This week, I decided to try to change things a bit when it came to a traditional Egyptian dessert. Successful trial! I'm going to try using mehalabia as a base for other flavors soon. Mehalabia is a milk-based pudding usually garnished with nuts and flavored with the optional addition of rose water. Some people eliminate it, while others use vanilla. Most mehalabias are garnished with nuts and do not include a caramelized top. Here's the link for my Lemon-Mastic Mehalabia Brûlée as featured in The Daily News Egypt.
Lemon-Mastic Mehalabia Brûlée
You'll need:
3 cups of cold full cream milk
3 tablespoons of cornstarch
¾ cup of sugar
½ teaspoon of mastic grains
1½ teaspoons of freshly grated lemon zest
Extra caster sugar for the brûlée
Dissolve the sugar and cornstarch in the cold milk and place on medium to low heat. Add the mastic and lemon zest and stir continuously to combine and to prevent burning. Continue stirring until it thickens and thickly coats the back of a spoon. Separate into serving bowls and cool in the fridge for 2-3 hours. When you're ready to serve, sprinkle a generous, even layer of sugar. You can either use a propane torch to caramelize the top or you could place it under a hot grill for up to 5 minutes at the most. Make sure to watch it carefully. Allow it to rest for a few minutes and serve.
Lemon-Mastic Mehalabia Brûlée
You'll need:
3 cups of cold full cream milk
3 tablespoons of cornstarch
¾ cup of sugar
½ teaspoon of mastic grains
1½ teaspoons of freshly grated lemon zest
Extra caster sugar for the brûlée
Dissolve the sugar and cornstarch in the cold milk and place on medium to low heat. Add the mastic and lemon zest and stir continuously to combine and to prevent burning. Continue stirring until it thickens and thickly coats the back of a spoon. Separate into serving bowls and cool in the fridge for 2-3 hours. When you're ready to serve, sprinkle a generous, even layer of sugar. You can either use a propane torch to caramelize the top or you could place it under a hot grill for up to 5 minutes at the most. Make sure to watch it carefully. Allow it to rest for a few minutes and serve.
How lovely! I've never tried creme brulee, but this definitely takes a delish exotic taste to it :)
ReplyDeleteThat looks good. I like lemon but I've never tried mastic before. I'll have to print this and try it.
ReplyDeleteI have a little bag of mastic up in the cupboard that I bought a couple months ago, one of those oh-cool-what-is-that? purchases that I've been meaning to google and hadn't gotten around to yet.
Ovenhaven: Get around to making it. So much fun to crack the caramelized top! This worked out really well, which left me pleasantly surprised. :)
ReplyDeleteTovi: Mastic is one of those flavors I grew up with and in all honesty, I can't find a better flavored ice cream! Hehe. Get around to trying it and if you're interesting, send me an email at butteredupblog@gmail.com and we could share more mastic ideas!
ReplyDeleteThat is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteJoy: Thank you. :)
ReplyDeleteSuch a great Egyptian twist on the classic creme brulee! Love it -
ReplyDeleteHey Kulsum, thank you. Glad you chose to comment. :)
ReplyDelete