Quick and Easy Exotic Turkish Dessert Recipe - Irmik Helvasi

This is my husband's version of the Turkish dessert recipe for Irmik Helvasi that he remembers so fondly from his childhood in Turkey. To remind himself of those happy, family times he often makes this gorgeous dish for our family - we love it! A great favourite with everyone.

Based on semolina, (incredibly!), it's not expensive and is one of those store cupboard puddings that you can make at the drop of a hat. Like all my recipes, it's quick and easy to make (I guess about ten minutes), foolproof, uses only a few simple ingredients and tastes delicious.

• 500g semolina
• 125g ground almonds
• 100g butter
• 300g sugar
• 400ml boiled milk (approx)
• 200g currants or raisins
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• Pine kernals (optional)
• Desiccated coconut for decoration (optional)

1. Melt the butter in a pan and add the semolina. Stir and cook gently for about 5 minutes until it changes colour slightly.

2. Add the cinnamon, almonds, pine kernels if using and dried fruit, stirring all the time

3. Add the sugar. If you have a sweet tooth, then add a little more sugar to taste

4. Add the boiled milk and allow to simmer gently and absorb the moisture. It should be of a fairly stiff consistency but this is a very forgiving recipe and a little firmer or softer doesn't really matter. If your is too runny, add more ground almonds, if too stiff, add a little more milk. Remember, it will stiffen up a bit in the fridge.

5. Mould the mixture into whatever form you like, (you can put it into a dish of some sort, but my husband just makes a mound on a plate), and decorate with a sprinkle of cinnamon and the desiccated coconut.

6. Serve warm or cold. We like it best well chilled when it cuts like cake. You could serve it with toppings, custard, ice cream but we eat it, (too much of it in my case), just as it is.

You'll find lots more recipes, including this one, in my on-line recipe book The Les Trois Chenes Recipe Book

We serve our dessert very simply, but you can present it in many different ways. Put it into a buttered mould of any shape and turn it out. Serve it as a loaf and slice it. Put it into a flan dish.

Equally, there's plenty of scope for decoration. My husband is an eater and not a decorator so he's happy to sprinkle a bit of grated coconut and cinnamon over. Why not bring a woman's touch to the decoration and let your imagination run wild?

Easy and fun to make

Yaprak Sarma (stuffed grapevine leaves to you and me) is the perfect starter to go with this dessert. If you have access to vine leaves then you have a fabulous free food resource!

The leaves are stuffed with rice, meat or fruit and are easy to make, economical and give any meal an exotic touch.

Stuffed Grape Vine Leaves Turkish Dolma Recipe

And Turkish food is world famous

Turkey is a wonderful country, huge, varied and very beautiful. It has a long history and rich culture which is reflected in the cuisine. The streets are lined with market stalls selling fruit and vegetables havrvested that morning. The ingredients are fresh and the emphasis on vegetables means that the dishes are healthy and slimming - so long as you don't indulge in too many puddings and cakes. There are many regional specialities and each town and area of Turkey has it's own distinctive traditional dishes. Even if you don't travel, try to seek out some of the many restaurants cooking food from home.

If you can't pay a visit yourself, why not try to produce some of these dishes yourself. They're often simple and so delicious.