Kar' Assaly

A béchamel goes over the top, which is unexpected in a pumpkin dessert and is the whole point of this one.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (butter), dairy (whole milk).

Ingredients

the pumpkin

• 1.2 kg pumpkin, peeled and in chunks
• 200 g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 60 g butter

the layer

• 100 g walnuts, chopped
• 80 g raisins
• 40 g desiccated coconut

the béchamel

• 700 ml whole milk
• 60 g cornflour
• 80 g caster sugar
• 40 g butter
• 1 tablespoon orange blossom water

to finish

• 3 tablespoons pistachios, chopped
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar

Method

1. A BÉCHAMEL GOES OVER THE TOP, which is unexpected in a pumpkin dessert and is the whole point of this one. Not cream, not custard, not clotted cream -- a sweetened white sauce thickened with cornflour, poured over the cooked pumpkin and nuts and baked until the surface browns in patches. It is the same construction a savoury vegetable bake would use, applied to a sweet dish, and the result is unlike any other pumpkin dessert: the sauce sets into a firm pale layer that can be cut, so a square holds together with pumpkin below and béchamel above rather than being spooned out.
2. THE BÉCHAMEL IS THICK HERE, NOT THIN. Sixty grams of cornflour to seven hundred millilitres. It has to set firm enough to slice and to sit on top of the pumpkin without sinking into it. A pourable sauce disappears into the fruit and the dish has no layer at all.
3. IT IS CORNFLOUR AND NOT A ROUX. Slaked in a little of the cold milk and whisked in. A flour-and-butter roux gives a faintly savoury, slightly heavy sauce; cornflour sets clean and clear-tasting, which is what a sweet layer needs.
4. THE PUMPKIN IS COOKED DOWN AND DRAINED BEFORE IT GOES IN THE DISH. Cooked with sugar and butter until soft and most of its liquid has gone, then any remaining syrup poured off. Pumpkin holds a great deal of water and it will seep out under the béchamel and separate it into a pool.
5. IT IS NOT MASHED. Left in recognisable chunks. The contrast of soft pumpkin pieces against the set sauce is the texture of the dish; puréed, it is a two-layer pudding with nothing to bite.
6. THE NUTS AND RAISINS GO BETWEEN, NOT ON TOP. Scattered over the pumpkin before the béchamel. Under the sauce they stay soft and distinct; on the surface they scorch and the raisins go hard.
7. IT IS BAKED UNTIL THE TOP IS PATCHED WITH BROWN AND THEN COOLED BEFORE CUTTING. 190°C for twenty-five minutes, then at least an hour. Warm, the béchamel has not set and the squares slump.
8. The pumpkin cooked with the sugar, cinnamon and butter over a medium heat 25 MINUTES, until soft and most of the liquid has gone. NOT mashed.
9. Any remaining syrup POURED OFF and the chunks spread in a baking dish.
10. The walnuts, raisins and coconut scattered over.
11. THE BÉCHAMEL: the cornflour slaked smooth in a little of the cold milk, the rest brought to a simmer with the sugar and butter, then the slurry whisked in and cooked 4 MINUTES until THICK.
12. The blossom water stirred in off the heat.
13. Poured over the pumpkin and levelled.
14. Baked at 190°C for 25 MINUTES, until the top is PATCHED WITH BROWN.
15. COOLED at least 1 HOUR before cutting.
16. TESTED: a square should hold two layers when lifted. A slump or a watery pool means the pumpkin was not drained.
17. Scattered with pistachios and dusted with icing sugar.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Egypt · All recipes