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Aish El Saraya

Aish EL Saraya is a super easy middle eastern dessert with bread soaked in sweet and fragrant syrup topped with custard and nuts.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Arabic, Middle Eastern
Keyword Dessert, No-Bake Chilled Dessert
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Refrigeration Time 5 hours
Total Time 5 hours 30 minutes
Servings 6
Author Shanaz Rafiq

Ingredients

For Custard:

  • ½ liter milk
  • 1 tin sweetened condensed milk 400 gms
  • 300 ml cream tetra pack or fresh
  • 5 tablespoon cornflour
  • 2 teaspoon rose water
  • 2 teaspoon orange blossom water

For Sweet Syrup:

  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon rose water
  • 1 tablespoon orange blossom water

Other Ingredients:

  • 30 small size toasted bread rusk or more as required to line the pan
  • 1 cup coarsely crushed pistachios
  • ¼ cup dry rose petals optional

Instructions

For Sweet Syrup:

  • Heat a small saucepan and add sugar, water, and lemon juice. Once the sugar has completely dissolved, add rose water and orange blossom water. Stir well and bring to a steady boil. As soon as it starts to boil, switch off the flame and let the sugar syrup cool down.
  • Take two square serving dishes to set the dessert of 7×7 inches or 1 large dish of approx 9×13 inches. Line the dish with bread rusk side by side. You can either make a single layer or a double layer of rusk, according to your choice. Pour the sugar syrup over the rusk and set it aside to let it soak and soften for some time.

For Custard:

  • Take half a cup of cold milk (from 1/2 liter) and mix in cornflour. Whisk well to remove all the lumps. In a saucepan combine together the rest of the milk, cream, condensed milk, rose water, orange blossom, and 1/2 cup cornflour milk. Heat it on the medium flame and keep stirring to avoid any lumps. As you keep stirring, the custard will slowly start to thicken but maintain a pouring consistency. This will take around 5 minutes.
  • Slightly cool the custard for a few minutes and then pour it over the soaked bread rusk by spreading it evenly. Sprinkle crushed pistachios on the top along with rose petals and set them in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 hours.
  • Cut into square pieces and serve chilled.