Masoub is a popular Saudi and Yemeni dessert of mashed ripe banana folded with crumbled bread, then topped with honey, cream and nuts. Sweet and filling, it began as a way to use up day-old flatbread.
Spoon up masoub and it is warm, soft, and sweet, the banana and bread melting together into a fragrant cardamom-scented mash, honey trickling through and nuts adding crunch. Bite: comforting and pudding-like, deeply banana-sweet, rich with butter and cream, the cardamom warming. A cosy Saudi treat eaten morning or night.
Soaking the bread softens it to absorb the banana and dairy, binding everything into a thick, scoopable pudding; the very ripe bananas provide most of the sweetness, and cardamom is the defining Arabian aromatic. Honey and nuts give the finishing sweetness and texture contrast.
Variations
With qishta cream. With dates. With more nuts. With a date-syrup drizzle. Chilled. With cinnamon.
On the Palate
Where Masoub sits in the Saudi flavor cloud
Use bananas that are truly overripe and heavily speckled — they carry most of the sweetness and mash smooth, so under-ripe fruit leaves the pudding bland and lumpy.
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
8 steps · 20 min active + 5 min waiting
- 14 min
Crumble day-old flatbread into small pieces.
- 23 min
Mash 4 ripe bananas to a smooth pulp.
Watch outBananas mash to a lump-free, glossy pulp.
- 35 min
Warm the bread with a little milk and butter until softened.
Watch outBread turns soft and swollen, no dry crumbs left.
- 43 min
Mix in the mashed banana, sugar, and ground cardamom.
- 55 min
Stir over low heat to a thick, fragrant mash.
Watch outMash pulls together thick enough to hold a scoop, and smells of cardamom.
- 62 min
Spoon into bowls.
- 72 min
Top with honey, chopped nuts, and a swirl of cream.
- 81 min
Serve warm.
