Desert Desserts Trivia Quiz

Answer: semolina

Widely available in restaurants and bakeries around the Mediterranean and the Middle East, basbousa is also easy to make at home. Its key ingredient is semolina, which gives the cake its characteristic grainy texture; ground nuts such as almonds or pistachios, or finely shredded coconut, are occasionally added. As is the case with other Middle Eastern desserts, eggs are generally not used, and may be replaced with yogurt; many recipes call for ghee (clarified butter) as the fat of choice. The batter is usually baked in a sheet pan, then cut into squares or diamond shapes. The other major step in the preparation of this dessert is the sugar syrup - often flavoured with rose water or orange flower water - that is poured over the cake immediately after baking.

In Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries, basbousa is traditionally prepared during Ramadan, when plenty of sweet goods are consumed between sunset and sunrise - in particular during the evening meal called iftar, which breaks the long fast of the day. Though basbousa is the name most commonly used in the Middle East for this dense, moist cake, other names are employed throughout the region - such as revani, the name by which the cake is known in Turkey, Greece, and the Balkan Peninsula.

Answer: they are deep-fried

Deep-fried pastries are extremely popular in the Middle East, where they are frequently associated with various religious holidays. Sufganiyot are round, yeast-leavened doughnuts filled with jam or custard, prepared and eaten in Israel and around the world for Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. Though their Hebrew name comes from the Talmud, and the tradition of eating fried pastries on Hanukkah is an ancient one, sufganiyot were brought to Israel by Ashkenazi Jews from Central Europe. In North Africa, a similar deep-fried, ring-shaped pastry - soaked in honey or date syrup - is called by the etymologically related names of sfenj or sfinz.

Luqaimat (from the Arabic for "morsel") are believed to have originated in 13th-century Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate, and are still among the most popular desserts in Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula. These bite-sized, yeasted doughnuts, soaked in syrup or honey after frying, are known as loukoumades in Greece and Cyprus, lokma in Turkey, and awameh in the Levant, Balah el-sham (Levant dates), known as tulumba in Turkey, are very similar to Spanish churros. Finger-shaped and fluted, they are made with choux pastry soaked in sugar syrup. All these rich deep-fried pastries are popular Ramadan treats.

Answer: cheese

The Middle East's own unique version of cheesecake (whose name is also transliterated from Arabic as kanafeh, kunafa, and variations thereof) is a delectable concoction of shredded dough layered with cheese and soaked in attar (thick sugar syrup flavoured with rose or orange flower water) after baking. The string pastry used for this dessert is often referred to in Arabic as knafeh, like the cake itself; it is known as tel kadayıf in Turkish, and kataifi in Greek. Some variants of knafeh replace the cheese with clotted cream or chopped nuts.

Believed to have originated in the Middle Ages during the Abbasid Caliphate, knafeh is widespread throughout North Africa and the Middle East. However, one of the best-known versions is knafeh Nabulsiyeh, from the city of Nablus in the West Bank, which uses the local Nabulsi cheese (similar to halloumi or mozzarella), and is considered the national dessert of Palestine. In the Levant, knafeh is one of the favourite pastries baked for Eid al-Fitr, the festival celebrated at the end of Ramadan, which is also known as Sweet Eid because of the emphasis on desserts and other sweet goods.

Answer: tahini

Halva (also spelled halwa or halwah) is a word of Arabic origin (from hilwa, meaning "sweet") that denotes a wide variety of confections that have been enjoyed for centuries in many areas of Western. Central, and South Asia. First mentioned around the 7th century AD, these sweets are generally dense and fudge-like, though their texture varies according to the main ingredient used in their making. Flour-based halva can have the texture of a thick, stiff pudding, or - if made with semolina or ground rice - can be somewhat grainy and buttery. Halva made with tahini (sesame seed paste) - the most popular kind in the Levant - tends to be dry and crumbly.

In Southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, and parts of Central Asia, various other nuts and seeds (such as sunflower seeds) are used to make halva. In Israel and neighbouring countries, halva is usually sold in cakes or slabs from which slices can be cut. On the other hand, South Indian halwa is more pudding-like - often made with fruits or vegetables, and eaten with a spoon. Like ice cream, halva comes in a wide array of flavours, including Western favourites like chocolate, coffee, and vanilla.

The three wrong answers are all Arabic words for popular Middle Eastern/North African foods: harissa is hot chili pepper paste, labneh is strained yogurt cheese, and sumac is a spice made from the ground dried berries of the shrub of the same name.

Answer: pancakes

Together with knafeh, qatayef are the quintessential Ramadan dessert, eaten mostly at iftar, the usually lavish meal taken after sundown. They are small, yeasted pancakes made with flour and semolina, folded and filled with ashta (Arabic clotted cream), sprinkled with chopped nuts, and drenched in syrup or honey. Though you will find photos of deep-fried qatayef looking like crescent-shaped dumplings, the type known in Egypt as qatayef asafiri look rather like a shorter, plumper version of cannoli, with one side left open. Because of their creamy filling, qatayef are meant to be eaten on the same day as they are made. In some recipes, however, the ashta filling is replaced by a mixture of sugar and finely chopped nuts.

Like other desserts mentioned in this quiz, qatayef are of medieval origin, and were first mentioned in a 10th-century cookbook produced during the Abbasid Caliphate. Their name comes from an Arabic root meaning "to pluck" or "to pick up" - quite suited to this delectable finger food.

Answer: they are made without eggs

Western-style bread puddings are usually baked, and rely on eggs (often in large quantities) as well as milk or cream to soak the bread and give cohesion to the mixture after baking. To make Om Ali, on the other hand, pieces of bread or pastry are combined with milk, sugar and nuts - which results in a softer, lighter texture than that of puddings that contain eggs. This dessert's name means "mother of Ali", and refers to the first wife of Sultan Ezz el-Din Aybak, who ruled Egypt in the 13th century; Ali was the couple's son. According to a legend that sounds like an episode from "Game of Thrones", the unnamed "mother of Ali" arranged for the murder of the Sultan's second wife (who in turn had engineered the Sultan's assassination), and had her cooks create the pudding to celebrate her revenge.

The loftily-named aish el-saraya ("palace bread") is of Lebanese origin, but - as is the case of most of the desserts mentioned in this quiz - is also popular in other Middle Eastern countries. It is a delectable, no-bake pudding - somewhat reminiscent of an American-style icebox cake - whose chief ingredients are syrup-soaked stale bread slices, breadcrumbs, or bread rusks, and the thick clotted cream known in the region as ashta. Since this latter product is not easy to find in Western countries, many of the recipes for this luscious dessert that can be found online suggest alternatives. Flavoured with orange blossom water and rosewater, this layered pudding is usually topped with chopped pistachios.

Answer: coffee

Muhallebi (also known as mahalabiyeh or mahalabia) is a Middle Eastern spin on the globally popular milk pudding. According to a legend, the dessert was named after 7th-century Arab general Al-Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra, who was served this pudding by a Persian cook, and liked it so much that he gave it his own name. Various recipes for muhallebi are found in medieval Arab cookbooks - some of them containing shredded chicken, as its European counterpart, blancmange, did in the same historical period.

Modern-day muhallebi is generally thickened with rice or rice flour, though cornstarch or semolina. can also be used. The most common flavourings are the omnipresent orange flower water or rose water, though cardamom, cinnamon or saffron also feature in some variants of this pudding. While coffee is not traditionally employed as a flavouring in Middle Eastern desserts, it is often served as an accompaniment. Chopped pistachios are the most common topping, though other garnishes (including whipped cream and maraschino cherries) are popular in some areas. Like most milk puddings, muhallebi is served cold; a similar, milk-based concoction, known as sahlab, is a cross between a pudding and a drink, and always served hot.

Answer: True

Very similar to Turkish dondurma, booza (meaning "ice cream" in Arabic) is a frozen dessert made with milk, cream and sugar, to which two very distinctive ingredients are added - mastic (a natural resin also known as tears of Chios) and sahlab, a flour made from the tubers of a plant of the orchid family. The addition of mastic and sahlab contributes to booza's characteristic stretchy texture, which is the result of a process of pounding and stretching the ice cream mixture with large wooden mallets, rather than churning it as is done for Western-style ice cream. Its stretchy texture makes it much slower to melt than other frozen desserts, and allows it to be served at a higher temperature. For a long time booza only came in one flavour, ashta (clotted cream), sometimes with the addition of rose water or orange flower water, but now many more flavours are available.

Believed to be the world's oldest ice cream, booza originated in Syria in the early 16th century. In a souk in the ancient city of Damascus, Syria's capital, there is a famous ice cream parlour named Bakdash: this a popular tourist attraction serves large scoops of booza with a generous coating of chopped pistachios. In 2018, a shop called Republic of Booza, which served the iconic Syrian ice cream in a variety of interesting flavours, opened in Brooklyn, New York City. Sadly, the establishment did not survive the COVID-19 pandemic.

Answer: pumpkin

In its simplest form, assidat (also spelled "aseeda" or "asida") is a sort of stiff porridge made with whole wheat flour mixed with boiling water - similar to West African fufu - often eaten with butter and honey for breakfast. However, the Emirati version of this simple but comforting dish, often served to women in labour, is much closer to the Western idea of a dessert pudding.

To make assidat al-boubar ("pumpkin sweet"), wheat flour is dry-roasted in a pan, then mixed with puréed pumpkin, ghee, and honey or caramelized sugar. The mixture, flavoured with rose water, saffron and cardamom, is cooked until thick and smooth. Generally served warm, with chopped nuts or saffron strands sprinkled on top, this pudding is traditionally prepared for Mawlid (Prophet Mohammed's birthday). The Tunisian version of assidat, also enjoyed on Mawlid, is even richer: the key ingredient in this layered dessert (much like a trifle) called assidat zgougou are ground Aleppo pine nuts.

Answer: bananas

A number of Western-style bread puddings involve the use of breadcrumbs rather than slices or chunks of bread: examples of this are the British Queen of Puddings or the Norwegian apple-cream parfait known as Veiled Maidens. Yemeni masoob (also known as malaki, meaning "royal") is a no-bake dessert that pairs flatbread crumbs with fruit - in this case, mashed, overripe bananas. The fruit and bread are mixed with cream and the country's famed honey; dates, raisins or nuts can also be added.

This rich dish, which is also enjoyed in the rest of the Arabian Peninsula, can also be served as breakfast. In spite of its high calorie content, it is a rather healthy option, as the flatbread is generally made with whole wheat, and the amount of cream can be scaled down. For extra nutrition (and calories), some people also like to top the pudding with grated or shredded cheese. Another popular Yemeni dessert, called bint al-sahn ("daughter of the plate"), is a kind of bread baked in multiple layers and topped with honey, clarified butter, and nigella (black cumin) seeds.