Riz Bi Haleeb

Rice pudding is loved all over the world, and every country has their own way of making rice pudding with milk, rice and sugar as basic ingredients of the recipe. In Lebanon rice pudding is known as”Riz Bi haleeb”. This Lebanese dessert is not much different from Pak-Indo sweet dish “Kheer” , what makes it different is the addition of orange blossom water . This was the very first time I made it and it sure is going to be on my favourite for a life time now on ……

Ingredients:

2 liters Fresh milk

1/2 cup Rice (soaked in water for 2-3 hours)

8 – 10 tbsp of sugar (or to taste)

2 tsp orange blossom water (you can use ¼ tsp orange zest or 3-4 drops of orange extract as substitute)

1/4 tsp Salt

1-2 tbsp corn flour (I used vanilla custard instead)

Pistachios for garnish

Method:

1) Take a heavy bottom pan, add milk and let it come to a boil, once the milk starts to boil turn down the flame to medium-low and let it simmer.

2) Drain the water from rice and crush the rice with your hands, this will break one grain of rice in to 3-4 pieces, now add the rice to the milk and stir for a few minutes, add in the sugar and salt and cook on low flame till milk reduces to almost half and rice grains gets soft and mushy (Don’t forget to stir).

3) Cook for about 40-50 minutes on low medium flame, once the milk reduced to half, mix corn flour in some milk and add it to rice mixture along with the orange blossom water and stir for another 5 minutes or till the pudding has reached the desired consistency. It shouldn't be too thick or too runny; we just want to have medium consistency, as the pudding will also thicken slightly while it cools down.

4) Turn off the flame; allow it to cool down at room temperature, pure it in to a serving dish, Garnish with pistachios. It’s best to let it chill in fridge for 3-4 hours before serving.