Focus on mouhalabieh, the Lebanese flan scented with orange blossom

At Libshop, our flagship dessert is Libshop flan. This milk-based sweet flavoured with orange blossom is our version of the mouhalabieh, a Lebanese dessert of Persian origin that is extremely popular all over the world.

Mouhalabieh, kesako?

The mouhalabieh is a milk pudding made from rice, sugar, rice flour and milk. It is usually served with sugar syrup and pistachio pieces. Some recipes incorporate rose water, bitter almond or honey.

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🎉🎉Nouveau dessert from tomorrow at Maison Aleph, inspired by the snack of childhood: milk cream with orange blossom and Iranian pistachio ganache. Photo by @csmiskin and D.A. by @romain._c Starting tomorrow. #homealeph #children #newcomers #paris #pastry #teatime #taste #pistachio #bhvmarais #aleph #yummy

A post shared by House Aleph (@home phone) on Feb 10, 2018 at 3:35am PST

It is a very popular dessert because it is very simple and its taste is quite universal.

The Mouhalabieh and its variants

The Mouhalabieh exists in different versions according to the regions and countries. It exists in Turkey, Israel (the "malabi"), Cyprus, and the recipes are very different depending on where it is cooked.

Originally a Persian recipe

Legend has it that mahalabieh was introduced into Arabic cuisine at the end of the 7th century by a Persian cook who served it to a famous Arab general by the name of Al-Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra. He loved it so much that he gave it his own name: Mouhallabieh.

The best recipe of the mouhalabieh

Many cookbooks present mahalabieh recipes. I chose to share with you the one I found on this blog, which would be the recipe of the famous Maison Aleph, located in the Marais in Paris.

For 5 people:

For the cream of milk

• 75 g cornstarch
• 1 litre of whole milk
• 50 g caster sugar (the chef uses 125 g of sugar but as I add rose syrup I prefer to reduce the dose of caster sugar)
• 75 g orange blossom water

For the creamy pistachio

• 25 g brown sugar
• 250 g whole liquid cream
• 35 g pistachio paste
• 1 g fleur de sel
• 2 egg yolks

For the finish

• whole peeled pistachios and pistachio splinters.

Preparation

• Dissolve the cornstarch in a small amount of cold milk to avoid lumps and mix well.
• Add and mix all the milk and sugar to this premix in a saucepan. Bring to a boil while whisking constantly. As soon as it boils, lower the heat and continue whisking. As soon as the mixture thickens, remove from heat.
• Then add the orange blossom water and mix. Pour the cream into individual jars and put them in the fridge for 4 hours.

Pistachio cream

• Pour the brown sugar, cream and pistachio paste into a saucepan. Bring it to a boil. Then off the heat, add the egg yolks and mix everything together. Bring to the boil.
• Leave to cool and fill a piping bag with the cream.
• Take the cooled cream of milk verrines out of the fridge and pour a tablespoon of rose syrup over them.
• Poach the pistachio cream over the cooled cream of milk.
• Sprinkle with pistachio chips and whole pistachios just before serving.

Where to find a good mouhalabieh in Paris?

At Maison Aleph, which offers a superb mouhalabieh. And at Libshop, which you will find under the name of "Flan Libshop", and which is one of our best-sellers!

Order your Libshop delivery on the Libshop website or Libshop app.