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Muhallebi

Set with starch alone and flavoured with nothing but blossom water, so any fault in it has nowhere to hide.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (whole milk), honey.

Ingredients

to finish

Method

  1. IT IS SET WITH STARCH ALONE AND FLAVOURED WITH NOTHING BUT BLOSSOM WATER, so any fault in it has nowhere to hide. Six ingredients. No egg, no cream, no gelatine, no chocolate, nothing burnt or caramelised. What that means in practice is that the three things that can go wrong -- a raw starchy taste, lumps, and a rubbery set -- are all immediately obvious in the spoon, where a richer pudding would disguise them. The whole method below is about those three.
  2. THE RAW STARCH TASTE IS COOKED OUT AND THAT TAKES LONGER THAN THICKENING. The pudding thickens within a minute of boiling and tastes chalky for several more. It must be held at a bare boil, stirring, for a full six to eight minutes after it has thickened. The chalkiness goes, and the pudding becomes glossy rather than matt -- that change in sheen is the signal.
  3. BOTH STARCHES GO IN, AND THAT IS WHY IT IS NOT RUBBERY. Seventy grams of cornflour and thirty of ground rice. Cornflour alone at the quantity needed to set a litre gives a bouncy, slightly squeaky pudding; the ground rice sets more softly and adds a faint body, and together they give a set that just holds and yields immediately on the tongue.
  4. THE STARCHES ARE SLAKED IN COLD MILK AND THE REST IS ADDED TO THEM. Whisked smooth into about 250 ml of the cold milk, then the hot milk poured into that, whisking -- not the other way round. Starch tipped into hot milk forms lumps on contact that no amount of whisking will break down.
  5. IT IS POURED INTO INDIVIDUAL BOWLS WHILE PIPING HOT AND NOT STIRRED AFTERWARDS. Straight from the pan. Stirred as it cools, the starch network breaks and the pudding sets loose and slightly slimy.
  6. THE BLOSSOM WATER GOES IN OFF THE HEAT AND IS GENEROUS. Two tablespoons of orange blossom and one of rose for a litre. In a pudding this plain the perfume is the flavour, and both are volatile enough that boiling them wastes most of it.
  7. The cornflour and ground rice whisked SMOOTH into about 250 ml of the COLD milk.
  8. The remaining milk and the sugar brought to a simmer.
  9. The hot milk poured INTO the cold slurry, whisking, then returned to the pan.
  10. Brought to a bare boil, whisking, and held there 6 to 8 MINUTES AFTER it thickens, until it turns from matt to GLOSSY.
  11. The blossom and rose waters stirred in OFF the heat.
  12. Poured PIPING HOT into individual bowls and NOT stirred again.
  13. Cooled, then chilled 4 HOURS.
  14. TESTED: it should just hold its shape and give immediately on the tongue, with no chalky taste. Chalkiness means it was not cooked long enough after thickening.
  15. Scattered with pistachios and rose petals, honey drizzled over.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Lebanon · All recipes