Moughleh

   It is a Lebanese rice pudding made on the birth of a child and some makes it on Christmas day too. It is easy to make and full of flavour with the added spices and the garnished nuts. You might find loads of Moughleh recipes but this is Mum’s recipes and obviously it is the best one! Another reason for listing it is that my daughter loves it (without the nuts) and she will be able to find the recipe anytime she decides to make it!

Ingredients:

7 cups Water

1 cup Ground Rice

1 ½ cup Sugar

1 ½ tsp Aniseed

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 ½ tsp Caraway

Garnish:

Shredded coconuts

Pistachio (soaked overnight in water & peeled)

Almond (soaked overnight in water & peeled) or Almond Flakes
Walnuts ( soaked overnight in water & peeled)

Pine nuts

Put water, sugar & spices in a sauce pan on high heat. Bring up to the boil then reduce the heat to medium and add the ground rice. Stir continuously. The mixture will eventually become quite thick. It will take about 20-30 min.  Turn the heat off and pour in a large serving dish or individual ramekins. Leave to cool. 

Before serving, sprinkle some coconut on the moughleh, add pistachio, almond, walnuts & pine nuts.

 If you don’t like the nuts, like someone I know, try it without the garnish. It is still delicious.

Moufataka

  Moufataka is  rice pudding with tahini & turmeric. It is a recipe from my husband’s family. It is a very rich, tasteful and colourful pudding.

1 cup Ground Rice or Pudding Rice

2 cup Sugar

3 cup Water  (if using pudding  rice add 1 cup water)

1 cup Tahini

1 tbsp Turmeric

Handfull of Pine Nuts (optional)

Put water, rice and turmeric in saucepan on the hob until the rice is cooked (This recipe is made with pudding rice but I prefer to use ground rice as it is easily cooked). Add tahini and sugar. Lower the heat under saucepan. Stir continuously till the mixture start bubbling gently. The mixture becomes thick, creamy and the tahini oil starts coming up to the surface. It might take up to 40-50 min... Pour in serving plate & sprinkle the pine nuts on top. Let it cool at room temperature.