🍮 Mahalabia
Mahalabia is a Middle Eastern milk pudding thickened with starch, sweetened with sugar and scented with rosewater. It sets into a silky, cool, softly wobbling cream and is served chilled in small bowls, topped with chopped pistachios. It is a light, everyday dessert across the Levant, Egypt and the Gulf.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 500 ml milk
- 40 g cornstarch
- 60 g sugar
- 1 tbsp rosewater
- 20 g pistachios, chopped
Method
- Whisk the cornstarch into 100 ml cold milk.
- Heat the remaining milk with the sugar, then whisk in the starch mixture.
- Stir over medium heat until thick and smooth, about 5 minutes; add the rosewater.
- Pour into bowls, cool and chill for 2 hours; top with pistachios.
How to make it lighter
- Use low-fat milk for a lighter pudding.
- Cut the sugar to 40 g; rosewater gives a sweet aroma.
- Serve in small 120–150 g cups.
History
Milk puddings thickened with rice or starch have a long history in medieval Arab and Persian cooking. Mahalabia is eaten today throughout the Arab world, Turkey and beyond, with local variations in flavouring.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →