milk bastela (kt

This bastela can be filled in two ways

- either with milk (traditional recipe)

- or with ‘crème patissière” (confectionner’s custard), made fairly thin.

how to prepare the milk:

- 1 1/2 litre (3 pts) of milk

- 4 soupspoonfuls of rice flour

- 1 teasglassful of orange-flower water

- 50 g (2 oz) of butter

- 250 g (9 oz) of peeled almonds coarsely sieved through a vegetable sieve

- 20 sugar lumps

- 30 pastry layers of ouarka of bastela oil for frying

Bring the milk to the boil with the sugar and add the rice flour, and the orange-flower water and the butter and leave to thicken slightly before removing from the heat. Leave to get cold.

Meanwhile skin the almonds, fry in oil and sieve. Add 1/2 teaglassful of caster sugar and put on one side.

Take the pile of ouarka layers and trim the edges carefully to make neat circles. Unstick the layers in pairs and fry golden brown with oil in the frying pan. Drain 30 minutes before serving, put the browned bastela layers in a very slow oven to sweat out the oil for about 15 minutes and take them out. Place 3 layers on the dish in which they are to be served, sprinkle with crushed almonds, cover with 1 or 2 pastry layers and pour on a little of the cooled milk. Continue the layers of pastry, almonds, milk until all the pastry layers are used up. Pour a final layer of thickened milk over the top. Serve at once.