heat and whisk continuously till thickened, the pouring consistency should look like this;
Step 7: While the ashta is heating, pour the sweet syrup over the rusk bread layer, while it’s still hot and allow to soak for a few minutes;
Step 8: While the creamy ashta is still hot, pour an ever layer over the base;
Step 9: Top with ground pistachios and dried rose petals to finish;
Step 10: If you are making this in dessert cups: layer in rusk crumb, soak with simple syrup, then layer in the ashta. Repeat. Garnish with toppings. Serve immediately or refrigerate 2 hours if you prefer it cold.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
TIP 1 – SOAKING THE RUSK: For the tray version, pour all the hot syrup over the rusk and let it soak for a few moments. The quantity of syrup in this recipe, will be just enough so that the rusk is moist, but not soggy. If you are preparing it in dessert cups, spoon over syrup until soaked, expect quicker absorption due to the crushed texture of the rusk bread, so you may not need to use all of it;
TIP 2 – CUSTARD/HOMEMADE ASHTA: essentially, the custard is an easy homemade ashta cream. Stir continuously and resist the urge to increase the heat, even if it seems like the mixture won’t thicken initially! Rapid heating can cause clumps and browned milk solids at the base of the pot. If this happens, it will surface when mixing, or when you pour it into your chosen mold. It just means, that you may end up with a clumpy consistency for the ashta cream layer. This perfect dessert will still taste amazing though and you can hide it with your toppings! My cheat’s version of authentic ashta (i.e. clotted cream), tastes so similar to the real deal, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference!
TIP 3 – EFFICIENT: To expedite the dessert preparation process, here’s the sequence I follow!
I begin by making the simple syrup (or prepare this in advance, as indicated in the tip below!). While the syrup heats, I arrange the rusk bread in my chosen mold or crush for dessert cups. Simultaneously, in another pot, I prepare the ashta, stirring continuously.
Once the sugar syrup is ready, quickly pour it over the rusk bread, while it’s still hot. This is the only time I pause from whisking the ashta. Afterward, I resume mixing the ashta. The rusk bread will continue to soak while the ashta thickens. Once the ashta is ready, I layer it over the soaked rusk bread, sprinkle on toppings, and refrigerate!
MAKE AHEAD TIP
You can make the simple syrup ahead of time and store in an airtight container, (it does not need to be refrigerated)! Reheat shortly before pouring it onto the rusk bread to soak.
WATCH How To Make It!
Storage
Storage: cover this Aish El Saraya dessert with plastic wrap and place in an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Freezing: Aish El Saraya is not suitable for freezing as the texture will be altered when thawed.
Substitutions
Substitions:
- Rose Water / Orange Blossom Water: If you are not a fan of the floral water flavors, you can customize the syrup with any flavors you enjoy. Some examples include, vanilla or extracts like hazelnut or coconut. You could even use a spice like cardamom or cinnamon, simply drop them whole into the syrup while it’s heating.
- Rusk: rusk is always my first option, but if it’s not available, you can use white toast or sandwich bread. While I prefer the bread toasted, fresh bread also works but will give the dessert a different texture!
- Ground Pistachios: For the crunch element, I usually top my Aish El Saraya with crushed pistachios, but you can use any nut of your choice, like almonds, cashews or walnuts.
Your Questions Answered
It may be due to the quantity and quality of cornflour/cornstarch used. Tablespoon and cup measurements differ, so stick to my gram measurements for consistent results! Opt for high quality cornflour/cornstarch for premium thickening properties. After boiling the ashta, be sure to cook it a further 1-2 minutes. This activates the cornflour’s thickening properties and eliminates any raw taste. When you’re ready to pour it, make sure it’s still hot, it should be thick, creamy, but pourable, it should then set very quickly.
More Dessert Recipes You’ll Love!
I hope you enjoyed this easy AISH EL SARAYA recipe! If you gave it a try, please be sure to leave a comment and rating! I’d love to hear your thoughts! Happy Cooking!
Aish El Saraya
Ingredients
SIMPLE SYRUP
- 500 mL water
- 100 g caster sugar
- 2 tbsp rose OR orange blossom water OR a tbsp of each, if you prefer
CREAM LAYER/ASHTA
- 400 mL full cream milk or 2% cold
- 200 mL heavy cream
- 43 g cornflour/cornstarch approximately 4 tbsp
- 30 g caster sugar
BASE
- 12 pieces rusk Parle brand preferable
GARNISH
- ground pistachios and dried rose petals
Instructions
Making the SIMPLE SYRUP
- In a small pot, combine water and sugar, stirring until dissolved, then bring to a boil. Simmer over medium heat for 15-20 minutes until slightly thickened, it may develop a faint yellow hue, which is normal.
- Stir in rose water OR orange blossom water and the syrup is ready!
Preparing the BASE / RUSK LAYERS
- Arrange rusk bread into a square 8"x8" tray. 12 pieces of the Parle brand rusk, fits nicely into this tray size.
- If you are making it as individual dessert cups, crush/pulse the rusk into a coarse powder. Do not blend into a fine powder. Crush in a food processor OR bash in a zip lock bag with a rolling pin, set aside, *see note 1
Making the ASHTA
- In a separate medium saucepan, mix cornflour with a small amount of cold milk, until completely dissolved (approximately 100mL) *see note 2
- Add the remaining milk, heavy cream and sugar, whisk well to combine.
- Turn on the stove on low-medium heat and whisk continuously.
- Once thickened and it starts to bubble, cook a further 1-2 minutes, then turn off the heat. It will be thick but a pourable consistency, *see note 3
ASSEMBLE
*TRAY VERSION
- Pour all of the hot simple syrup over the rusk and allow to soak for a few minutes.
- Pour over the hot Ashta in an even layer. Use a heat proof spatula to scrape all of it out the pot and spread out in the tray if needed.
*INDIVIDUAL DESSERT CUPS
- Spoon in a layer of crushed rusk prepared earlier, then pour/spoon in just enough syrup to soak the rusk.
- Pour/spoon in the hot ashta cream.
- Repeat the layers.
GARNISH & SERVE
- Top with ground pistachios and dried rose petals.
- Serve immediately or refrigerate for at least 2 hours to serve cold.
Notes
- 1. crushed rusk will absorb the syrup a lot quicker than whole rusk bread, so spoon in the syrup until it’s soaked but not soggy
- 2. when making the ashta, the reason I suggest mixing cornflour into only a small quantity of cold milk first, is because it’s quicker and easier to dissolve this way. It’s then a lot easier to add the remaining ashta ingredients before turning the stove on for thickening;
- 3. it’s easiest to work with the Ashta while its hot, because it’s still pourable. It will be thick, but runny enough for some time, but will start to get clumpy as it cools and will begin to set;
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Incredible recipe! Perfect quantities and so delicious! I’ve made both the cup and tray versions – it tasted even more amazing the next day! My whole family loved it! Highly recommend!
Thank you so much for this amazing feedback! I’m so happy to hear you tried both versions—and even more thrilled that your family loved it too! It’s always such a bonus when it tastes even better the next day. Really appreciate the kind words!