Ummali - An Egyptian Pudding

Today (Nov 1st) is my SIL’s first wedding anniversary! We would like to wish M and K both on this special day, and hope they have a great day and many more such wonderful years ahead. To celebrate this occasion I made a middle-eastern pastry dish known as ummali and would like to dedicate this to a long lasting relationship filled with love and companionship.

Out of the wide range of Middle Eastern desserts, I zoned in on three – Basbousa, Ummali and Baklava. I chose to make Ummali, mainly for the exotic, coconutty-crunchy-chewy and nutfilled flavor in a mix of baked pastry sheets. It loosely resembles a bread pudding, but is not very sweet and hence we can have it in large serving sizes.

This dish is also popularly known as umali or omali.

Prep time: 10 mins
Total baking time: 30 – 45 mins

Ingredients:

Phyllo pastry sheets – 8 ounces / 227 grams [store bought]
Almonds – 1/4 cup, chopped
Pistachios – 1/4 cup chopped
Raisins - 1/4 cup chopped
Dry coconut flakes – 4 tbsp [or as per taste]
Sweetened condensed milk - 7 ounces/ 198.5 grams
Milk – ¾ cup
Vanilla extract or rose water – 1 tsp [ I used vanilla extract ]

Procedure:

Preheat the oven at 350 F and slightly grease cookie tray with oil.

Line up all the pastry sheets (one over another) on the cookie tray and bake till the sheets puff up and turn golden in color. This should take approx 15 mins and make sure that the sheets don’t burn.

Once they turn golden brown, turn off the oven. Take out from the oven cool and break into pieces.

Grease your baking pan [the one in which you would serve] lightly. Place the pastry pieces into the pan and this would be the first layer.

In a small bowl mix almonds, pistachios, raisins and coconut properly. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the pastry pieces, thus forming the second layer.

Now, in a small bowl, mix condensed milk, milk and vanilla essence [or rose water] properly. Once mixed properly cook this mix on medium heat for 2-3 minutes stirring continuously. Once hot, pour this mix over the dry fruits evenly. 

Again preheat the oven at 350 F and place the pan in the oven and bake for 20 mins or till the layers become firm. Once the layers firm up, turn off the oven and set in broiler mode for 2-3 mins [or till the top layer becomes slightly brown]. Make sure that that the top layer does not get burnt. 

Ummali is a wholesome dessert by itself. You may also serve it with fruits or even ice cream !

Happy Wedding Anniversary!