Malabi

Ingredients

• Milk1 l
• Cornflour70 g
• Sugar100 g
• Rose water2 tbsp
• Cream200 ml
• Raspberry or pomegranate syrup150 ml
• Pistachios80 g
• Desiccated coconut40 g
• Peanuts60 g

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Slake the cornflour in a cup of cold milk until completely dissolved and lump-free.

   5 min

2. 2

   Heat the rest of the milk with the cream and sugar until hot, without letting it boil.

   8 min

3. 3

   Pour in the starch mixture in a thin stream, whisking without stopping.

   5 min

4. 4

   Cook over medium heat for five minutes, until the mixture thickens to the body of double cream.

   7 min

5. 5

   Take it off the heat, stir in the rose water and pour it straight into glasses.

   5 min

6. 6

   Press film onto the surface so no skin forms and chill for four hours.

   6 min

7. 7

   Before serving pour over the syrup and scatter with chopped pistachios, peanuts and coconut.

   5 min

About the dish

The pudding sets on starch rather than gelatine. That gives a tender, faintly stretchy texture — a gelatine set would be bouncy and entirely different.

The rose water goes into the pudding off the heat. Warmed, its aroma disappears within a minute and only a faint bitterness is left.

The syrup goes on immediately before serving. Poured early it soaks in, and the contrast between a neutral base and a sweet top disappears.

Worth knowing

• — Slake the starch in cold milk only. In hot milk it seizes into lumps a whisk will never break up.
• — Use less rose water than seems right. Too much leaves a soapy taste, and nothing removes it.
• — Pour the pudding while hot. Set in the pan, it goes into the glasses in lumps rather than smoothly.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

380 kcal

Protein

8 g

Fat

18 g

Carbs

48 g

More from Israel

• Shakshuka — Eggs poached in a thick sauce of tomato and pepper with cumin and paprika.
• Hummus — Chickpeas whipped with tahini, lemon and iced water to a cream. The skins come off.
• Sabich — Pita with fried aubergine, boiled egg, amba and salad. The Iraqi-Israeli street classic.