Preparation time : 50 minutes
Cooking time : 15 -20 minutes
Serves : 6 members
Description
Having very thin fried vermicelli that I got from Dubai on a holiday which was lying in my pantry for a while. Made up my mind to put them to use but in an innovative stylish way. At the same time, my mind was busy thinking about the eid feast table menu. DUBAI – Arabia – thin vermicelli all this immediately took me back to the birds nest sort of dessert that I had in Dubai. Wanting to replicate the same.. I did my best with home friendly techniques that I thought would work. To my surprise it did and looked absolutely good too. Now, it came down to the tasting part, I took my first bite. The crispy vermicelli and the rose flavored filling inside was divine. But this tasted so very different from what I had in Dubai but in a good way. I was blown away with its beautiful balance of flavors, contrasting textures and contemporary presentation. Every one gave it the highest score in the dessert table letting way for it to be the dessert of the day. Happy happy me that my primped and prepped up new dessert for the festive season was a banging hit which evolved indulgence and refined taste.
Ingredients for the nest
Ingredients | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Thin vermicelli | one hand full |
| Water | enough to soak the vermicelli |
| Salt | a pinch |
| Ghee | 1 tablespoon |
| Muffin tray | 1 with 12 dents |
| Muffin cups | 12 |
| Ghee or butter | to grease |
Ingredients for the filling
Ingredients | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Milk | 1 1/2 cups |
| Almond powder | 4 tablespoons |
| Cornflour | 2 tablespoons |
| Sugar | 4 tablespoons or to taste |
| Salt | a pinch |
| Rose essence | 2 drops |
| Almond + pistachio | few peeled and cut into strips |
Method for nests
- Soak the vermicelli in enough water and salt for 40 minutes making sure the vermicelli dose not break.
- Drain the soaked vermicelli and add 1 tablespoon of ghee and mix well. Grease muffin cups with ghee or butter. Line them over a muffin tray.
- Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for ten minutes.
- Take a little of the vermicelli and roll it around your finger to get a round shaped nest.
- Place it over the greased muffin cup. Do the same to all the soaked vermicelli.
- Place the muffin tray filled with the nests in the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake for 10 -12 minutes until crisp and golden.
- Remove from the oven and cool completely.
Method for filling
- Heat milk to boiling point. Mix almond powder, cornflour, salt and sugar together.
- Dilute it with a little water to pouring consistency. Lower the heat.
- Add it to the boiling milk, stirring all the way until you get a thick gooey mass of mixture with no lumps.
- Add rose essence. Mix well and remove from heat.
How to assemble
- Place 1/2 a teaspoon of the cooled filling into each nest.
- Garnish with almond and pistachio strips. Serve at room temperature.
Notes
- Make sure not to break the vermicelli as it’s difficult to roll nests out of cut vermicelli.
- In case the nests are not crispy. Deep fry in batches to crisp.
- Drain into sugar syrup. Remove immediately, fill and serve.
