Kazandibi
The name means bottom of the cauldron and, according to a popular story, recalls an accident that became a recipe: in the Ottoman palace kitchen a pudding caught on the pot, and its scorched layer turned out to be the best part. Today it is scorched on purpose. The whole technique is to caramelise a thin layer without burning it — the difference is a matter of seconds. The caramel should be deep brown and smell of toffee, not black and bitter.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Caramel base 5 min
- Pudding 20 min
- Scorching the base 10 min
- Chilling 240 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneSlake the flours in cold milk
Set aside 300 ml of cold milk and whisk the rice flour and cornflour into it until smooth. Tipped straight into hot milk they lump at once, and the lumps cannot be broken up.
Ingredients: 1000 ml milk · 50 g rice flour · 40 g cornflour · 180 g sugar · 1 pinch mastic · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Cook a thick pudding
Bring the rest of the milk to a boil with the sugar and mastic, pour in the slurry in a stream and cook over low heat 12–15 minutes, stirring constantly, until thick and glossy. Take off the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. It must be thicker than ordinary pudding — it has to hold a rolled shape.
Ingredients: 1000 ml milk · 50 g rice flour · 40 g cornflour · 180 g sugar · 1 pinch mastic · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Butter a metal tray
Butter a flat metal tray, about 24×30 cm, and sprinkle it evenly with sugar. Metal, not glass or ceramic — glass and ceramic crack over an open flame, and they also conduct heat too slowly to caramelise the base evenly.
Ingredients: 30 g butter · 4 tbsp sugar
Caramelise the sugar on the burner
Set the tray directly on the burner and move it about until the sugar melts and browns evenly — about 3–5 minutes. Watch for honey turning to amber. Black is already burnt.
Ingredients: 30 g butter · 4 tbsp sugar
Amber — black means it has already burnt.Pour the pudding over the caramel
Pour the hot pudding over the caramel and level it 2 cm thick. Thicker and it will not roll; thinner and it tears. The caramel hisses briefly beneath — that is correct.
Ingredients: 1000 ml milk · 50 g rice flour · 40 g cornflour · 180 g sugar · 1 pinch mastic · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Two centimetres — thicker and it will not roll.Scorch the base again on the burner
Return the tray with the pudding to the burner and move it about for 5–10 minutes, until the edges begin to darken. This second scorching fuses caramel and pudding into one layer that later lifts away with it.
Ingredients: 1000 ml milk · 50 g rice flour · 40 g cornflour · 180 g sugar · 1 pinch mastic · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Chill four hours
Cool, cover with film and chill at least 4 hours. Warm pudding will not roll — it spreads. Cold, it has the texture of a supple jelly that can be rolled like a sheet of dough.
Ingredients: 1000 ml milk · 50 g rice flour · 40 g cornflour · 180 g sugar · 1 pinch mastic · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Cut into squares and roll brown side out
Cut into squares, lift from underneath with a spatula and roll each one with the scorched side outward. Set seam side down and dust with cinnamon. The caramel base must show — it is the whole idea of the dessert.
Ingredients: 1 tsp cinnamon
Scorched side outward — that is the dessert.
Before you start
A thin metal tray
In Turkey shallow copper or aluminium trays are used because they conduct heat fast. A heavy cast-iron dish heats too slowly, burning the caramel over the flame and leaving it pale at the edges.
Rice flour gives the spring
Rice flour alongside the cornflour makes the pudding supple — it is what lets it roll without cracking. A pudding on cornflour alone is more delicate but crumbles when rolled and must be served flat.
Three days in the fridge
Kazandibi keeps three days in the fridge in its tray under film. Roll it only before serving — rolled pieces dry at the edges and the caramel softens from the pudding's moisture.
