Levantine cuisine · Desserts & Sweets

Riz bi Haleeb

Creamy rice pudding with ground mastic and orange blossom water, served cold and sprinkled with pistachios.

Ingredients · for 4 servings

• 150 g pudding rice
• 1 l whole milk
• 100 g sugar
• 3 grains mastic
• 2 tbsp orange blossom water
• 1 tbsp rice flour
• 50 g pistachios
• 1 pinch salt

Instructions

1. Rinse the pudding rice in a sieve under cold water until it runs clear, then place in a heavy pot with 300 ml water and a pinch of salt.
2. Cook uncovered over medium heat for 10–12 min. until the water is almost fully absorbed and the grains rise to the surface.
3. Pour in the whole milk and gently simmer the rice over low heat for 20–25 min., scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon every 3–4 min. so nothing sticks.
4. Grind the mastic grains with 1 tsp of the sugar in a mortar into a fine powder — this is the only way the resin dissolves evenly without clumping.
5. Stir in the remaining sugar, the mastic powder and the rice flour mixed with 3 tbsp cold milk, and keep stirring for another 5 min. until the mixture falls thickly from the ladle.
6. Remove from the heat, fold in the orange blossom water, spoon into bowls and chill for at least 3 hours; sprinkle with roughly chopped pistachios before serving.