Meghli
A Lebanese pudding cooked to celebrate a birth, and a surprise to visitors: it is dark, deeply spiced and has something savoury about it, though it is a dessert. Caraway, anise and cinnamon give it a flavour closer to gingerbread than to custard. Two things matter: the spices must be sieved together with the rice flour so they cannot clump, and the nuts are soaked for a few hours, ideally overnight — otherwise they are hard and clash with the smooth pudding.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Cooking 30 min
- Chilling 240 min
- Nuts 10 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneSoak the nuts
Cover the walnuts, almonds, pine nuts and pistachios with cold water and soak in the fridge for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight — they can soak while the pudding chills. They swell, soften and lose some of the bitterness of their skins; in Lebanon this is how they traditionally go onto meghli.
Ingredients: 80 g walnuts · 80 g almonds · 50 g pine nuts · 50 g pistachios · 500 ml water
Sieve the rice flour with the spices
Sieve the rice flour together with the caraway, anise and cinnamon through a fine sieve. Spices tipped separately into the pan clump into lumps that show as dark specks and taste like bitter grit.
Ingredients: 120 g rice flour · 1500 ml water · 180 g sugar · 2 tbsp caraway · 1 tbsp anise · 1 tbsp cinnamon · 1 pinch salt
Spices sieved with the flour — never straight into the pan.Slake it in cold water
Pour cold water into the dry mixture, whisking smooth. Always mix rice flour into cold liquid — tipped into hot water it clumps straight away into lumps that are hard to get rid of.
Ingredients: 120 g rice flour · 1500 ml water · 180 g sugar · 2 tbsp caraway · 1 tbsp anise · 1 tbsp cinnamon · 1 pinch salt
Cook 25 minutes, whisking without pause
Set over medium heat and whisk without stopping for 25 minutes. The longest and dullest stage, but necessary: rice flour settles to the base within seconds and catches without warning.
Ingredients: 120 g rice flour · 1500 ml water · 180 g sugar · 2 tbsp caraway · 1 tbsp anise · 1 tbsp cinnamon · 1 pinch salt
Twenty-five minutes of constant whisking — no shortcuts.Add the sugar halfway through
Add the sugar after about 12 minutes, once the mixture begins to thicken. Added at the start it slows the starch from setting and the pudding would need longer still to lose its floury taste.
Ingredients: 120 g rice flour · 1500 ml water · 180 g sugar · 2 tbsp caraway · 1 tbsp anise · 1 tbsp cinnamon · 1 pinch salt
Cook to the thickness of porridge
The pudding is ready when the whisk leaves a track that closes slowly. It should be thicker than custard but still pourable — it firms noticeably as it cools.
Ingredients: 120 g rice flour · 1500 ml water · 180 g sugar · 2 tbsp caraway · 1 tbsp anise · 1 tbsp cinnamon · 1 pinch salt
Pour out and chill four hours
Pour into glasses or small bowls, let cool and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours. The thin skin that forms does no harm — a thick layer of nuts will cover it anyway.
Ingredients: 120 g rice flour · 1500 ml water · 180 g sugar · 2 tbsp caraway · 1 tbsp anise · 1 tbsp cinnamon · 1 pinch salt
Cover with nuts just before serving
Drain the soaked nuts, pat dry and heap them thickly over the top with the shredded coconut and the raisins, if using. The layer should be deep enough to hide the pudding. Add them at the last moment — after a few hours on the moist pudding they soften and lose their contrast.
Ingredients: 40 g shredded coconut · 40 g raisins
Nuts soaked overnight — soft, without bitter skins.
Before you start
The caraway is not a mistake
Two tablespoons of ground caraway in a dessert sounds alarming, but it is exactly what gives meghli its character — with the anise it creates a note Lebanese eaters recognise instantly. Reduce it and the pudding looks dark but tastes hollow.
Grind the spices fresh
Ground caraway and anise lose their essential oils within a few months, and those oils carry most of the flavour here. Grind the seeds just before cooking — the difference against ready-ground powder is genuinely stark.
Three days in the fridge
Meghli keeps three days in the fridge, and on the second day the spices are even more pronounced. Keep the nuts separately in their water and drain them only before serving — left on the pudding they turn spongy within hours.
