[Contents]

Rice Pudding

RIZ BI HALEEB

Here is another rice pudding loved by Lebanese children.

        1 qt. milk
        3/4 cup rice
        1 1/4 cups sugar
        1/2 tsp. ma'el ward (rose water)
        1/2 tsp. ma'ez zahr (orange blossom essence)
        1/4 tsp. powdered mustikah (gum Arabic)
        1 cup cold water
Wash rice well in several waters to remove loose starch. Add cold water and rice to milk which has been brought to the boil. Boil for half an hour over a medium flame. Stir well and gradually turn up the cooking flame. When pudding has thickened add the sugar, rose water and orange blossom essence. Continue boiling until bubbles break through the pudding. Pour into individual serving dishes. Decorate in the traditional manner with a design of blanched almonds, pistachio nuts or pine nuts.


(From Food from the Arab World Marie Karam Khayat and Margaret Clark Keatinge, Khayat's, Beirut 1959)

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