Muhallabiya | مهلبية

Is there anything better than a dessert that calls for just 4 ingredients? I think the simpler any recipe is, the better. I've never been a fan of over-complicated recipes which call for ingredients that you've never heard of that come from some point on Earth. The best desserts are the ones that focus on 2-3 ingredients and have maximum flavor!

I grew up eating desserts that weren't fussy like Muhallabiya and rice pudding - in Arabic: Riz b haleeb | رز بحليب - and always loved the pudding-like texture. In fact, it's the reason why my favorite dessert is chocolate pudding! But anyway, I wanted to sort of recreate a small part of my childhood by trying to make Muhallabiya on my own. So you can imagine the joy I felt when my mother told me what Muhallabiya consists of: milk, sugar, corn flour and whatever topping you desire which, in this case, was pistachios for me. Just a few steps and you get a lovely milk pudding which isn't too sweet nor is it too heavy.

Thanks to bad lighting during iftar time (sunset), photo quality wasn't so great. Sorry!

I can only imagine the different combinations that people come up with to add into this dessert or to top it off with; the variations are endless!

Muhallabiya - My mother's recipe
makes 4 large bowls

1 liter full fat milk, cold
3 tablespoons corn flour*
1/2 cup sugar (100 g) - you can add more or less sugar, it's a matter of personal taste
A generous handful of peeled, unsalted pistachio; chopped

• In a separate glass, mix in 1/2 cup of milk with the 3 tablespoons of corn flour. Set aside.
• In a large pot on medium heat, pour the rest of the milk in and whisk in the sugar.
• When the milk starts to heat up, add the corn flour & milk mix into the pot. Continue whisking.
• Once the mixture starts coming to a boil, the consistency of the milk should start to get thicker.
  * If you feel that it hasn't thickened even after it's been boiling for about a minute, go ahead and mix in another tablespoon of corn flour in 1/4 cup of milk and plop that right in. Repeat again if the same happens, but that is unlikely :)
• Continue whisking until you reach a pudding-like texture (it should coat the back of a spoon quite well). Be careful not to boil too much as it can curdle!
• Remove the pot from the heat and, using a fine sieve, filter the Muhallabiya into a large bowl. This is to leave out any bits of burnt milk from the bottom of the pot (which is inevitable).
• Scoop the Muhallabiya into desired serving bowls. Cover with a sheet of cling wrap, allowing the cling wrap to touch the surface of the Muhallabiya, so as not to create a skin.
• Refrigerate for 4 hours (or until it's cold enough to your liking).
• When ready to serve, peel off cling wrap and decorate with pistachios
• Enjoy!

Ramadan Mubarak & Happy Baking!

Ma'amoul | معمول‎

I know I'm 4 days late but:

EID MUBARAK!

The holy month of Ramadan has (sadly) come to an end and Eid ul-Fitr is here. This Eid is celebrated for 3 days; Muslims all over the world prepare wonderful feasts for family and friends, adults give Eidiya to children (which is mostly money that's gifted to the kids) and everyone wears new clothes that they've bought especially for Eid. It's a joyous 3 days where everyone sends each other messages, makes phone calls and pays visits to congratulate one another on a wonderful month of fasting. 

Just wanted to note that the crochet table cloth was made by my super talented grandmother!

I personally wish I had relatives that lived in the same country as me so that I could visit them one by one and be able to celebrate with them. I would love to bake treats with my grandmother and distribute them to family and friends with my grandfather. Unfortunately, sometimes as an expat you don't get that kind of luxury. I'm thankful that I have my parents and brother to spend it with otherwise it wouldn't be Eid at all. Oh and let's not forget a wonderful network of friends!

Needless to say, Eid ul-Fitr is my favorite Eid. And on this Eid, every year, we make a special treat called Ma'amoul. We use my grandma's recipe which she's perfected over the years (Oh God, please make me a super baker like her one day!)

Ma'amoul is a shortbread cookie filled with either dates, pistachios or walnuts. They are known not to be overly sweet, so you can pop a whole lot of 'em at once! Some people decorate them by hand while others use special wooden molds to create wonderful designs on the cookie. Ma'amoul is very popular in Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey. You'll usually find it in abundance during any religious festivals (such as during Easter celebrated by Arab Christians).

Mom preparing the dough

Filling the pastry with walnuts and sugar

What I love about making Ma'amoul is that it brings people together; you rarely find one person in the household making it all by themselves. Well, at least that's like blasphemy in my house! This year, my parents and I made a huge batch together to give out to friends. 

Once the pastry is filled, you roll it up into a ball and push it into the wooden mold

To get the pastry out of the mold, the most effective way is to flip it over and THWACK it on any solid platform 

Date filling with an unintentional heart-looking design, anyone?

Date filling is by far my favorite. I can eat 10 of these in one go. I did not just say that out loud.

Freshly baked and ready to roll around in some powdered sugar

I hope that whomever celebrated Eid ul-Fitr had a wonderful one filled with family, friends, and lots of delicious treats!

Ma'amoul - معمول‎ 

my grandmother's recipe

What you'll need:

4 cups semolina

2 cups flour 

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup cooking/vegetable oil

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract/essence

Water at room temperature, enough to add till the dough is formed.

• Mix the dry ingredients until well incorporated
• Add butter and oil and work in with your hands
• While kneading the dough, add water at intervals until the dough forms. Once you're able to handle the dough and form a flat pancake-like shape, it's ready. (Refer to first series photo to know what I mean about this)

Happy Baking!