Om Ali
Egyptian Bread Pudding with Croissants, Nuts and Coconut
Om Ali is Egypt's best-known dessert: dried pastry soaked in spiced, sweetened milk and cream, scattered with nuts and baked until bubbling at the edges. The chef's version uses croissants.
The chef dries croissant pieces in the oven, steeps spiced milk with condensed milk and cream, soaks the pastry 15 minutes with raisins and nuts and bakes it 20 to 25 minutes until bubbles form at the edges.
Ingredients
For the pudding
- 450 g croissants (about 8)
- 700 ml whole milk
- 160 ml sweetened condensed milk
- 150 ml double cream, divided (125 ml and 25 ml)
- 25 g granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp finely grated orange zest
- 110 g golden raisins, coarsely chopped
- 70 g coarsely chopped toasted almonds, divided
- 70 g coarsely chopped toasted pistachios, divided
- 40 g toasted unsweetened dried coconut, divided
Method
- Dry the croissants Heat the oven to 160°C. Cut the croissants into bite-size pieces, spread on a baking tray and bake until fully dried out. Cool, then raise the oven to 200°C.
- Make the spiced milk In a pan over medium heat whisk the milk, condensed milk, 125 ml of the cream, sugar, vanilla, cardamom, cinnamon and zest. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and steep for 10 minutes.
- Soak Spread the croissants in a 23 by 33 cm baking dish and stir in the raisins and half the almonds, pistachios and coconut. Pour the spiced milk over, turning the pieces to coat, and leave for 15 minutes.
- Bake Drizzle the remaining cream over the top and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until tiny bubbles form at the edges. Top with the remaining nuts and coconut and serve warm.
Food safety
Hot milk and sugar scald. Chill leftovers quickly and reheat until piping hot.
Serve warm.