Ingredients

• 1,5 cups coarse semolina
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 2 tspns baking powder
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 tspn vanilla
• Lemon rind
• 1 tspn lemon juice
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup almonds, blanched and ground

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180 - 200 C.
• Beat butter with sugar in a bowl until mixture gets white. Add yolks and vanilla and beat well. Mix almonds, lemon rind, semolina and baking powder.
• Pour mixture into the bowl and mix with the rest of the ingredients.
• Beat egg whites with lemon juice and salt until mixture becomes stiff.
• Pour the merengue over the batter and mix well
• Butter a baking pan and pour batter in it.
• Bake until golden (30 - 40 min).
• In the meantime prepare the syrup as follows: Bring syrup ingredients to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes until syrup thickens. If you are using cinnamon stick then you need to waste it. Waste lemon rind as well.
• Remove samali from oven, cut it in diamond or rectangle pieces and pour hot syrup over samali.
• Bake for another 5 minutes until syrup is absorbed.
• Remove from oven, let cool and serve.