Halvas Politikos

Dissolve the sugar in the water and bring it to a boil. At the same time, brown the semolina in the oil on high heat, stirring continuously.

When the semolina has taken a golden brown color, add the syrup into it (taking care not to burn your hands), turn down the heat and keep stirring until you get a kind of thick porridge. Pour into any kind of mold you can think of (a cake-mold is perfect for the job), and let it cool.

Unmold into a platter and sprinkle with cinnamon. Slice it using a wet knife, serve, and watch your weight go sky high! NOTES:

* A Greek dessert with semolina -- This is a traditional Greek dessert that is extremely about tasty, and as easy to make as 1-2-3-4. Tasty. Yield: fills a cake-mold.

* You should be very careful pouring the syrup into the browned semolina, as it is extremely hot, and pouring water on it causes an eruption of scalding hot steam.

* You should not put this dessert in the refrigerator. It can keep for a few days outside the refrigerator, assuming you can gather enough will power not to eat it all at once. Some oil will start to drain off after a day or so, but this is to be expected. Just make sure you don't leave the dessert on your favorite tablecloth! * The recipe doubles, halves etc. nicely as long as you keep the proportion of the ingredients.

* I have seen variations on this dessert using any kind of fat imaginable, ranging from cooking fat to olive oil or butter, though I've only tried it with olive oil.