The following family recipe is a delicious and easy method to prepare rice and milk pudding (Riz bil Haleeb).

Ingredients:

Rice: one cup of approximately 200 g. For one cup, add 4 cups of water.

Milk: 6 cups (200 ml per cup). If using powdered milk, use instructions as directed by the manufacturer to make 6 cups of milk.

Sugar: 200 g. The amount could be increased to taste.

Corn starch: 3 tablespoons.

Orange Blossom water: 2 teaspoons.

Rose Water: 2 teaspoons.

Mastic/Miskeh (resin): 4 small pieces if available. A piece is about the size of a lentil. Grind the pieces so they become powder.

For decoration when serving: Ground pistachios, walnuts, raisins, and/or almonds.

A pinch of cinnamon if desirable.

Method

• Cook the rice separately until it is cooked.
• Place the milk in a deep pot on the stovetop on medium heat and keep stirring with a long handled wooden spoon. The milk can be fresh or constituted from powdered milk.  
• When the milk gets warm, add the cooked rice little by little while stirring continuously. We don’t have to use all the rice if we like a light consistency.
• Add the sugar and keep stirring until the rice, milk, and sugar become homogeneous.
• Add the corn starch mixture: To make the corn starch mixture, take a small quantity of warm milk in a cup and add the starch bit by bit while mixing until there is a smooth paste. Add the corn starch mixture to the milk, rice, and sugar while stirring. The corn starch might not all be needed. If all the rice is used, maybe there is no need to use all the starch. Otherwise, the mixture gets gooey or thickens too much.
• Keep stirring until the milk, sugar, and rice start boiling.
• After 5 minutes of stirring the boiling content, we add the orange water blossom, rose water, and mastic pieces.
• Keep stirring and turn off the stove after one minute.

Pour the pudding in bowls and give it time to rest.

The pudding is served cold or warm with pistachios or dried nuts. It is kept in the fridge. The nuts are added before serving.

Some like to add a pinch of cinnamon.

Enjoy!

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Other recipes: Zaatar Mankoushe , Lentil Soup , AND Mujadara

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