J for Jordan ~ Mohallabiah / Muhallabiyeh

Event: BM #44 , Around the World (A - Z series) 
Choice of Country: Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Capital City: Amman
Official Language: Arabic

I am still in western Asia for today's post and moving from Iraq to it's neighbor Jordan. "J" was one of the alphabets for which I finished cooking first and in fact I cooked the dish twice for "Japan". Kids loved the dish but somehow I wasn't happy with the pictures of the dish and at the last moment I decided to go with another Arab nation instead. 
This region was subjected to control of powerful foreign empires throughout different eras of history and the influence can been seen on Jordanian cuisine as well. Jordanians serve family, friends, and guests with great pride in their homes and a 'Jordanian invitation' means that you are expected to bring nothing and eat everything. There is a wide variety in Jordanian cuisine ranging from baking, sautéeing and grilling to stuffing of vegetables, meat, and poultry. Jordan is one of the largest producers of olives and olive oil is the primary cooking medium. Mansaf, a lamb dish is the national dish of Jordan. Popular appetizers are kebbeh, ful medames, labaneh, baba ghanoush, hummus, tabbouleh, olives and pickles. (source:wiki)

I chose to go with a creamy dessert, mohallabiah that is also called mahalabiya / muhallabiyeh. Muhallabiyeh is a dish commonly prepared through out the Arab region with slight variations and this quick delight is milk based. This thick, creamy pudding is cooked similarly as phirni, a rice pudding popular in the Indian subcontinent. Here rice flour is used instead of coarsely ground rice and cooked thicker than phirni. Basically milk and rice flour paste are cooked until thick and creamy. Sugar adds the sweetness while rose water and blossom water lend their aromatic flavors to the dish. Finally the dish is finished with a generous garnishing of crushed pistachios / almonds. Substituting milk powder for milk was common in regions where cattle was scarce. Some versions use cornstarch instead of rice flour.
The recipe I found here uses condensed milk as part of their marketing strategy. I went ahead with it since I had some leftover condensed milk which I had to finish off. Muhallabiyeh is traditionally prepared with milk and so you can go ahead with it if you don't have condensed milk in your pantry. Just replace the condensed milk and water with milk and add sugar to taste. The below quantity takes less than 15 minutes to cook but if you are planning to cook a large quantity, check the original recipe.
 
Ingredients for 2 servings:
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 & 1/2 cups water
3 tbsp rice flour (Easily available in Indian stores.)
1/8 tsp rose water
1/8 tsp orange blossom water (I skipped it.)
3 tbsp. crushed pistachio nuts

Method:
* Add condensed milk and about a cup of water to a nonstick pan and bring the mixture to boil.
* In the meantime, whisk rice flour and about 1/2 cup water in a bowl to form a lump free mixture.
* Lower the heat and slowly pour the rice mixture, continuously stirring while doing so. 
* Cook on low flame for about  7 - 8 minutes or until the mixture is cooked. Keep stirring all the while to keep it lump free. Add rose water and blossom water if using and mix well.
* Transfer it to small bowls, garnish with pistachios and serve.
I chilled it before serving.


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