Easy, Creamy, Passover Pudding

A lot of my cooking students complain about traditional Passover desserts, which often get a bad rap as being dry and boring.  A few years ago, I was honored when asked to bring dessert to a Passover Seder.  With deep respect for anyone who makes dietary sacrifices for religious reasons, and a sense of sympathy for those who suffer from dietary allergies, I am always ready to make the best out of what people CAN eat, instead of what they can't.  For the Seder, I chose to make an Italian Sponge Cake with almond flour (ground almonds) instead of the traditional flour. To complement the cake, I made a delicious Egyptian apricot pudding.  The pudding is perfect on many counts - it's unique and tastes great and it's pretty and compliments the texture of the cake. Apricots also bloom earlier than most fruits, so they are also seasonally appropriate for the Passover menu.
My dessert was a hit, and everyone loved the recipe which I went on to publish in Nile Style: Egyptian Cuisine and Culture. A guest at the party later told me: "Amy...your dessert was terrific..and yes, you solved the "dry" dilemma." "But," she continued, "You have to understand that dry desserts at Passover are like an unspoken cultural rite among the Jewish community." "We don't like eating them...but a Seder without them wouldn't be the same!"

Apricot Pudding/ Mahallibayat Amr al Din

8 Servings

Apricots are significant in both the Judaic and Islamic faith. Fresh apricots, known as mish mish in Arabic, bloom very early in the spring around the time of Passover. Our English word apricot was a derivative of the Arabic word al burquq which means precocious and described the early blooming apricots. Qamr al Din means “moon of faith” in Arabic, and is the word given to dried apricots. In the Egyptian dialect, the “Q” at the beginning of the word is silent. Traditionally, this pudding is made with corn starch, but I’ve substituted potato starch for Passover.



Ingredients:

1 pound dried apricots

1 cup sugar

4 tablespoons potato starch dissolved in ¼ cup cold water

Handful of blanched almonds or other nuts, to decorate

Handful of raisins, to decorate

Preparation:

Chop the apricots into small pieces. Place them in a large bowl and cover them with 4 cups of boiling water. When the apricot pieces dissolve, add sugar, and stir. Puree the mixture in a blender.

Pour the apricot juice into a medium saucepan. Add the potato starch mixture and stir well with a wooden spoon to combine. Increase the heat to high and allow the mixture to boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium low, and continue cooking the pudding, stirring slowly until it thickens and pulls away from the sides of the saucepan. Pour into individual ramekins or a large decorative bowl. Sprinkle raisins and nuts on top in a pattern by laying cookie cutters on top and filling the insides of the shapes with nuts or raisins. Remove cookie cutters and refrigerate approximately 2 hours, or until set. Serve cold.