Cooking with Loulla Astin Samali with yoghurt and orange

Samali with yoghurt and orange

A beautiful looking and delicious cake made without oil or eggs, just yoghurt, orange juice, masticha and semolina. After the cake is baked, it is then drenched in homemade syrup which keeps the cake very moist.

Ingredients (serves 8-10):
175g course semolina
175g fine semolina
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
150g caster sugar
200ml orange juice
Grated zest of ½ an orange
1/2 tsp ground mastic gum
100ml water
200g yoghurt

For the syrup:
400g sugar
450ml water
1 cinnamon stick
4 tbsp honey
2 tbsp lemon juice

Method:
Grease a baking dish 25 ½ x 21 ½ cm (10 x 8 ½ inch) with oil and sprinkle with a
little semolina.
In a large bowl, whisk together the semolina sugar, baking powder, mastic gum, yogurt, orange juice, orange zest, water and bicarbonate of soda. Mix well until you have a nice smooth mixture.
Pour into the prepared dish and leave the cake to rest and develop for 25 minutes – the semolina will absorb the liquid.
Preheat the oven to 170c / 325f / gas mark 3.
Place the cake in the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes; check it after 25 minutes – you may need to turn the tray to brown evenly. Check the cake is ready by inserting a fine skewer into the centre, if it comes out clear it is ready.
While the cake is baking, make the syrup. Place sugar, water and cinnamon stick in a saucepan, boil until sugar dissolves, simmer for about 7-8 minutes, then add the lemon juice and honey.
Remove the cake from the oven and spoon the warm syrup over the hot cake. Allow the cake to soak up the syrup and cool completely before cutting and serving.
Enjoy!

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