Namoura

A semolina-based batter is spread across a wide tray, and sugar syrup is poured over it the moment it leaves the oven, sinking in as it cools. The cuts are made before baking, in diamonds or squares, with a single almond pressed into the centre of each piece. The texture sits between sandy and wet — cake from the semolina, damp from the syrup.

How many names it has

Namoura in Syria and Lebanon, basbousa in Egypt and across much of the Arab world, harisa in some places, revani in Turkey, shamali in Armenian. These are regional names for the same sweet; the recipe holds steady apart from small differences.

Where it came from

The Oxford Companion to Food traces it to ma’mouniya, a 9th-century Abbasid dish of rice cooked in fat and syrup. Semolina later replaced the rice, and the batter came to be baked first and soaked afterwards. Ma’mouniya itself is still alive — it is Aleppo’s breakfast sweet.

When it is eaten

Made by the tray for holidays and for guests, and common on the iftar table and before suhoor during Ramadan. Day to day it sits in sweet shop windows and is sold by weight rather than by the piece.

How to order it

By weight. Half a kilo is four or five pieces. If you want the version layered with clotted cream you have to ask; it is not always in the window. Plain coffee or tea goes with it — the syrup is heavy and does not want a sweet drink on top of it.