“Here’s an authentic semolina and coconut cake (eggless) baked to perfection and soaked in a simple syrup. There’s nothing like it and it comes together so quickly,” says Amina Al-Saigh, a busy wife, mother of 3, and creative blogger at the Hungry Paprikas food blog. “I’ve created this blog to share my Middle Eastern-inspired recipes. I know how busy life can be today, and how cooking can often be overwhelming. But with knowledge, skill, and the right recipes, you can serve delicious, bold flavors and not spend all day in the kitchen. I enjoy sharing modern, simplified recipes that are approachable and use fresh ingredients and many Arabic spices,” she adds.
“I’m the author of the Amazon Best-Seller and Taste Canada Award Nominated Cookbook Souk to Table. I’m on a mission to use my engineering background and my daily life as a mom to create and share easy, family friendly and accessible Middle Eastern and Mediterranean meals. I began Hungry Paprikas when I was on maternity leave from my engineering job,” she says. “It was mainly to fill my time and use it as a creative outlet. Over the first year, I’ve gained traction on Instagram and started to build a wonderful community. I realized that my community wanted more of what I was sharing. Before I knew it, I was hooked on food blogging and all of the fun elements it entails such as recipe development, food photography, and a meaningful connection with a community of like-minded people. I had to keep it going, balancing it alongside my full time engineering job and motherhood.”
“My parents are both Iraqi, and have passed down authentic Iraqi recipes to our family. But we also grew up in Canada, and therefore mingled with a varied Arab community, experiencing the different food the Middle East has to offer. My mission is to help other busy mothers (and parents) like myself gain more confidence and organized in the kitchen, so they can prepare recipes with self-assurance and still maintain a career/social life/hobbies/etc. I want to expose readers to the diverse range of food within the Middle East, and empower them to try something new using tested, perfected, and easy to follow recipes.”
“I love to travel and explore foods and culinary techniques from around the world. I spent five years living in London and traveling around Europe, and it was an amazing period in my life. I truly believe that food brings people together — it’s a global language and it always brings happiness and peace with it.”
“Namoura is a one-bowl Lebanese semolina cake that comes together quickly. It has a unique texture and is drenched in a simple syrup after baking, which makes it irresistible. If you love easy desserts, this is for you. Namoura is actually the Lebanese name for this dessert, but it is known as Basbousa in Egypt, Harissa in Palestine/Jordan, and Revani in Turkey and Persia. Each region has its own take on this dessert, but one thing is common among all of them: it is a semolina cake that is served with almonds on top and drenched in syrup.”
“Semolina is a type of flour made from durum wheat (a type of wheat grown in the Middle East). It is available in various sizes, ranging from really fine to coarse. In this recipe, I use coarse semolina for the best texture, but some people do a mix of fine and coarse. I use thick cream in my recipe because I find it adds richness. It comes in a small can (Puck and Nestle are the brands I use), and it is the consistency of yogurt, but if you can’t find it, you can replace with more Greek yogurt.”
