Lebanese Rice Pudding (“Riz Bi Haleeb”)
Ingrédients
- 700ml of liquid milk
- 250ml of water room temperature
- 100g of white rice (short grain, almost round-shaped)
- 100g of sugar
- 1 tablespoon of orange blossom water (15 ml)
- 1 tablespoon of rose water (15 ml)
- 70g of unsalted ground pistachios
- 1/4 teaspoon of mastic powder (optional)
Procédure
- Pour milk into a heavy-bottomed pot, add the sugar and bring to a boil on a medium to low heat. Stir often.
- Once the milk and sugar mixture has come to a boil, add the rice and water. Stir well.
- Let the mixture reach another boil and then lower the flame. Stir very often making sure rice is not sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- It will take about 45 minutes from the second boil for the rice to absorb all the liquid and become creamy. Once rice is cooked and texture is creamy, turn off heat.
- Add powdered mastic, orange blossom water and rose water. Stir one last time then fill serving bowls (do not let cool in the pot).
- Let the serving bowls cool down then place in refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours.
- Serve chilled decorated with some ground pistachios, or other nuts and fruits (you can even add a dash of cinnamon!).
- Tip 1: Always put floral waters at the end of the cooking to avoid creating a bitter taste.
- Tip 2: Mastic can be easily powdered when adding a bit of sugar to it, to do so: place small mastic pieces with some sugar on chopping board, cover them and pound over them with the bottom of a cup.
- Tip 3: Too much mastic powder gives a bitter taste to puddings, so make sure to only use a small sprinkle (always at the end of the cooking).