Egyptian Om Ali with Cream and Nuts
Om Ali is crisp pastry soaked in sweetened milk with nuts and cream, browned in the oven. The secret is that the milk must be very hot when poured — cold milk soaks the pastry slowly and you end up with a dish that is watery underneath and dry on top.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 25 min
- Total
- 40 min
- Calories
- 420
Photo: Miansari66 — CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Om Ali is Egypt's most famous Ramadan dessert, and it dates back to the Mamluk period. The idea is simple: crisp pastry, milk and nuts. But the balance between the three is what separates a creamy Om Ali from one floating in milk.
Method
-
1
Bake the pastry
Bake the puff pastry at 200°C for fifteen minutes until golden, puffed and crisp. If you are using ready-baked roqaq, skip this step.
⏱ 15 min -
2
Break it up
Break the pastry by hand into medium pieces, not fine crumbs, and spread them in the baking dish. Pieces that are too small turn to paste in the milk.
⏱ 5 min -
3
Add the nuts
Scatter the coconut, almonds, hazelnuts and raisins over the pastry and turn it gently so they sit among the pieces rather than only on top.
⏱ 3 min -
4
Heat the milk
Heat the milk with the sugar and vanilla until it genuinely begins to boil. Lukewarm milk soaks the pastry slowly and the result is uneven.
⏱ 8 min -
5
Pour
Pour the hot milk over the dish gradually until it covers the pastry and stands about one centimetre above it. Any more and it floats.
⏱ 3 min -
6
Add the cream
Spoon the clotted cream and whipping cream over the surface in scattered dots, not a full layer. The dots brown and give the characteristic marbled top.
⏱ 3 min -
7
Bake
Bake at 220°C for fifteen to twenty minutes until the top browns and the edges bubble. Serve hot, immediately.
⏱ 20 min
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Tips that actually matter
- Very hot milk at the moment of pouring — this is the most important step and it determines the whole texture.
- The milk covers the pastry by one centimetre only. More than that turns it into soup.
- Cream in scattered dots rather than a layer, so it browns and marbles.
- It is eaten hot. Cold Om Ali sets firm and loses half its appeal.
People also ask
Can I use roqaq instead of puff pastry?
Yes, and that is actually the original. Bake the roqaq until crisp and break it up the same way.
Why did my Om Ali come out watery?
Too much milk. It should cover the pastry by one centimetre only — the pastry absorbs it in the oven and it thickens.
Can I prepare it ahead?
Assemble the pastry and nuts in the dish, and pour the hot milk at oven time. Fully assembled ahead, it loses its crispness.
What can replace clotted cream?
Whipped cream, or sweetened condensed milk loosened with a little cream. Clotted cream gives the authentic texture.
Cook mode
Egyptian Om Ali with Cream and Nuts
-
1
Bake the pastry
Bake the puff pastry at 200°C for fifteen minutes until golden, puffed and crisp. If you are using ready-baked roqaq, skip this step.
-
2
Break it up
Break the pastry by hand into medium pieces, not fine crumbs, and spread them in the baking dish. Pieces that are too small turn to paste in the milk.
-
3
Add the nuts
Scatter the coconut, almonds, hazelnuts and raisins over the pastry and turn it gently so they sit among the pieces rather than only on top.
-
4
Heat the milk
Heat the milk with the sugar and vanilla until it genuinely begins to boil. Lukewarm milk soaks the pastry slowly and the result is uneven.
-
5
Pour
Pour the hot milk over the dish gradually until it covers the pastry and stands about one centimetre above it. Any more and it floats.
-
6
Add the cream
Spoon the clotted cream and whipping cream over the surface in scattered dots, not a full layer. The dots brown and give the characteristic marbled top.
-
7
Bake
Bake at 220°C for fifteen to twenty minutes until the top browns and the edges bubble. Serve hot, immediately.
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