Turkish Zuppa Inglese (Supangle)

The chocolate pudding that we call in Turkey "supangle," or "sup" in short, comes from French soupe Anglaise, which comes from Italian zuppa Inglese, which probably is derived from British trifle. Despite the inherited name, the dessert itself bears no resemblance to either zuppa Inglese or trifle, other than the first layer of cake. Therefore, I will label this rich, absolutely delicious chocolate pudding that you can find in every single patisserie in Turkey as traditional Turkish.



























makes 8 medium size bowls or glasses
1 litre milk
7/8 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup dark chocolate or chocolate chips
left over cake or lady fingers or tea, cocoa, etc. biscuits or cookies


























-Mix cold milk, sugar, flour, and cocoa powder, and start cooking stirring constantly.
-Once it starts boiling, take it off the stove.
-Add butter and chocolate. Stir well.
-Cover the bottom of bowls or glasses with which you will serve the pudding with a layer of cake, cookie, or biscuit, and wet them with a splash of milk.
-Pour the pudding into the bowls.
-Decorate the tops with ground pistachio, shredded coconut, ground walnuts or almonds.
-Serve cold.

The popular way to have a "sup" in Turkey is with a scoop of ice cream on top.

note: See the cracks on the surface of the pudding in the pictures? That's because I forgot what a patisserie chef told me once and pour the pudding into the bowls when it was still hot. However, if you let the pudding cool down in the pot, stirring it frequently, and then pour it into the bowls, there would not be any cracks on the surface.

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Milky Semolina Dessert with Cocoa Powder (Sütlü Kakaolu İrmik Tatlısı)

Although the traditional milky semolina dessert is on the heavy side with butter and eggs, the contemporary take on the traditional recipe is much lighter, excluding both butter and eggs. The recipe for the milky semolina dessert remains almost the same, yet the dessert is served in different ways (in casserole dishes, bowls, or glasses), with various sauces (chocolate, raspberry, strawberry, caramel, etc.).

8 small wine glasses
5 cups of milk (whole, 2%, or fat free)
1 cup semolina
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
shredded coconut, ground or crushed walnuts, pistachios, orhazelnuts

-Put milk, semolina, sugar, and vanilla extract in a pot and start cooking on medium until it thickens. Taste it at this point, and if it is not sweet enough for you add more sugar and mix well.
-Pour half of it into glasses or bowls half way through.
-Add cocoa powder to the remaining mix in the pot and stir well.
-Add the cocoa semolina on top of glasses and bowls.
-Sprinkle coconut, walnut, pistachio, or hazelnut on top.
-Let them cool down at room temperature and then refrigerate.
-Serve them cold, with a scoop of ice cream on top if you wish.

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Rice Pudding with Gum Mastic (Damla Sakızlı Sütlaç)

When it comes to Turkish milky desserts, a considerable number of people in Turkey prefer mastic gum flavor. In Turkey mastic gum is used in milky desserts, ice cream (it's the best), and, naturally, chewing gum. Originally liquid, mastic gum is sold as hard small transculent lumps and melted in hot milk while making dessert. It can also be ground with mortar and pestle. This fragrant resin is cultivated from mastic trees that are native throughout the Mediterranean; however, the most famous ones come from Greek island of Chios. In the States, you can easily find Chios mastic gum, "tears of Chios" online, even through Amazon. I usually bring back a bag of mastic gum when I visit Turkey.

Rice pudding is a traditional recipe that has different versions such as regular, baked, and with mastic gum.



























4 cups of milk (whole, 1 or 2%)
1/2 cup rice
1 cup sugar
4 tbsp corn starch
1/4 tsp salt
2-3 pieces of mastic gum

-Put rice and 2 cups of water in pot and cook until rice is soft. Drain.
-Put 3 cups of milk, rice, and salt in a pot and bring to a boil.
-Add sugar and keep cooking until rice gets really soft stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
-Mix well corn starch and remaining 1 cup of milk, and slowly stir in to the pudding along with mastic gum lumps. Cook until pudding thickens.
-Pour pudding into individual bowls or cups. (If you want baked pudding, make sure the bowls are oven safe.) If you do not want to bake your pudding, wait until pudding cools down and then put the bowls in the refrigerator.
-If you want baked pudding, place the bowls in a deep oven tray / dish. Fill the tray with water half way through the bowls.
-Broil them until golden brown on top. Let them cool and refrigerate.

Rice pudding is usually served with ground cinnamon on top. Try a scoop or two of ice cream on top on hot summer days.

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Frozen Panda Cake (Panda Pasta)

One of my oldest friends, Sena, taught this recipe to me approximately 15 years ago. It was a big hit then. We would make Panda cake every week. Especially that coco sauce; we didn't seem to get enough of it. Although this is really a pudding, since you need to cut it and eat it with a fork we call it a cake.

200 gr. butter
1 - 1.5 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)
1 cup flour
1 liter milk
1 tsp vanilla or 1-2 piece mastic gum

for the sauce
50 gr. butter
4 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp unsweetened coco powder
4 tsbp milk
1 egg


























-Heat butter in a pan. Add flour and sugar. Stir with a wooden spoon on medium heat constantly approximately for 5-7 minutes.
-Add milk. Stir constantly until it thickens up.
-Add mastic gum if you can find it. (Read Haalo's post to learn more about mastic gum) [Gum mastic can easily be purchased from Middle Eastern stores or from Amazon]
-Pour cold water in a big and shallow pot. Place the pudding pot in the big shallow one so that the pudding pot is surrounded by cold water. Beat pudding with electric mixer on medium to high for 15 minutes. This will air up pudding and give it a nice texture.
-Wet a 2 or 3 quart glass dish. Pour pudding into the glass dish. Cover with a clear wrap and put in freezer.
-For the sauce, melt butter. In a mixing bowl beat butter, egg, sugar, coco powder, and milk. Add milk one tbsp at a time to lighten the sauce up.
-Spread the coco sauce on pudding which should be slightly firm by now. Put it back in the freezer.
-Take Panda cake out of the freezer 10 minutes before serving to give it a little time to warm up and be ready to be cut. Put the rest back into the freezer.
-You can serve it with ice cream.

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Damascus Dessert (Şam Tatlısı)

This is a common dessert in Turkey, but I don't know why it is called "Damascus" dessert. My one guess is that sometimes instead of shredded coconut, it's decorated with crushed pistachios. And in Turkish pistachio is called either "Damascus nut" or "Antep nut" (a southeastern city in Turkey that borders Syria). The recipe is from my mom and is one of her favorites because it requires neither eggs nor oil. Since it's not very heavy you can eat more!

for the syrup
3 1/2 cup water
3 cups sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice

for the cake
1 cup semolina
1 cup bleached flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla

-Mix sugar, water, and lemon juice in a pot and boil for 1-15 minutes. Turn it off and let it cool down.
-In a bowl mix all the ingredients for the cake. Pour them in a greased oven dish (We used a 13 1/2 X 10 1/2 one, but you can definitely use a smaller dish for a thicker cake).
-Bake it at 350-370F for 20-25 minutes until it gets brownish.
-Cut the cake in rectangles, squares, or diamonds.
-Pour the syrup that has cooled down on the hot cake. Let it soak the syrup in the cooling oven.
-You can sprinkle shredded coconut or pistachio, or put an almond on each piece.
-Serve it cold.

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Turkish Rice Pudding-Baked (Fırın Sütlaç)

Sütlaç is a light dessert originated in Ottoman cuisine. The rumor goes that it was flavored with rose water in palace kitchens, but in my kitchen I skipped that ingredient. If you want to try the original taste, add 2-3 tsp rose water to milk.

1 lt (32 oz.) milk
1/2 cup white rice
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup corn flour or corn starch

-Wash the rice and boil it with 2 cups of water until water is soaked
-Put rice, milk, and sugar in a pot and stir on low. Keep stirring for 20-30 minutes more after it starts boiling.
-Mix corn starch with a little bit of water until the mixture is smooth. Then, add this mixture to the pot. Stir for 4-5 minutes.
-Now you need to decide whether you want to have regular sütlaç or baked one. If you want regular rice pudding, pour the pudding into bowls and serve cold with cinnamon sprinkled on top. However, if you want baked rice pudding, pick oven safe bowls, put put pudding in them, and then broil them until the top is brown, dark brown. Chill and serve.
-Another way to make baked rice pudding is to mix 2 tbsp of pudding (after you turn off the heat stove) with one egg yolk, and spread this mix lightly and evenly on the pudding after pouring them in bowls. If you broil sütlaç with the eggy mixture on top, you'll have a more flavorsome pudding.

See also Rice Pudding with Gum Mastic

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