Cooking has taught me that a memorable table begins with a recipe worth sharing, especially one like Mafrooket Smeed Bil Ashta. Some sweets are meant to be admired before the first bite, and this is certainly one of them. I hope you enjoy both the making and the sharing of it.
Ingredients
Ashta
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 60g cornstarch
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 tsp Mastic, ground
- 8 ounce Mascarpone cheese
Smeed/farina Mafrookeh
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 cup farina
- 100g unsalted butter
- 1 tbs rose water
- 1 tbs orange blossom water
Instructions
- In a pot before placing on the stove whisk together 2 cups of milk, 1 cup of heavy cream, sugar and cornstarch until the cornstarch is dissolved. Turn the heat on and whisk until almost thickened add 1/4 teaspoon of mastic and cook for another 30 seconds until bubbly and thick. Remove from heat and cover the surface with a plastic wrap.
- Let cool completely before adding 8 ounces of mascarpone cheese, beat together with an electric mixer. Place in the fridge until you prepare the Mafrookeh.
- In a nonstick pot caramelize the sugar by stirring slightly and moving the edges to the center, once melted and amber in color start adding 1 cup of boiling water slowly and stirring until all the sugar has dissolved (it will clump don’t worry leave to boil gently) set aside!
- In a different pan add the farina and toast on medium heat until blond stirring frequently.
- Make a well in the center add 100 g of butter and cook until the farina becomes golden, add the caramelized sugar syrup all at once. Stir quickly to coat all the farina.
- Add the rose and 1 tablespoon of orange blossom water and cook quickly, don’t let the Mafrookeh thicken because it will eventually thicken as it cools.
- Spread in a plate top with Ashta, fried cashew, ground pistachio and lemon petal preserve if you have it. Enjoy!