Aish El Saraya
Aish El Saraya 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.
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;