Maouled and Asida Zgougou

Today in Tunisia is (another!) Public Holiday. They always seem to come thick and fast at the beginning of the year, and then we are left to work the long hot summer with no respite.

Today is Maouled, the day on which the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed is celebrated. There is some debate in Tunisia this year about whether the holiday should be celebrated, as the marking of this day is an innovation developed since the Prophet's death, and does not appear in the holy texts. None the less, we all got a day off.

Now, this year, I have been trying to develop more of a rapport with my landlord as a means to further my cultural understanding and hopefully get an invitation to break-fast during Ramadan in July. He lives next-door to, and above, me with his big family and I have made a big effort to up the niceties, learn some more Arabic greetings and shower them with British chocolate (Terry's Chocolate Oranges in fact) at Christmas. Today was a big payoff. This morning my landlord's mother knocked on the door and I opened it with my bed-hair and in a onesie. She presented me with a giant bowl of Asida Zgougou.

Asida Zgougou is a Tunisian dessert made only at Maouled. It is layered like a trifle, but the way it is made is quite different.

"Zgougou" is the Tunisian word for the native Pine Nut tree. The bottom layer of the desert, which is dark, brown like chocolate, is made from the sieved paste of ground pine nuts mixed with water and cooked on a stove with flour and sugar. Above this is spread an orange-cream layer which is made from condensed milk and orange oil (which is used heavily here, to sweeten coffee and desserts) and on top, a decoration of ground and whole nuts. Here we have almonds, pistachios, pine nuts and a walnut.

 

And the taste test? The texture is like pudding and you get knocked sideways by the nuttiness. It's also really creamy, I suppose from the nut fats, and so reminds me a bit of a nut-flavoured ice cream, like pistachio, for example. I can't completely decide if I like it, so I'm finding that the best solution is to have another spoonful... just to make sure... 

 

Bon appetit et bonne fête!