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Nammoura (semolina and coconut cake)

• Hisham Assaad

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Makes 35-40 pieces

Easy

Prep: 20 mins

Cook: 40 mins

plus cooling

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Lebanese nammoura cake is a fudgy, moist coconut dessert made with semolina and yogurt as a base

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Try nammoura (semolina and coconut cake), then try Lebanese-style rice and lentils with caramelised onions, lamb neck, preserved lemon, white beans and harissa or coconut cake.

There are a couple of recipes for nammoura in my mom’s old recipe book, but I asked her for the easiest and most fail-safe one, and here it is. The prepared batter looks very runny before baking, but the semolina absorbs the liquid and it bakes into a fine, soft cake. Don’t be afraid of the syrup quantity. The cake will absorb it and it creates the essential nammoura texture without being overly and sickeningly sweet. My mom couldn’t let go of the fact that I used only half of the syrup in the first testing, so don’t make the same mistake – otherwise she’ll judge you, too!

Recipes extracted from Bayrūt by Hisham Assaad (£27, Smith Street Books). Photographs: Liz and Max Haarala Hamilton. Recipes are sent by the publisher and not retested by us.

Nammoura (semolina and coconut cake) recipe

Ingredients

Nutrition

• 40g dried shredded or freshly grated coconut

• 125ml vegetable oil

• 300g coarse semolina

• 410-500g natural yogurt

• 230g caster sugar

• 1 tsp baking powder

• tahini

  for brushing the pan

• 35-40 blanched almond halves

SYRUP

• 460g caster sugar

• 1 lemon

  juiced to make 1 tsp

• handful of rose geranium leaves

  (optional)

• 2 tbsp rosewater

• 2 tbsp orange blossom water

Nutrition: per piece (40)

• kcal145
• fat5g
• saturates1g
• carbs24g
• sugars19g
• fibre0.3g
• protein2g
• salt0.1g

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Method

• step 1

  Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Toast the coconut in a frying pan or on a baking sheet in the oven until golden.

• step 2

  In a large bowl, rub the oil into the semolina until well coated. Add the coconut, yogurt, sugar, baking powder and ¼ tsp of salt, and mix well – the mixture is supposed to be quite runny so adjust the quantity of yogurt depending on the thickness of the one you are using.

• step 3

  Brush a 23cm square, deep-sided cake tin with a little tahini and pour the batter into it. Lightly score the top of the batter into squares or diamonds and put an almond half in the middle of each section. Bake for 20-25 mins until the sides are browned and pulling away from the pan – this means the bottom is done.

• step 4

  Meanwhile, heat the grill to high. Transfer the pan to the grill for 5 mins until the top is golden. Meanwhile, prepare the syrup by mixing 375ml of water with the sugar, lemon juice and rose geranium leaves, if using, in a pan over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Boil for 5 mins, then remove from the heat and stir in the rose water and orange blossom water.

• step 5

  As soon as it comes out of the oven, douse the nammoura with all of the syrup. It might seem like a lot but the cake will soak it all up when it is hot. Allow it to cool a little, then cut into the scored sections and cool completely before serving.

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Authors

Hisham Assaad

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