M’s Nammoura

Notes

• Use baking-soda technique from https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018776-namoura-syrup-soaked-semolina-cake. This may help avoid the formation of large air bubbles later on when the yogurt is added to the rest of the dry ingredients.
• Add a bit of honey to the dough mixture to help emulsification.
• Use sour cream instead of yogurt.
• Use real rose water and orange-blossom water – not the oil-based stuff.
• Consider honey and vanilla for flavoring instead of rose water/orange-blossom water, for people who don’t like the latter flavors.

Yield

• One 9” x 13” pan: 1x recipe, 25 minutes.
• One 9” x 9” pan: 0.5x recipe, 20 minutes.

Ingredients

Syrup

• 4 cups (800 g) sugar
• 2 cups (480 mL) cold water
• Juice of one lemon
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) rose water
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) orange blossom water

Nammoura

• 3 cups (490 g) coarse semolina
• 1 cup (200 g) sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup (240 mL) yogurt
• 1 cup (225 g) butter, melted, clarified
• Almond halves, blanched (for decoration)

Steps

Syrup

1. Bring sugar and water to a boil.
2. Add lemon juice and reduce heat.
3. Continue cooking until syrup coats the back of a spoon, 8-10 minutes.
4. Remove from heat, stir in rose water and orange blossom water.

Nammoura

1. Preheat oven to 350 ºF. Grease a 9” x 13” baking pan well with shortening or butter. No need for parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the semolina, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.
3. Add butter and yogurt to the dry ingredients. Incorporate well with hands and knead.
4. Spread in greased pan and pat down firmly. Give the pan a few solid thuds against the counter to smooth out the batter and release any trapped air bubbles.
5. Using a plastic knife, make some superficial lines on how you would like to cut the pieces. In the center of every piece, place one almond by pushing it partly.  Do not cut through the batter, just some markings as to where you will cut the pieces once the nammoura is cold.
6. Bake for 25 minutes.
7. Right away, pour the cooled syrup over the nammoura.  You can do maybe one cup at a time, wait a few minutes (maybe 5 minutes or so) and again pour some more.  I would say that you would need at least 2 cups of syrup, probably 3 cups would be enough.
8. Let cool for at least a couple of hours before cutting, otherwise, it will come apart!

Sources

• https://thesaltandsweet.com/namoura-lebanese-semolina-cake/
• https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018776-namoura-syrup-soaked-semolina-cake