sona's pudding (mehallabieh)

With the arrival of the new sister-in-law from Lebanon came new food ideas. And a big illustrated cookbook in arabic, not a dr bob language (though one of ms_ani's). This recipe is not from the big book but from the mom left behind in the old country. Apparently mehallabieh is arabic for generic pudding, so this particular version gets attributed to the mom. Since the written recipe did not materialize after bob's first test drive of this dessert, when the repeat performance event occurred, bob wasted no time in transcribing the details himself directly from the daughter. The first time bob had seconds but the second time only firsts. Delicious but best not overdone. (It's a stealth dessert, going down easy but packing quite a wallop.)

ingredients

pudding
5 c milk
5 T cornstarch
5 T sugar
1 t rosewater
1/4 t powdered vanilla or 1/2 t vanilla
syrup
1 c sugar
1/2 c water
1 t lemon juice
1 t rosewater
topping
walnuts, chopped
pistacchios, chopped
almond slivers

instructions

pudding

  1. Dissolve cornstarch and sugar in milk.
  2. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
  3. Remove from heat and add the rosewater and vanilla.
  4. Put into small dessert cups and refrigerate (makes about 12).

syrup

  1. Bring to a boil the syrup ingredients and continue boiling for 4 minutes on medium heat .
  2. Add lemon juice and continue boiling 2 minutes.
  3. Remove from heat and add rosewater.

topping

  1. When ready to server, put about 2 T total of the nuts, walnuts first, then pistacchios, then almonds, on each dessert cup (mix the nuts all together and top).
  2. Pour about 1 T syrup over the nuts if guest wishes wet nuts rather than dry nuts (personal taste).

notes

  1. Although this can be eaten warm, the refrigerated version is probably the better choice.
sonapdng.htm: 7-aug-2001 [what, ME cook? © 1984 dr bob enterprises]