Egyptian Mahalabia Recipe (Vanilla Pudding)

Mahalabia or vanilla pudding is one of the easiest dessert recipes that you can whip up in a pinch. It literally requires 5 minutes of prep time, 3 additional minutes on the stove, and then the rest is how long you can hold off until you eat it. It can be served, hot, warm, or even cold! Although, if you want to eat it how it’s traditionally eaten, I would suggest you refrigerate it until cold before serving.

Vanilla Mahalabia is one of the most common Egyptian desserts. Some like to serve it as another layer of jelly, or just as is. There are many variations of how you make it and flavor it, one of them is adding an assortment of nuts and seeds as toppings, flavoring it with other tasty flavorings like rosewater, cinnamon, or orange essence.

And you know what the best part about this recipe is? It’s only 4 ingredients. That’s it!

How to make Mahalabia

It’s very easy to make Mahalabia and you can get little ones involved as well. All you need is 4 main ingredients: milk, cornstarch, sugar, and vanilla extract!

In your pot, away from the stove, mix together the milk, cornstarch, and sugar, and stir to dissolve.

Once everything has dissolved completely, place your pot on medium low heat.

Constantly stir the mixture with your spatula until the mixture thickens. It should take only a few minutes.

Once the mixture reaches a consistency where it thickly drips off the spatula, remove off the heat and stir in the vanilla essence.

Pour into your individual serving bowls and set aside.

Feel free to serve it right away or leave it on the counter to cool down for 30 minutes or so before moving it to the fridge.

Garnish with your favorite toppings; mixed nuts, raisins, a sprinkle of cinnamon, or some coconut flakes, right before serving to avoid the nuts going soft.

Notes about making successful Mahalabia:

1.       Make sure to mix the ingredients cold and off the stove, this will make sure that ingredients are well dissolved before they’re subjected to heat, and in turn less likely to clump.

2.       It’s important to constantly stir while on the heat, to avoid any lumps and to ensure you reach the right consistency.

3.       Before storing in the fridge, cover the top of each bowl with a layer of saran wrap to avoid a thick layer of dry milk of forming up.

4.       It advisable if you are going to garnish with nuts like almonds, pistachios, cashews, etc., to garnish right before serving to avoid the nuts from going soft.