Lebanese Rice Pudding Dessert With Pistachio – Riz B Haleeb Recipe

Rice pudding is a universal dessert, found in many cultures, in different forms, and under different names.   Lebanese peeps don’t have a monopoly on it this time. However what probably makes this a “Lebanese” version is the addition of orange blossom water (mazaher) to the recipe. In Lebanon this dessert is known as “Riz B Haleeb” which translates to “Rice in Milk.”

Orange blossom water is a flavoring syrup made by distilling flowers from orange trees and is generally added to many Arabic/Turkish/Lebanese desserts. It can be typically found in Middle Eastern grocery stores

This rice pudding isn’t too far from what is served in Indian/Pakistani/Afghani/Persian restaurants as “kheer”. There are a few different variations of it. The basic ingredients are water, sugar, and orange blossom water, then you would add rice powder and/or rice and/or corn flower. All will yield to a virtually identical taste, but with different textures.

Author: Esperance Sammour
Recipe type: Middle Eastern
Prep time:  5 mins
Cook time:  20 mins
Total time:  25 mins

Try This Delicious and Easy to Prepare Lebanese Rice Pudding Dessert.

Ingredients

4 cups of milk
10-12 teaspoons of sugar (to taste)
½ cup of rice
2-4 Table Spoons of corn flour
2 teaspoons of orange blossom water
Pistachio as a garnish

Instructions

1. Rinse the rice then let dry
2. Boil the milk with the sugar and rice on low heat for 15 minutes or until the rice softens all while stirring continuously.
3. As the rice softens add the orange blossom water and the corn flour and stir it in and boil/stir for another 5 minutes or until the pudding hardens and gains the consistency of yogurt. If you add too much corn flour the pudding becomes too jello-like and if you add little it'll take on a more watery consistency. This is a personal preference. Try adding 2 first then increase if you need to.
4. As the pudding hardens, pour it in your heat-resistant serving cups/plates and let rest for a few minutes before garnishing with pistachio and refrigerating.
5. Serve cold.