Monday, June 21, 2010

Dessert - Beaten Muhallebi (Black and White Pudding)

My mother-in-law is a diabetic so, of course she thrives on chocolate and deserts.  Her most memorable signature dishes I can remember are all deserts, like this 'Muhallebi' or 'Bread Kadayif' or her Apricot Tart.

Although 'Muhallebi' (Turkish cooked pudding) is a very traditional Turkish desert, I think this recipe with its rich chocolate topping is a bit modern, but luscious, all the same.
Butter and sugar were my mother-in-law, Yezdos's, most favorite ingredients.  This pudding is almost solid thanks to the amount of butter it contains.

When I was a child, I loved the smell of browning flour in butter; unfortunately, in that state it only burns one's mouth, tongue, lips... without much taste to it; I know from first hand experiences.  When my mother-in-law made this 'Muhallebi' the whole house would be seeped with that wonderful smell and then when she added the warm milk to it, the sweet aromas rising from the pot would take me back to the days when I was a little girl waiting to lick the bottom of the bowl again.

The major trick to this 'Muhallebi' is that it is beaten for 20 minutes after it is cooked.  Then you have to cool it, preferably, overnight, so that when you pour the chocolate sauce over it, it will  become a separate level on top instead of mixing into the pudding underneath like mine came out that night (actually, I substituted rice flour for the wheat flour so it would be gluten-free but I think the proportion wasn't right)

When I saw that it hadn't set and it was going to be too runny, I just put it in the freezer and served it frozen... It actually came out alright, but the recipe that follows is for the real thing and it is just fabulous...  


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