The name means “Ali’s mother,” and it is the most popular sweet in Egypt. I had never heard of it when I lived there, but now it is everywhere. People in Cairo say it arrived in the city from the villages of Upper Egypt, but there it is said to be from Cairo. One joker explained that it was a bread pudding introduced by a Miss O’Malley, an Irish mistress of the Khedive Ismail. Go and believe him! People find all sorts of ways of making it—with pancakes, with thinly rolled-out puff pastry, with pieces of bread, and with fillo pastry. Fillo gives the most appealing texture, and it is good to bake the pastry initially rather than fry it in butter as is usual in Egypt.

　　

Ingredients

serves 8

　　6 sheets of fillo

　　6–8 tablespoons butter, melted

　　2/3 cup black or golden raisins

　　1 cup mixed whole or slivered blanched almonds, chopped hazelnuts, and chopped pistachios

　　5 cups whole milk

　　1 1/4 cups heavy cream

　　1/2–2/3 cup sugar

　　1–2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional)

　　

Step 1

Leave the sheets of fillo in a pile to keep them from drying out. Brush each one with melted butter and place them on top of each other on a buttered baking sheet.

　　

Step 2

Put the buttered fillo sheets in a preheated 350°F oven for about 10 minutes, until they are crisp and the top ones are very slightly colored.

　　

Step 3

When cool enough to handle, crush the pastry with your hands into pieces into a baking dish, sprinkling raisins and nuts in between the layers.

　　

Step 4

Bring the milk and cream to the boil in a pan with the sugar, and pour over the pastry. Sprinkle, if you like, with cinnamon, and return to the oven. Raise the heat to 425°F and bake for about 20–30 minutes, or until slightly golden.

　　

Step 5

Serve hot.

　　

Variations

Step 6

You may bake the pudding in individual clay bowls, as they do in Egyptian restaurants.

　　

Step 7

A Moroccan version has the boiling milk and cream poured onto crisp, fried paper-thin pastry broken into small pieces. It is eaten like a cereal with nuts and raisins without further baking.

　　The New Book of Middle Eastern Food Copyright © 2000Knopf