Muhallabia
Muhallabia is a custard without eggs — all the body comes from starch, which makes it light and snow-white rather than yellow and heavy. There is one condition, and it needs your attention for the final three minutes: the starch has to cook out fully, or the pudding will set in the fridge but leave a floury taste on the tongue.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Cooking 15 min
- Potting 5 min
- Chilling 180 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneSlake the starch in cold milk
Set aside 200 ml of cold milk and whisk the cornflour into it until smooth. Starch tipped into hot milk seizes into lumps that no whisk will ever break up. A cold slurry is the condition for a smooth pudding.
Ingredients: 1000 ml milk · 120 g sugar · 70 g cornflour · 100 ml whipping cream (30%) · 2 tsp rose water · 1 pinch salt
Starch always into cold milk, never hot.Heat the rest of the milk with the sugar
Warm the remaining milk with the sugar, cream and salt, stirring until the sugar dissolves and the first bubbles appear at the edge. Do not let it boil.
Ingredients: 1000 ml milk · 120 g sugar · 70 g cornflour · 100 ml whipping cream (30%) · 2 tsp rose water · 1 pinch salt
Add the slurry and cook three minutes past thickening
Pour in the slurry in a thin stream, whisking constantly. It will thicken within a minute — and that is not the end. Once it starts to bubble lazily, cook for a further 3 minutes over low heat, stirring all the time: only then is the starch fully cooked and the floury taste gone.
Ingredients: 1000 ml milk · 120 g sugar · 70 g cornflour · 100 ml whipping cream (30%) · 2 tsp rose water · 1 pinch salt
A spoon leaves a clear trail on the base of the pan.Add the rose water off the heat
Take the pan off the heat and only now stir in the rose water. Its aroma is volatile — added to simmering milk it would quickly lose its scent.
Ingredients: 1000 ml milk · 120 g sugar · 70 g cornflour · 100 ml whipping cream (30%) · 2 tsp rose water · 1 pinch salt
Strain into cups
Pour the hot pudding through a fine sieve straight into the cups. The sieve catches any lumps and skin — five seconds that decide whether the dessert is silky.
Ingredients: 1000 ml milk · 120 g sugar · 70 g cornflour · 100 ml whipping cream (30%) · 2 tsp rose water · 1 pinch salt
Through a sieve — five seconds for a silky texture.Chill three hours and top with pistachio
Cool to room temperature, cover with film touching the surface (otherwise a skin forms) and chill for 3 hours. Scatter with pistachio and drizzle with honey before serving.
Ingredients: 50 g pistachios · 2 tbsp honey
Before you start
Adjusting the set
70 g of starch gives a pudding that wobbles but holds its shape when turned out. For a spoonable dessert served in the cup, 55 g is enough — lighter and creamier.
Without rose water
Instead, drop a strip of lemon peel or a cinnamon stick into the milk and lift it out before potting. Rose water can taste soapy — if you are not convinced by it, do not force it.
A syrup layer
The classic finish is a thin layer of light sugar syrup with a squeeze of lemon poured over the set pudding. It adds shine and stops the surface drying out.
