This Cake Is So Easy for How Gorgeous It Looks (and Tastes)
Hello! Ramadan begins tomorrow, and Tanya Sichynsky has compiled a collection of 21 recipes to enliven suhoor meals and iftar celebrations. There are beautiful, centerpiece mains — like Tejal Rao's lamb biryani, a generous dish of layered lamb chops, mint and cilantro, basmati rice, saffron milk and fried onions — and equally lovely sweets. Yvonne Maffei's dates with cream and chopped pistachios, a five-star, five-ingredient recipe adapted by Julia Moskin, would be a wonderful dessert, as would this namoura (syrup-soaked semolina cake).
Amanda Saab's recipe for namoura, adapted by Tejal, is simple to make and assemble: First, you make a simple sugar syrup with lemon juice and lavender extract (or rose water or vanilla extract). While that cools, your cake batter — melted butter, semolina flour, sugar, plain yogurt and baking soda — goes into your trusty 9x13 baking dish for a quick bake in a 400 degree oven. The cooled syrup gets drizzled over the fresh-from-the-oven cake, and you get a beautiful, gently scented treat that only gets better as it sits.
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You probably noticed that there are no eggs in this wonderful cake — a boon to anyone whose store shelves are a little bare these days. If you didn't catch yesterday's newsletter, Melissa Clark shared some excellent eggless versions of otherwise eggy recipes, and you can find Genevieve Ko's smart guide to egg substitutions here.
The egg yolk is optional in these boulèts (epis-spiced meatballs), a recipe from Elsy Dinvil adapted by Korsha Wilson. The torn bread soaked in evaporated milk (or unsweetened coconut milk) keeps the meatballs plenty juicy and bound together, and the sauce — a deeply spiced mix of tomato paste, epis, chile and onions — brings plenty of richness. Pair your meatballs with rice or fried plantains (or both!) for a warming weekend meal.
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