Basbousa


Basbousa is a sweet, syrup-soaked semolina Arab dessert popular throughout the Arab world, Middle East and North Africa. The semolina batter is baked in a sheet pan, then sweetened with sugar syrup and typically cut into diamond shapes or squares.

History

The Oxford Companion to Food suggests that basbousa might have developed from a dish called ma'mounia, which was created around the 9th century Abbasid period. Ma'mounia was made by cooking rice in fat and syrup. This recipe was later adapted to use semolina, with the batter being cooked first and then soaked in syrup. According to food historian Gil Marks it is possible that semolina syrup cakes evolved from toasted semolina sweets like suji halva, as pastries and puddings in the middle east typically used semolina.
A recipe for revani can be found in the 1844 Ottoman Turkish cookbook Melceü't-Tabbâhîn, it calls for baking a mixure of semolina, butter, sugar, and eggs in an oven then soaking it in sugar syrup and cutting it in "baklava shapes."
An 1890 Ottoman Turkish to English dictionary by British lexicographer James Redhouse defined rewani as "A kind of sponge-cake", it also defined rewaniji as a seller of said cake.

Names

It is found in the cuisines of the Middle East, the Balkans and North Africa under a variety of names.
  • ,
  • , هريسة, نمورة
  • Cypriot Greek: σάμαλι shamali
Basbousa is the most common name for this dessert in the Middle East but it may be named differently depending on the region; it is often called "hareesa" in the Levant. Note that "harissa" in North Africa is a spicy red sauce. It is a popular dessert offered in many sweets bakeries in the Middle East and especially popular during Ramadan.
Şambali is also referred to as "Damascus dessert" or "Damascus honey". Şam in Turkish means "Damascus".
Basbousa is believed by some derive its name from a colloquial Arabic expression meaning "just a kiss".
The Turkish revani is derived from the Persian word for oil or butter. However, some claim that revani is derived from "Revan"; the Turkish name for Yerevan, and that the dessert was made to commomerate the Ottoman conquest of Yerevan by Sultan Murad IV.

Variations

Many variations of syrup-soaked semolina paste can be found in the Middle East; common ingredients include coconut, rose water, citrus, among many others.
Some denser versions also include eggs, modern versions include baking powder.
Some common versions are: