Assida Zgougou
Recipe
Assida
- 500g of finely ground grains of Aleppo Paste Ben Gaid Hassine
- 1.5L of water (I prefer 1350ml of water)
- 400g of all purpose flour
- 200g of sweetened condensed milk
- 200g (1 cup) of sugar
- 1 tbsp of water of geranium flower
Pastry Cream (crème pâtissière)
- 2 egg yolks
- ½L of milk
- 3 to 4 tbsp of sugar
- 3 tbsp of corn starch
- 1 tsp of water of geranium flower
Decoration
- Ground hazelnuts, pistachio and almonds
Steps:
- First step is to finely ground the aleppo tree’s grains. It should look like a paste but a bit grainy.
- Dilute the zgougou paste in half of the quatity of the water (I generally let it soak overnight), then filter in a sieve twice to get rid of the remaining grains and obtain a very smooth liquid.
- Add the flour and the rest of water (I generally don’t add the last cup of water - about 150ml) and dilute with the zgougou.
- Filter the final mixture in a sieve.
- Put the zgougou mixture in a large pan and cook on medium fire. Stir with a wooden spoon. Never stop stirring. Never.
- Once the cream starts to harden, reduce the fire and add the sweetened condensed milk… and keep stirring with the back of the wooden spoon.
- Add the sugar and the water of geranium flower. Now the cream will look more shiny and the dark color of the cream will look even darker… and the smell…
- Keep stirring with the back of the wooden spoon or some minutes.
- While still warm, pour in the bowls or containers of your choice.
- Now you can start making the pastry cream to pour it on the top of your zgougou cream.
- Mix the egg yolks with sugar and corn starch until it whitens.
- In the meanwhile, heat the milk.
- Pour the milk on the egg mixture and put on fire while stirring until the cream hardens.
- Add the water of geranium flower and stir.
- Pour the pastry cream on the zgougou cream while still warm.
- Decorate your assida with the nuts of your choice.
- You can keep assida in the fridge up to one week. ENJOY YOUR HOMEMADE TREAT!
Recipe Credits: Treats Homemade