Mouhalabieh (Milk Pudding)
Updated July 3, 2024
- Total Time
- 3 ¼ hours
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 10 minutes, plus 3 hours’ cooling and chilling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:6 to 8 servings
- 3cups plus 2 tablespoons/750 milliliters whole milk or almond milk
- ½cup plus 1½ tablespoons/120 grams sugar
- 1teaspoon ground mastic (see Tip)
- ½cup plus 1 tablespoon/80 grams cornstarch
- Finely chopped pistachios, to garnish
Preparation
- Step 1
In a medium pot, combine about two-thirds of the milk with the sugar and mastic over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Whisk the cornstarch into the remaining milk until smooth. Slowly add the cornstarch mixture to the pot, stirring with a wooden spoon and making sure the milk doesn’t stick to the bottom or sides. Cook, stirring constantly, until the pudding begins to boil and has begun to thicken, 6 to 8 minutes. (The mixture should be thick yet creamy, not stiff.)
- Step 2
Remove the pot from the heat, stir well and immediately pour into glass serving bowls or glasses. Let cool at room temperature for 1 hour, then chill in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours.
- Step 3
Garnish with the pistachios and serve.
Tip
- Mastic, also known as mastiha, is a fragrant resin from an evergreen tree that grows primarily in Greece. It has a pine-like flavor and is available online and at specialty shops in both powdered form and as translucent tears. If using tears, freeze first, to firm up, then grind with a pinch of sugar in a mortar and pestle or electric mill, or cover with plastic wrap and crush with a rolling pin.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
essa
No gelatin in Mehallabiya! Its an authentic arabian pudding. In Kuwait, they flavor it with orange blossom water. In Egypt, with vanilla or rose water. In Lebanon, rose water and sometimes mastic. Every Arab country have their own version of Mehallabiya. Kuwaitis call it “Emhalbiya”, Egyptians “Mehallabiya”, in Lebanon and Syria “Mhalbiyyee”. If you have access to buffalo milk, use it here! It takes it to another level. If you have some clotted cream; mix a TS when u turn off the heat.
essa
Those who ask about other uses for Mastic, let me tell you about some delicious ways of incorporating it into ur dishes, the arabs way! 1) before cooking ur rice, melt 3 to 5 mastic pearls with some oil and butter or ghee, then add ur rice and liquid, the result will be heavenly! 2) add a few pearls to ur chicken/meat stock pot and thank me later! 3) melt a pearl or two with some fats before searing ur meats. (Dont be generous with mastic, it’ll impart a sour taste if used more than needed)
essa
4) Melt some mastic with butter and pour the mixture on ur risotto during the last moments of cooking, mamma mia! We, arabs, have a thing for mastic. Mom has a drawer full of top quality Saffron, cardamom and Mastic in her bedroom. Our family call her The Kitchen Queen for her over the top dishes.
Tanya
This is, in fact, a beloved Palestinian dessert and that’s not a political statement. It’s a recipe. Happy to see a recipe from Chef Kattan. We make this a bit different in Lebanon with rose water but there’s natural variations in the recipe depending where in the Middle East you are. Great to see everyone’s contributions below and I’m gonna try them out!
Judy
I use mastic in maqluba - a Palestinian chicken & rice dish (that’s an oversimplification..). It is heavenly.
Rsp
This is a luscious dish but if you can't get mastic there's another way to make it (or a near-identical twin) without mastic. It's called malabi. Search. Recipe is easy to find and make. Chinese cuisine has something very similar as well. Almond pudding or almond float.
DL
Whole Foods in NC used to carry a beverage called "Mastiqua," which was flavored with Mastic. I loved it. I'm happy to see there's an easy powdered form to work with. I didn't have good luck with the previous version I was able to find. I'm looking forward to making this recipe!
Saraha
How very interesting that NYT comes out with a mastic-based recipe. I've been using mastic for gastro issues for years and it does wonders. Never tried cooking with it - I wonder if it offers the same properties.
Jeffrey
So delicious! I grew up eating this made by my Palestinian grandmother. It came out exactly as I remember it. She also used Mastic to flavor ice cream. Delicious!
Mead
I could barely perceive the taste of the mastic. Is that how it should be? Wondering if I have inferior or old powder.
teddie
Mehalabi was a favorite street-cart treat in Limassol as an eleven-year old visiting my father’s birthplace of Cyprus for the first time. Families in the villages each had their own way of preparing it—with milk or water, or with or without nuts. Sometimes cut into cubes, or sometimes as a firmer pudding spooned out of a small individual cup portion. The new and unique taste of rose water splashed over a cool and refreshing mixture was lovely!
Dolores
My Syrian grandmother (by marriage) used to make a version of this with Junket, sprinkling chopped pistachios on top.
ATN
This is traditionally (I.e. ALWAYS) made with rose water, and I have no idea why anyone would leave it out! It’s not even the same dessert without it!
Debbie
On my phone so can’t answer under comments, but thank you for the ideas, Essa and Judy! I’ll definitely try some of those. The risotto sounds amazing
Maria
I grew up eating mahalepi as we call it in Cyprus. It's flavored with rosewater and served, when it solidifies, in a bath of ice cold water sometimes flavored with rose syrup. One of my summer favorite treats when I visit Cyprus. Thank you for the recipe.
Anne
I had a version of this once, years ago, made by a Lebanese grandmother. I have never forgotten it and have been seeking it ever since. THANK YOU!!!
Tanya
This is, in fact, a beloved Palestinian dessert and that’s not a political statement. It’s a recipe. Happy to see a recipe from Chef Kattan. We make this a bit different in Lebanon with rose water but there’s natural variations in the recipe depending where in the Middle East you are. Great to see everyone’s contributions below and I’m gonna try them out!
Tom
I was skeptical that a tree resin grown only on the southern coast of a single island in the Aegean could be an affordable mass-market ingredient (still dubious that it's terribly sustainable, really), so I ran the numbers: The most popular source for mastic tears on Amazon right now is 20g for $15, or $0.75/g. Powdered ingredients seem to clock in at around 4g/tsp, so one recipe's worth of mastic is going to cost about $3. Make of that what you will.
essa
Those who ask about other uses for Mastic, let me tell you about some delicious ways of incorporating it into ur dishes, the arabs way! 1) before cooking ur rice, melt 3 to 5 mastic pearls with some oil and butter or ghee, then add ur rice and liquid, the result will be heavenly! 2) add a few pearls to ur chicken/meat stock pot and thank me later! 3) melt a pearl or two with some fats before searing ur meats. (Dont be generous with mastic, it’ll impart a sour taste if used more than needed)
essa
4) Melt some mastic with butter and pour the mixture on ur risotto during the last moments of cooking, mamma mia! We, arabs, have a thing for mastic. Mom has a drawer full of top quality Saffron, cardamom and Mastic in her bedroom. Our family call her The Kitchen Queen for her over the top dishes.
Rsp
This is a luscious dish but if you can't get mastic there's another way to make it (or a near-identical twin) without mastic. It's called malabi. Search. Recipe is easy to find and make. Chinese cuisine has something very similar as well. Almond pudding or almond float.
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