This pudding was a last minute insertion and brings the curtains down over the feast nicely.

Some of you may be familiar with phirni, a Northern Indian sweet of reduced milk, ground rice, sugar and cardamom. I love it, but think it too rich after a meal like this one. This is its Lebanese counterpart - floral, elegant and delicate.

Ingredients

• 2 litres milk
• 125g rice flour
• 250g vanilla or caster sugar
• A tablespoon of rosewater
• A tablespoon of orange blossom water

Method

Measure out the rice flour into a bowl and work in roughly 300ml of the milk until you get a smooth white paint. Pour this into a saucepan with the remaining milk. Over a medium heat, bring it to a boil, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Then add the sugar, reduce the heat, simmer and whisk lazily for 10 minutes.

Sprinkle with the floral waters and cook for a further 3 minutes, whisking still. Decant into 8 or 10 serving bowls and give your hand a break. Chill till required.

Sprinkle with toasted flaked almonds and dried rose petals. The latter can be purchased at Culina. For the shoot, I served a pudding with slices of persimmon which I doused with caramel, because they had not peaked yet. Ideally, use the Fuyu variety, in its vermillion, jellied-flesh ripeness, unadorned.

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Muhallabiya
Stories and photos copyright © Bryan Koh, unless otherwise stated. Not to be reproduced without permission from the author.

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