A quintessential Lebanese and Middle Eastern dessert that goes by many names such as namoura, basbousa, hareesa, revani, safra and maybe more; it varies from country to country — depending on where it is being baked. Namoura could be one of the most requested recipes I have been asked for. So dear readers, here I am bringing you a flawless recipe, just like the pastry-style variety. Next time you wander into a pastry shop in Lebanon to buy namoura, don’t reach for your wallet to shell out money; remind yourself  that you can go home and make it.

If there is a cake associated with my childhood, it would be namoura (besides sfouf, the turmeric Lebanese cake). Square portions of single-layer dense semolina cake drenched in sugar syrup, talk about buttery, melt in your mouth sweet madness!

Certainly, namoura was and still  the centerpiece of many gatherings, parties, birthdays celebrated in Lebanon and the Middle East.

Use a good ghee brand

The most delicious namoura is made with a quality animal ghee, which offsets the sweetness of the sticky sugar syrup ladled on top of the warm cake. And a big fat no to butter and vegetable ghee. Your namoura will taste as good as your ghee is, so choose your favorite brand.

Make sugar syrup two times!

Two kinds of syrup go into making this pastry shop namoura. Cold sugar syrup (atter) goes into the batter before baking, and another hot and light one is used for drenching the baked namoura.  You can prepare the cold sugar syrup one week in advance refrigerated in an airtight container. It is handy to prepare it in advance. Hot sugar syrup should be made on the spot while the namoura is baking.

Decorate with your favorite nuts!

Some people like to top the namoura with almonds. Others like pine nuts, and still others prefer cashews It’s a big world, so add what you like to this syrupy dense semolina cake.

Why does the batter take 12 hours of rest?

The key to a pastry shop namoura is time; the semolina needs time to absorb the liquid, allowing the grains to expand and swell, resulting in a perfect namoura in terms of texture and flavor. I usually mix up the batter the day before, but strictly you could do it early in the morning and bake it for dinner as well.  Just consider one thing, the longer it sits, the better the texture will be, so I recommend at least 8hours and a maximum of 12.

Ingredients needed to make namoura:

• Semolina: use medium or coarse grind semolina and avoid the fine grind.
• Sugar: use white graulated sugar to make both the batter and sugar syrup.
• Ghee: Use the best animal ghee brand you can find and avoid butter and vegetable ghee.
• Water: The liquid agent to bind the dough and to make the hot sugar syrup.
• Baking soda as a leavening agent
• Nuts for garnish: It could be blanched almonds split in halves, pine nuts or cashew nuts.
• Orange blossom water
• Milk Powder: It is doable with or without, you can skip it, but it adds a depth of richness.
• Cold sugar syrup (atter): Adding cold sugar syrup (atter) to the namoura batter is a secret ingredient that pastry shops draw upon in Lebanon when making it. You can prepare it 1 week in advance, kept refrigerated.

Do you like the edge or the soft center of namoura? With crispy edges, soft middle, and rich ghee flavor, this  namoura will disappear in no time. No one will ever think that it’s homemade. Texture and flavor is just like pastry shops in Lebanon — the best authentic namoura recipe I promise!

Tips to consider

• 1-Namoura can be refrigerated and has staying power, it is as delicious on day four as it is on day one, that makes it a great solution for a houseful of guests and a handy treat for entertainment. It does take time to make a pastry style namoura, just like the ones you buy from pastry shops in Lebanon, but it is an easy project and stirs together without any special equipment.
• 2-In making namoura the technique matters as much as ingredients, to avoid a tough namoura, don’t over mix the semolina dough, simply because semolina has a high protein and gluten content. Overmixing increases gluten development, resulting in a tough and chewier namoura, so you just want to mix to infuse together.
• 3-Don’t be tempted to serve the namoura until it had a chance to cool down completely, wait for a few hours.
• 4-Semolina is a coarse, pale yellow flour made from durum wheat. It has a high protein and gluten content and is highly resistant to millin
• 5-For namoura, use coarse grind semolina.  Avoid fine semolina.
• 6-The raw namoura batter should be kept covered at room temperature for a minimum of 8 hours and a maximum of 12. This will help the semolina grains to individually moisten and swell. 10 to 12 hours later you will notice the dough has thickened a bit as the semolina has absorbed the liquid.
• 7-Decorate the namoura with your favorite nuts, using a spatula, lightly exert pressure on the nuts to help them stick to the namoura.
• 8-The secret to an attractive golden namoura top: Add cold sugar syrup (atter) to the namoura dough in its raw stage is a secret ingredient that pastry shops draw upon in Lebanon when making it.
• 9-Grease the baking tin with a mix of both tahini/ sugar syrup and ghee for both flavor and an attractive namoura with a golden bottom.
• 10-Bake the namoura in a preheated oven of 200°C/400°F. Use the bottom rack of the oven to bake your namoura. Bake it for 20 minutes then rotate to ensure even browning.
• 11-The syrup is flavored with orange blossom water. It really adds flavor to your namoura.
• 12-Make the hot sugar syrup while the namoura is baking in the oven. Sugar syrup should be piping hot before drenching the hot baked nammoura. It should be a light sugar syrup, so please do’t over boil, 1 1/2 minutes is the ideal time of boiling.

Storage: Refrigerate leftovers for up to 4 days covered with clingfilm to keep your namoura from drying out.

If you make Hadia’s Lebanese Cuisine Namoura, kindly rate the recipe and leave a comment below. This will be helpful for future readers and if you snapped some photos, share them on Facebook, I would love to see your creations.

Doris said: Made this for a family gathering and everyone asked for the recipe. The namoura bars came out perfect and are a crowd pleaser. I was hesitant at the beginning because I have tried previously some versions that were dry, not like the pastry shop variety, yours reminded me of the ones we used to pick from Albaba sweets, soft, dense and sweet. Thanks you so much, Hadia.

Namoura

5 from 2 votes

Prep: 12 hours hours

Cook: 1 day day 35 minutes minutes

Servings 30 pieces

Course

Dessert

Cuisine

Lebanese

---

Middle East

Print Pin Review

Description

Next time you wander into a pastry shop in Lebanon to buy namoura, don't reach for your wallet to shell out money; remind yourself  that you can go home and make it.

Ingredients

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 700 grams (4 cups) semolina
• ▢ 350 grams ( 1 1/ 2 cups) granulated sugar
• ▢ 100 ml / 1/3 cup animal ghee ( please use a good brand)
• ▢ 1/2 leveled teaspoon baking soda (please don't go heavy with baking soda)
• ▢ 350 ml / 1 1/4 cups water
• ▢ 150 ml / 2/3 cup cold ready sugar syrup
• ▢ A handful of Nuts like almonds/ pine nuts or cashews
• ▢ 3 tablespoons full fat milk powder optional, but recommended

To make the hot sugar syrup

• ▢ 600 grams / 3 cups granulated sugar
• ▢ 500 grams / 2 cups water
• ▢ 1 tablespoon freshly sueezed lemon juice
• ▢ 2 tablespoons orange blossom water

To grease the baking tray

• ▢ 1 tablespoon ready sugar syrup or tahini
• ▢ 1 tablespoon ghee

Instructions

 

Prepare the sugar syrup you are going to be using in the raw dough. Here is a detailed recipe on how to make sugar syrup. You can prepare the sugar syrup a few days before making the namoura. Keep it in an air-tight container refrigerated and use the mentioned quantity when you intend to make namoura.

• To make the dough: In a large bowl combine the semolina, sugar and baking soda. Using your hands mix together to infuse. Add the 150 ml of the cold sugar syrup, and mix well with the tips of your finger allowing the sugar syrup to penetrate the semolina dough. Add the powdered milk (if used).
• Add the water (150ml) in a gradual fashion and mix using your hands until you obtain a thin dropping consistency but not liquid dough.
• Grease a round baking tray ( 38 cm /15 inches ) with both tahini/ sugar syrup and ghee, make sure to grease the bottom and sides equally. Transfer the dough to the greased tin and spread it in a leveled single layer. Shake the tin a bit to help even out the batter. The depth of the batter should be 1 1/2 cm/ 1/2 inch deep, this will give a moderatethick namoura result, note that the batter will rise a bit while baking.
• Cover with clingfilm and leave it for a minimum of 8 hours to a maximum of 12. This well help the semolina grains to swell. (This is how it is done at pastry shops in Beirut).
• Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F.
• With a serrated knife, score the dough into equal squares or diamonds.
• Add your favorite nuts in easch square. It could be blanched sliced almonds, pine nuts or cashews.
  
• Bake the namoura in the lower rack of the oven for 20 minutes. At this stage you will notice your namoura started to put on some color. Remove from the oven and one more time, using a serrated knife, cut all the way through the markes you have made earlier; add the ghee equally atop of the namoura.
• Place the oven rack in the center position and return your namoura for further 15 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
• While the namoura is baking, prepare the sugar syrup: Place the sugar and water in a pot over high heat. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the lemon juice (this will prevent the sugar syrup from crystallizing), keep it boiling over high heat for 2 minutes. Add the orange blossom, remove from heat and keep it hot.
• Once the namoura surface and bottom is deep brown, remove from the oven, and rapidly, pour the piping hot sugar syrup all over the namoura. The namoura will soak up the sugar syrup in a few minutes.
  
• Set aside for 3 to 4 hours before, With a pie server spatula, transfer the namoura squares to a serving plate.
  

Video

Notes

1-Please note that this recipe was developed using metric system of weight measurements. I have provided you with cup measurements as well, but for accuracy, I highly recommend you use a scale to measure your ingredients, even liquids, to get the best possible outcome.

2-At pastry sweet shops in Lebanon, namoura is made one day before selling to ensure a cohesive and consistent result, so please keep it in the baking tin for a minimum of four hours before serving, for best results.

3- Use the best animal ghee brand you can find for a flavorsome namoura, and please avoid butter or vegetable ghee. It won't work here. The best ghee brands, after much testing,  are the cow brand (al bakara al haloub) or al Assel.

 

Keyword ghee, semolina, Sugar syrup

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Another Lebanese sheet cake worth learning, Sfouf, Lebanese Turmeric Cake Any occasion is more celebratory with this yellow Lebanese sheet cake that is called sfouf, it is the kind typically brought to gatherings in Lebanon and served with a cup of coffee or tea, flavorful enough to serve plain.