This is the yummiest and simplest Egyptian dessert in the entire world and its by far the best after-school snack ever. My mom and I always look forward to fall so that we can quickly whip up this bechamel pudding, that can either be made with pumpkin or sweet potato, whichever you prefer/have conveniently in your cupboard! Creamy sweet potato with even creamier bechamel mixed with juicy raisins and topped with crunchy nuts is an irresistible combo! Our family is filled with bechamel fanatics, so you can understand how excited we were when we discovered this recipe...
I guess you can also say that the healthiness of this recipe certainly added to its appeal (but it was mainly the bechamel that drew us to it). No butter, no cream, and just enough sugar to enhance the natural tastes of sweet potato!
Note:
You can substitute raisins for other dried fruit such as dates, prunes, apricots, whatever your heart desires. And we've made this recipe successfully with roasted almonds as well, so the nut topping is also entirely up to you!
- Wash and peel sweet potatoes. Chop them into 3inch wide disks.
- Dump sweet potato disks into large pot and fill pot with just enough water to cover the sweet potatoes.
- Mix 1 cup sugar into the water and add cinnamon stick
- Boil sweet potatoes until they are soft (about 15-20 minutes)
- Drain sweet potatoes, saving the sugar-water liquid and discarding the cinnamon stick
- Mash sweet potatoes and mix in raisins. Spread sweet potato mixture into the bottom of an 8x9 pan.
- Preheat oven to 350F
- In a saucepan, cook flour with 1 cup of the reserved sugar-water liquid.
- Add in 2 cups of milk and stir continuously until mixture thickens into a viscous sauce.
- Add more sugar into bechamel if desired. (or add more of the sugar-water liquid)
- Pour bechamel on top of the sweet potato mixture.
- Roast hazelnuts in a pan until their skins start to flake off.
- Peel the skins off the hazelnuts and chop finely.
- Sprinkle pudding with the chopped hazelnuts, and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until bechamel layer turns golden brown.
- Let pudding cool before serving, otherwise the bechamel layer will be very runny!