Muhallebi, also Muhallabia, Malabi, Mahallebi or Mahallepi (in Turkish, meaning custard, Greek: ?????????, translit. Mahallepi) is a creamy pudding, similar to blancmange. It is milk-based, thickened with rice flour or cornstarch, and then topped with sweet syrup.
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History
Legend has it that muhallebi was introduced into Arab cuisine in the late seventh century by a Persian cook who served it to an Arab general by the name of al-Muhallab bin Abi Sufra. He liked it so much, he named it after himself. The earliest recipes for muhallebi are from the tenth century, featuring three versions: milk thickened with ground rice, milk with rice grains and chicken, and an egg custard without rice.
According to Janna Gur's "The New Book of Israeli Food," the recipe originally hails from Turkey (the dessert is alternatively called sutlach, from the Turkish word sut, which means milk).
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Variations
Muhallebi comes in many variations. In Ottoman times, muhallebi was made with shredded chicken meat; this version is today called tavukgö?sü, from tavuk gö?sü, meaning "chicken breast" in Turkish. Sometimes muhallebi is topped with chopped pistachios or walnuts, and one version use water in place of milk (su muhallebisi).
The traditional recipe relies on rice flour (made from rice crushed with a mortar and pestle) to thicken the milk. At the present, many substitute cornstarch for rice flour, which yields a silky texture without any trace of graininess.
In Israel, the pudding, known as malabi, is sometimes made from almond milk so that it can be eaten after a meat meal in keeping with the laws of kashrut. Similar to the Turkish ke?kül, this version is typically topped with chopped peanuts and desiccated coconut; flavorings such as vanilla, orange water, pomegranate syrup and rosewater are added as a finish.
Chefs Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, in Jerusalem: A Cookbook, define malabi as the "dessert form of sahlab," both a flour made from the tubers of the orchid genus Orchis and the name for the warm, less viscous version of the cold dessert.
Culinary traditions
In some Sephardi homes, malabi is served to break the fast on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. It is also eaten at Turkish Jewish weddings to symbolize the sweet life that lies ahead. Sephardim serve it on the festival of Shavuot when it is customary to eat dairy food, but according to food historian Gil Marks, the real reason is that the holiday is known in this community as the "feast of roses," and malabi is traditionally topped with rosewater.
References
External links
- Middle Eastern pudding
- Mulhallabia pudding
- Arabic desserts: Mohallabiah
- How to make Malabi, Israeli milk pudding
- Malabi (Milk Custard with Orange Brandy Sauce)
Source of article : Wikipedia
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