This is a very popular Egyptian dessert with an even better back story. The lore behind this is that Um Ali (mother of Ali) was one of the cooks of the Sultan at the time. His wife was not the greatest person and when she passed away, Um Ali made this dessert in celebration of her passing! And it’s a damn good dessert so I can only wonder how bad she must have been! There are other variations of this story but that’s the one I learned so please let me know what you’ve heard as well!
Um Ali is essentially a bread pudding with a few toppings mixed in and finished with a sugar and cream top that you can see get nicely toasted in the picture above. It’s really an easy one to do in large or small batches.
Serves: 4
Time: 35 minutes
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