American food culture is consists of many different culturally focused cuisine that many foreigners travel around the world just to taste. Americans, however, do like to taste the different foods and cuisine options from around the world which is why Americans lead in global travel and exploration on a yearly basis. America itself has many foreign cuisine restaurants and food places which allow Americans to get a taste of food around the world without having to leave their home.
The problem with most foreign cuisine in America is that it is typically altered in order to meet the expected taste buds and preferences of the American public so you don’t really get a good sense of what the food tastes like in its country of origin. Middle Eastern cuisine has long been a favorite foreign food option of the American public however in order to get a true taste of the Middle East, you must travel there to experience the flavors yourself.
If you’re an American who loves desserts, the Middle East provides a wide array of high-quality sweet treats that you may have never heard of. To help you explore the full capacity of what Middle Eastern desserts consist of, we’re going to list some of the top middle eastern desserts that you may never heard of so that you can satisfy your foreign sweets craving.
#1 Basbousa
Basbousa is an Egyptian dessert that consists of a sweet cake made from semolina which is a wheat commonly used in the production of pasta. Basbousa is also usually dipped in a simple sweet syrup that is often times infused with coconut flavoring to add extra depth to the dessert. Some chefs will also add a little bit of rose water to their Basbousa in order to balance out the flavors.
#2 Umm Ali
Umm Ali is another Egyptian derived dessert that consists of milk, phyllo pastry, double cream, and nuts. Umm Ali is also often times topped with treats like powdered sugar and coconut flakes to add extra depth onto the already existing flavors. Umm Ali is said to have gotten it’s origins from a previous Egyptian king’s wife who’s rivaled was named Umm Ali, she was killed and had the dessert named after her in the name of victory, talk about bitter sweet.
#3 Kunafeh
Kunafeh is a very crunchy and rich dessert choice commonly found in the middle east. Kunafeh is made using semolina dough and phyllo pastry in the form of a thin noodle that is then stuffed with white cheese for extra flavor. Kunafeh is also typically soaked in sweet syrup to add extra richness to the dish and it has several variations throughout history.
#4 Aish El-Saraya
Aish El-Saraya is a a sweet bread dessert commonly found in the middle east that comes with sweet syrup drizzling and cream to top it off. Aish El-Saraya is also commonly garnished with nuts on top of it and is said to have gotten it’s origins from Lebanese cuisine and culture.
