Sunday, October 4, 2009

Sellou -Morrocan Almond Sesame Dessert

This is another Moroccan Ramadan Special dish that I adapted from Cooking With Alia. Only thing is I quartered the recipe and made the dish as I was not sure how it will turn out and did not want to waste the items.It turned out tasty for me and hence I am posting it .The recipe involves baking the flour in the oven and roasting of almonds,sesame and anise and mixing it altogether with honey and butter.

Ingredients:
All Purpose Flour: 9 tbsp

Almonds: 8 tbsp
White Sesame Seeds: 4 tbsp
Anise Seeds: 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon Powder: 1 tsp + as much as you like
Powdered Sugar (Confectioner's Sugar): 4 tbsp
Salt: a pinch

Unsalted Butter: 2 tbsp
Honey: 2 tbsp


Preparation:
Spread the flour in a baking dish and bake for around 40 minutes in a pre heated oven at 350F.Stir the flour every 5 minutes so that it does not burn .It turns from normal white colour to a light yellow colour .The colour is similar to that of raw/natural chickpea flour.

Meanwhile in a pan, roast together the anise seeds,sesame and almonds.This takes around 12-20 minutes till the sesame turns brown and a roasted aroma comes from them and the almonds look roasted brown. Take 2/3rd of the roasted mix and grind to a fine powder in a processor.Add in powdered/confectioners sugar and cinnamon and salt to this and blend well.Pour in a big bowl.It looks like..


Coarsely grind the remaining nut mix like this



And add to the sugared nut powder in the big bowl.Take out the baked flour and sift it into the nut mix in the big bowl.The sifting ensures that the flour is lump free.Break on lumps if any and continue sifting.

Melt butter in the microwave or double boiler and pour into the mix along with honey.It looks like..

Mix well with hands and you will be getting a moist sand-like crumbs which can stick together when pressed into a shape.This is our sellou.

Pour the coarse grains into moulds and press together to form a shape and invert into serving platter or simply spoon into the serving cups.Garnish with more almonds and powdered sugar.I went for almond garnish only.


The taste is almondy and sesamy.My daughter did not like it though my husband and myself enjoyed it.This is not for those who do not like sesame.The quantity is enough for around 3+ moulds depending on your mould size.

Update on 5th Oct '09: I posted this dish on 4th thinking that I could meet the deadline of AWED:Morocco which unfortunately (blame it on me!) ended on Oct 2nd.But It was TOO NICE of Pavani who hosted it to accept this very late entry along with Carrot Macharmal salad which I had forgotten to mail her (I think age is catching up with me!).HEARTY THANKS, PAVANI.Do check the delicious round up of AWED:Morocco.

The sellou is also travelling to Sireesha's Sweet Series Event.I am off to mail her before I forget again.

16 Comments:

Red Chillies said...

Looks very interesting, I am all ears when I see some desserts with sesame. unique combination.

Priya Suresh said...

This dessert looks prefect for me, sounds very delicious CL!

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

Middle Eastern again. :) Love sesame so I'm sur eit must taste great. Very interesting dessert.

Unknown said...

it's an interesting recipe sweatha and healthy too. nice try.....

Pavani said...

I updated A.W.E.D-Morocco with both your dishes. Pls check it out when you get a chance.

Sumi said...

wow, very tempting sweet during the festival times

Unknown said...

Dessert looks really delicious and healthy!

Bergamot said...

Very different... looks nice

Sanghi said...

Different, looks delicious!

sra said...

How unusual! I like the fact that I don't have to make a batter and bake it though I'd find stirring the flour every 5 minutes cumbersome. Still, I might try it.

Cham said...

U re the one who bring the foreign continent to savour in plate. Quiet interesting with sesame and almond!

workhard said...

Looks delicious...

Make website india

Anonymous said...

i do like the sesameish taste so i hope to give this a try...

DK said...

Souns and looks perfect. I am sure it would have smelled heavenly! All that almonds and sesame!

Bookmarked :)

DK
http://chefinyou.com

Yasmeen said...

I like such nutty desserts.Must be nice and warming to the body with all the sesame:)

Soma said...

This sounds so much like the Churma laddoo:-) I like the sound of sesame.. but i understand that it might not be a favorite with kids.

Soma(www.ecurry.com)

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