Muhallebi

Muhallebi
Course Dessert
Place of origin Persia[1]
Region or state Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Morocco, Israel and Saudi Arabia, Iraq
Serving temperature Cold
Main ingredients Rice flour, milk or almond milk, sugar
Cookbook: Muhallebi  Media: Muhallebi

Muhallebi, also Muhallabia, Malabi, Mahallebi or Mahallepi (in Turkish, meaning custard, Greek: Μαχαλλεπί (Mahallepi)), is a creamy pudding, similar to blancmange. It is milk-based, thickened with rice flour or cornstarch, and then topped with sweet syrup.[2]

History

Mahalabia garnished with chopped nuts

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.[3]

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).[4]

Variations

Muhallebi comes in many variations. In Ottoman times, muhallebi was made with shredded chicken meat; this version is today called tavukgöğsü, from tavuk göğsü, meaning "chicken breast" in Turkish.[5] 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 keşkül, 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.[6]

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.[7]

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.[8]

Moroccan-style mahalabiya with orange flavoring
Turkish-style muhallebi with nuts and cinnamon

References

  1. ↑ Sherbet and Spice: The Complete Story of Turkish Sweets and Desserts, Mary Isin
  2. ↑ Modern Manna Recipe: Malabi milk and orange blossom pudding
  3. ↑ Sherbet and Spice: The Complete Story of Turkish Sweets and Desserts, Mary Isin
  4. ↑ "Malabi | My Jewish Learning". My Jewish Learning. Retrieved 2017-08-04.
  5. ↑ Sidney Mintz (2015). The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. Oxford University Press. p. 746. ISBN 978-0-19-931339-6.
  6. ↑ The Malabi masters of Tel Aviv
  7. ↑ Ottolenghi, Yotam; Tamimi, Sami (2012-10-16). Jerusalem: A Cookbook. Potter/TenSpeed/Harmony. ISBN 9781607743958.
  8. ↑ My Jewish Learning: Malabi
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